Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben VanderHart.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ben. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My name is Ben VanderHart. I’m a musician, a bandleader, a composer, a record producer, an entrepreneur, and the Founder and Creative Director of Yellow Racket Records. After working in the logistics industry for eight years, I took an employee survey that asked, “Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?” For me, the answer was no – so, after three years in operations and five years in sales and marketing, I decided to start my own record label. And now we’re opening a record store in our beautiful hometown of Chattanooga, TN. Which means that today, I’m doing exactly what I do best: sharing my passion for music.
The idea for the label started in the Summer of 2016 when I drew a picture of my collie on a post-it note and wrote the words “Yellow Racket Records” at the bottom. One year later, Yellow Racket was officially formed and my band Telemonster signed to the label. One year after that, we released our album “Introspecter, Pt. 1” as the label’s first record, and have since signed three other Chattanooga artists (Joel Harris, Chase Waller, Summer Dregs) and an incredible Brazilian singer/songwriter, now based in Lisbon, who performs under the name MOMO.
The desire to maintain balance and simplicity was a driving factor in our decision to create the record label. Over the last six years, Telemonster has produced 11 kids and one record. And our music is reflective of that particular place in life – a place where you carry toddlers more than guitar cases; where you play hide ’n’ seek more than you play shows; where music is made from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am because everyone else has gone to bed. When faced with the prospect of shopping our album out to a record label, and the sacrifices that often go hand-in-hand with a record deal (e.g., turning over creative control of the release, touring extensively to offset large advances and marketing budgets, emphasizing profitability over artistic integrity, etc.) I suggested to my bandmates that we start our own label.
To be clear, not every label is guilty of those things. There are some fantastic labels out there who are working hard to give their artists a healthy and balanced lifestyle. But finding the right fit isn’t easy, and we felt like we had an opportunity to be one of the good ones – to help other artists elevate their music without feeling like they have to sell their firstborn in order to “make it.” When musicians are asked to sacrifice their family, their health, and their values in pursuit of personal fame and corporate profit, it’s reflected in the music. And we all suffer.
This year, we’re continuing to focus on expanding and elevating the music economy in Chattanooga by opening a brick-and-mortar record store, which we hope will increase opportunities for local artists to perform and promote their own records, as well as attract national touring acts to make a stop in Chattanooga. Our city is hungry to grow its music scene, and we feel we have an opportunity to bring an essential component to the scene by offering new vinyl releases, in-store performances, a gathering place for music junkies, and other events and experiences that are unique to local record stores.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I’ve never been so happy or passionate about my work. It’s the only occupation I find truly fulfilling, and now that I’ve started this business, it would be difficult to go back to anything else. If you ask me, music is the most powerful art form we have, and it’s an incredible privilege to be able to do it every day.
That being said, it’s been almost two years since I left my corporate job and at that time, I haven’t paid myself a dime. I’ve kept my family afloat by working as a farmhand, scrubbing toilets, stuffing envelopes – stringing together lots of part-time jobs just to pay the bills. We even sold our home of three years and moved in with my in-laws. When I think about it all, it seems absolutely insane what we’ve taken on. And as I look back, I’ve realized how much working for a large corporation insulates you from a lot of the risk and difficulty of trying to make your own way in life.
The greatest challenge working in the music industry is finding outspoken supporters and advocates of the music you’re creating and people who care about the vision of the label who share that passion for music and want to give musicians an opportunity to thrive in a context of intellectual, spiritual, and physical balance. Music is so readily available these days. We typically don’t take the time to peer behind the curtain and see what’s happening behind the scenes or how the music that we listen to gets pushed to the forefront.
Furthermore, we live in an age when attention spans are drastically short. We’re expected to hurtle at a faster pace of life every year. Our interaction with media and entertainment is a constant barrage of content from YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Spotify, etc., so the percentage of people who are willing to take 5 minutes and listen to an unknown artist from an unknown label is infinitesimally small. In addition, we live in a culture that often values celebrity above craft, so when we hear about new music, the first question we ask, perhaps subconsciously, is not, “Is it good?” but rather “Is it well-known? Is it famous?” And in the music business, the first question is not, “Is it good?” but rather, “Is it marketable?” So, long story short, I’d say the biggest struggle is just trying to get people to slow down and listen to what you have to share.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
Back in the Summer of 2016, just after I had drawn my collie on the post-it note, I wrote this vision statement for the label, which you can now find on our “About Us” page: Yellow Racket Records is a group of artists who are in a particular place in life. We are musicians who live quietly – raising families and working day jobs, fixing leaks and making lunches, balancing the budget and mowing the lawn (with no little amount of grumbling, mind you). We make music in a way that enables us to come home at night; to make dinner for friends; to walk our dogs at dusk; to chase our kids with quilts over our heads; to kiss our lovers after lights out. And because we are in this particular place in life, by necessity, we make music any place we can.
We make music in bedroom studios when everyone else is asleep. We make music in professional studios when everyone else is at work. We make music in empty churches during the week. We make music in empty office buildings on the weekend. We make music at house parties when we can draw a crowd. We make music in our cars when we have 10 minutes alone. For us, music is a necessity of life, without which we would shrivel and waste away. But just as great a necessities are the families and communities who rely on us to be present, and who enrich the music we make.
You may not find us in glossy magazines or crowded arenas. You may not find us touring in a van for five months straight. But you will always find us making music, no matter where we are.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’m not sure I have much to say about luck. Still, I suppose I would consider myself fortunate. Is it luck, or good fortune, that I was born into a white middle-class family in the wealthiest country in the history of the world? Sure.
Can I see where I have benefited from this place and time and station in life? Of course.
Are there little circumstances or coincidences in my journey that seem “lucky” or “providential” in how they’ve worked out for the best? I suppose so.
Is it “bad luck” that I signed a lease to open a record shop just weeks before a global pandemic completely shut down the entire country? So I’ve been told.
But to interpret all the wild and reckless circumstances of the world in terms of “good” or “bad” luck is to put myself and my personal welfare at the center of the universe. And I don’t think the universe exists for my benefit or detriment. The world is far bigger than me, and there are much greater forces at work within it, but I don’t believe it is all random. I think we just have to take life as it comes and make the best of the hand we’re dealt.
Contact Info:
- Address: Yellow Racket Records (the record store)
2311 E Main St
Chattanooga, TN 37404 - Website: yellowracket.com (the label) / yellowracketcha.com (the record store)
- Phone: 423-806-3003
- Email: yellowracketcha@yellowracket.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/yellowracketrecords (the label) <or> https://www.instagram.com/yellowracketcha/ (the record store)
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheYellowRacket/ (the label) <or> https://www.facebook.com/yellowracketCHA/ (the record store)
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheYellowRacket (the label) <or> https://twitter.com/yellowracketcha (the record store)
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviEjyX2hp_dimsu1ECwxgw? (both the label & the record store)
Image Credit:
Ben VanderHart Live with Telemonster 1.JPG – Photo by Mary Kate VanderHart
Ben VanderHart Live with Telemonster 2.png – Photo by Mary Kate VanderHart
Ben VanderHart Live with Telemonster 3.jpg – Photo by Mary Kate VanderHart
Ben VanderHart Portrait.png – Photo by Mary Kate VanderHart
Ben VanderHart Record Store 1.jpg – Photo by Matt Reiter
Ben VanderHart Record Store 3.jpg – Photo by Mary Kate VanderHart
Ben VanderHart Record Store 4.jpg – Photo by Jered Martin
Ben VanderHart with Telemonster 1 – Photo by Mary Kate VanderHart
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