Since 1945, one of the great wineries of the world, Château Mouton Rothschild, has commissioned great painters, sculptors, and artists to illustrate their wine labels. [more inside]
posted by mattbucher on Jun 27, 2008 - 13 comments

It all started with a NYC writer wearing a tutu, getting splashed by a passing bus...
"It's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes—that's why you sometimes need really special shoes." a 7-parter on the shoes that made the show... [more inside]
posted by iamkimiam on May 31, 2008 - 114 comments

Soviet Lemonade Labels
posted by interrobang on Apr 17, 2008 - 15 comments

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear. "Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination."
posted by homunculus on Apr 3, 2008 - 77 comments

20 Biggest Record Company Screw-Ups of All Time from Blender Magazine. "They include MCA Records’ decision in 1989 to pass on a Seattle upstart band called Nirvana while also betting big on “Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz,” the debut album of a hair-metal band called Pretty Boy Floyd."
posted by plexi on Mar 15, 2008 - 50 comments

Destructoid's Guide to Recognizing Your Gamers
posted by Navelgazer on Aug 5, 2007 - 17 comments

761 Vintage Travel Labels fans of art deco & european pre-war design, look no further.
posted by jonson on Jan 7, 2007 - 15 comments

From Inner Sounds to Astro Sounds Session guitarist Jerry Cole made several albums of instrumental surf rock as the leader of Jerry Cole & His Spacemen, but after playing on sessions that produced the Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man and the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, he realized he had to adapt to new musical trends. In the summer of '66, Cole responded by bringing several session buddies together to record The Inner Sounds of the Id, a psychedelic studio creation that was at least a year ahead of its time. The story might have ended there if the producer hadn't stolen the Id's session outtakes... (more inside)
posted by jonp72 on Feb 23, 2006 - 8 comments

"The iPod’s a great product. However our experience in dealing with them, as regards licensing music for iTunes, has been quite depressing." Coldcut member and indie label Ninja Tune co-founder Matt Black in a pixelsurgeon interview about the new album, the relative relaxation on sample licensing, and iTunes. For another independent perspective on iTunes see The 99c Question - addressing the pressures on iTunes from major labels to raise prices.
posted by nthdegx on Feb 2, 2006 - 21 comments

Wacky Warning Labels: Toilet brush that warns, "Do NOT use for personal hygiene." Have you ever been so desperate to fight plaque and gingivitis?
posted by icontemplate on Jan 7, 2005 - 21 comments

Labels seek end to 99c music per song download
"...the major five labels think that 99 cents per song is too cheap, and are discussing a price hike that would increase the tariff to $1.25 up to $2.99 per song." How about free legal downloads for $6 a month. DRM free. The artists get paid.? Will the RIAA ever see the light?
posted by diVersify on Apr 11, 2004 - 37 comments

Nice Whisk(e)y: Shame About The Size! Behold a wonderful, almost infinitely explorable repository of miniature bottles of whisk(e)y; a Japanese one-guy Smithsonian that's quite probably the only resort for those looking for labels of ancient and/or abandoned delights. American straight whiskey fanatics (like me) will be specially surprised. Worth exploring, though exploration isn't easy: it's full of unexpected riches, but never easily had. [Previously offered in the course of a classic languagehat post.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Mar 10, 2004 - 9 comments

Psst...wanna buy a record label? The Beastie Boys' defunct Grand Royal record label (former home of Luscious Jackson, Atari Teenage Riot, Ben Lee, Sean Lennon, Bis, Buffalo Daughter and Money Mark) is on the auction block. The successful bidder walks away with various master recordings, license agreements, recording agreements and miscellaneous contracts.
posted by boost ventilator on Jan 13, 2004 - 20 comments

Music label Universal to lower CD prices. Is this move a bit like raising a white flag? (via Curlio)
posted by msacheson on Sep 4, 2003 - 47 comments

What's on the menu? Perhaps fat and calories. "Five states have taken up similar bills this year, with none being passed so far." Will bills like these ever get passed? Will we ever see nutrition facts on fast food wrappers? Will consumers ever bother to read them?
posted by sharksandwich on Jul 15, 2003 - 35 comments

The Virtual Matchbox Labels Museum. World index and great links.
posted by hama7 on May 3, 2003 - 2 comments

Compare apples to oranges.
posted by crunchland on Apr 30, 2003 - 10 comments

Aphorisms Galore! For some reason I've never really known what an aphorism is. Actually reading this article at Frieze, I'm not sure anyone really knows. It's supposed to be a memorable, light hearted or philosphical quote which gets the point across very quickly. But glancing through the examples, it seems to be a catch all term for anything. But people like to find labels for things which don't need labels.
posted by feelinglistless on Apr 2, 2003 - 21 comments

Crackerpacks is a library of over 400 (excellently named) firecracker labels available for you to enjoy.
posted by hama7 on Mar 18, 2003 - 13 comments

FDA now officially useless? Well, it's looking that way.. They are now about to allow unverified health claims on food labels. They say this is a good thing. I wonder... What function does the FDA have now if it's not to protect the consumer from wild and potentially false claims on their food products?
posted by eas98 on Dec 27, 2002 - 13 comments

When all of the good vinyl albums have been bought from the cardboard box at the local church bazaar, Nick DiFonzio buys the rest and scans the jackets. The result? Bizarre Record Covers. And because beauty, or the apparent lack thereof, is not only jacket deep, check out this trippy collection of 45 rpm labels from No Relevance, and this detailed record label discography, where you can see how record companies from the 1950s thru the 1990s kept trying to update and redefine their image by redesigning their labels.
posted by iconomy on Jun 23, 2002 - 10 comments

DiscT@2: This revolutionary Laser Labeling System allows graphics and text to be burnt onto CD-R disc, eliminating the need for labels. Customers can put graphics, such as signatures, logos, memorandums, and photo images onto CD-R's unused area after data writing.
posted by Fofer on Jun 16, 2002 - 11 comments

What exactly does "certified organic" mean? The Consumer's Union has whipped up this good (if incomplete) idea of a resource for people to find out exactly what those so-called "eco-labels" mean. I had heard "free-range" means almost nothing, but didn't find info here on that. But I did learn a few things about how some labels are skewed by industry. Potentially a great site if they ever get around to populating their database and lose the dumb flash stuff.
posted by brookish on Feb 11, 2002 - 4 comments

"Today's heroes don't have to do anything; they just need to be noble victims" The people who lost their lives on September 11 -- office workers, firefighters, airline pilots -- have almost unanimously been labeled "hereos." Were they really, or were they "just" victims who tragically died while "doing their jobs"? According to this article, we should be hesitant to loosen the requirements for heroism: "Heroes often end up as role models, a task not well suited for victims. Moreover, by lowering the bar for heroism, we cheapen the word and, in some ways, the exploits of people who have earned the right to be called that in the past. " (via a & l daily).
posted by pardonyou? on Jan 15, 2002 - 58 comments

Warning labels, the volume knobs on small infants, Death By Vending Machine. It's an ever-shifting line in the sand of human stupidity, a vague cultural boundary defining how much we expect our products and corporations to protect us from ourselves and how much we're willing to be answerable for our actions, a line dividing how logic-impaired we're willing to admit we sometimes are and how responsible a given corporation should be for dumping shoddy and/or dangerous products on the market without warning. Is excessive labeling a release from liability? Is it killing off common sense or the need to have common sense?
posted by th3ph17 on Jul 18, 2001 - 52 comments

CD Sales down by 39%? And guess who's to blame. (Also linked in the article is the interesting stopnapster.com site.)
posted by gi_wrighty on Feb 26, 2001 - 43 comments

Smashing Pumpkins encourage piracy "The Smashing Pumpkins printed just 25 copies of their new album - but they've asked fans to make MP3s, please. Reportedy they're flipping the bird at their label, Virgin"
posted by dilok on Sep 12, 2000 - 10 comments

"Hatch Warns Labels, Don't Make Me Come Over There and Spank You" Oooh! This is gonna be good. [ From Inside via Dan Lyke's excellent Flutterby. ]
posted by baylink on Jul 13, 2000 - 20 comments