Humble Beast Shrinks Roster

28 Jul 2015 | News

Humble Beast is a record label out of the USA run by Braille and Odd Thomas.  They've been running for around 5 years with many artists on their roster and alumni.  Most well known for Beautiful Eulogy and Propaganda.  They have a business model they call "Freely Given" where all their music is available for free download as well as purchasable.

It seems that life has urged Humble Beast to reduce the size of the label.  They've announced in a video that they're shrinking their roster down to 4 artists. 

Here's what they posted on their website:

Humble Beast started 6 years ago with one goal in mind: free and excellent Gospel resources in the context we know best: hip hop. We built with our friends. We invited them to join us. We assembled a team that shared our heart and philosophy of ministry. By God's grace we continued to grow, yet our unorthodox approach has brought forth many unique challenges. One of the implications of our free model is that we are often short on time and resources. Our daily operations are handled by a handful of men who sacrificially give their talents and energy because they believe in the vision. We have always considered Humble Beast to be a ministry more than a record label and our priorities have been established by that distinction.

In light of our vision, the cost of our free model and the increasing responsibilities associated with our growth - we have determined that the wisest way for us to move forward is to narrow down the size of our roster. There are many factors contributing to this decision, most importantly, it has become a matter of stewardship. We created the video “Past. Present. & Future.” to offer a fuller picture of who we are and what we do. This brief write up is a short summary of the information covered in that video, which we encourage everyone to watch. It has been a privilege to work with so many gifted artists and to play a small role in helping expose their art and message to people within our network. Please continue to follow our friends as we expect nothing but the best from them. Our roster moving forward will consist of Propaganda, Beautiful Eulogy, Jackie Hill Perry and JGivens. We know for some of you, this might leave some questions unanswered. Our desire was to make this announcement in the most clear, yet healthiest way we could out of love for our Lord, for our artists and for everyone who has supported us this far. Please continue to follow Humble Beast as we continue pursuing our mission of freely giving.

Your friends and brothers,
Humble Beast

In some ways it looks like Humble Beast is still growing.  They have a new building getting fitted out with studios.  JGivens album is on the way, with some hot singles already out.  Humble Beast are now even selling coffee blends. 

In the video, Odd Thomas and Braille explain the restructuring of Humble Beast.

We talked with Braille in 2010 about why he started this record label.  Have a listen to the interview.