Submerge Records

The original Submerge Records was located at 2030 Grand River  and transitioned over to 3000 East Grand Boulevard between the years of 2000-2002. Submerge Records was an independent record company and a distribution company of records. Submerge Record labels included: Underground Resistance, Transmat, Red Planet, and Distorted Soul. The old site is now a vacant parking lot. In a rare interview from a 1994 article in "A House in Detroit", Banks says, "Submerge was founded out of a need. There were a bunch of small, unorganized labels struggling to survive. None of them had any formal business classes, and for any record label to survive, you have to produce music. Jeff (Mills) and I were signing acts, back when he was here, trying to collect money, bill people, send invoices, and it was cutting into our music. We couldn’t afford a staff. So my idea was to accumulate all these labels and one person run the ship as far distribution, paying bills, invoices. Christa Weatherspoon runs Submerge and she is co-owner. It can¹t work without her. She runs it completely." The new home of Submerge Records houses a museum from its previous location, and tells the story of Detroit’s techno scene.

References and further readings/videos:

http://www.submerge.com/distribution/gallery.html

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/03/audio-a-brief-history-of-techno.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKNbmnyiuHc

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=10316

http://www.submerge.com/

http://newstrategiesdmc.blogspot.com/2011/08/underground-resistance-detroit-techno.html