Niches: Let us Now Praise Kimberly Dawn

Although I consider myself a generalist, I have always been fascinated by niches: niche specialties of law practice, niche collectors, niche book publishing, and, of course, niche areas of the music business. One often reads or hears about niche areas of the music business that are thriving despite the economic downturn. Therefore, I was fascinated to learn about Murfreesboro’s Kimberly Dawn label, a label that specializes in releases of hand-packaged 3-inch CD-R’s, essentially EPs. The Nashville Scene wrote about the label and its specialty “moody atmospheric music.” This is a genre about which I know only a little (despite my admiration of Brian Eno), but I respect the fact that the label has built a network of collectors and musicians interested in its music. I am even more fascinated that the label elected to use the medium of the 3-inch CD, something that I thought died an ignoble death in the Eighties. The fact that only a few CD players can even play the things apparently ADDS to the attractiveness of the objects (kind of like when Cheap Trick released an 8-track version on their new album). I think Kimberly Dawn has a very interesting story and is a bright light in the local music business.