Spartan Records
| Company type | Independent record label |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music |
| Founded | January 2007 |
| Founder | John T. Frazier |
| Headquarters | Seattle , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | John T. Frazier (Founder) |
| Products | Music recordings, vinyl records |
| Website | spartanrecords |
Spartan Records was established by John T. Frazier in Seattle, Washington, in January 2007. The label's roster includes artists such as Schematic, Barren Womb, Ourlives, and Shy, Low. Prior to launching Spartan, Frazier served as marketing director at independent labels like Tooth and Nail Records, Solid State Records, and Drive-Thru Records. Spartan transitioned into a full-time venture in January 2013 and is noted for its inventive colored vinyl releases.
Formation
Inspired by mail-order record labels during his youth, John T. Frazier’s early experience encompassed college radio, an internship at Geffen Records, and involvement with street teams for various labels. His professional journey began at the indie label crank!, followed by roles at Tooth and Nail, Solid State, and Drive-Thru Records before founding Spartan Records in 2007. Frazier departed from Tooth and Nail in December 2012 to dedicate himself fully to Spartan.
Destination: Beautiful
Mae’s Destination: Beautiful stands as Spartan’s most commercially successful album. The original 2012 release featured 500 vinyl LPs pressed in multiple color variants that quickly sold out. Pressings in 2013 introduced teal versions and glow-in-the-dark vinyl available through Hot Topic, which also sold out rapidly. For Record Store Day 2014, a fourth pressing presented limited transparent blue and gold vinyl editions that similarly reached sellout status.
Building on this momentum, Spartan initiated "Mae Week" in May 2014 by issuing a fifth pressing of 500 vinyl copies distributed over five daily variant releases—all of which sold out swiftly. This event was complemented by the reissue of Mae merchandise such as shirts. A sixth pressing remains accessible through Spartan’s official website.
In addition to Destination: Beautiful, Spartan has released other Mae albums including The Everglow, the (m)(a)(e) anthology, and Our Love is a Painted Picture.
Artists
The following list features some of the artists who have been signed with Spartan Records either currently or in the past:
- American Opera
- Anchor & Braille
- Assertion
- Barren Womb
- Daisyhead
- Dearist
- Demons
- Fallow Land
- Florida Man
- Giants Chair
- Hidden Hospitals
- Honey and Salt
- Kiska
- Lights & Motion
- Lucky Scars
- JOKASH
- Mae
- Man Mountain
- Mountain Time
- My God, It's Full of Stars
- NYVES
- Over the Ocean
- Ourlives
- Reader
- Renaissance Fair
- Schematic
- Secret Stuff
- Sense Field
- Shy, Low
- Six Going on Seven
- Sky's the Limit
- Square Peg Round Hole
- States
- Subways on the Sun
- Sullivan
- Sundressed
- Surprises
- The Darling Fire
- The Farewell Bend
- The Foxery
- Trace Bundy
- Trespassers
- Unifier
- Unwed Sailor
- VAR
- Waypoint
- Young Fox
See also
- Dave Elkins
- List of record labels
External links
- Articles with short description
- 2007 establishments in Washington (state)
- Alternative rock record labels
- American companies established in 2008
- American independent record labels
- Companies based in Seattle
- Hardcore record labels
- Post-hardcore record labels
- Record labels established in 2007
- Rock record labels
- Mass media in Seattle
- 5
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment