Owning the work.
Building the future.

Before Violet Inch:
The Groundbreakers

The idea of a woman founding her own label was once radical.

Long before “indie” became an industry term, Ferron self-released her albums on Lucy Records (1977), pressing vinyl out of Vancouver with grassroots distribution. Her label carved space for queer feminist folk music in a system that had none.

A few years later, Loreena McKennitt created Quinlan Road (1985) from her Stratford apartment, handling everything from production to mail order. Quinlan Road became an international model for artist-owned success. Proof that a label could thrive without giving up ownership.

These artists weren’t simply releasing music; they were rewriting business norms.

They turned living rooms into offices, managed tours from kitchen tables, and demonstrated that creative control and commercial reach could coexist on one’s own terms.

The 1990s:
A New Wave of DIY Women

The 1990s brought a surge of self-sufficiency.

On the East Coast, Julie Doiron launched Sappy Records (1990) to release her own cassettes and those of friends in the burgeoning indie-rock scene.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Kinnie Starr founded Violet Inch Records—an imprint that embodied her fearless blend of hip-hop, alt-rock, and poetry.

At a time when very few Canadian women were running their own labels—especially outside the folk world—Starr did everything herself: producing, engineering, designing, and distributing. Violet Inch kept masters in-house while partnering strategically for reach, licensing albums like Sun Again (2003) to Universal Music Canada, Anything (2006) to Maple Music Recordings, and Edge of the Knife (2018) to Aporia Records.

Violet Inch bridged genres and regions, linking the West Coast’s experimental spirit with the national indie surge. Starr’s work positioned the label as both creative lab and statement of autonomy—a declaration that women could occupy every role in the production chain.