Flying Fish (Label)

American label from Chicago. Flying Fish Records was a Chicago-based eclectic blues and country record label. It was founded in 1974 by Bruce Kaplan (2), former president of the University of Chicago's Folklore Society. The original headquarters was located on 3320 North Halsted Street until it was relocated to 1304 W. Schubert Avenue in the fall of 1977.

Flying Fish played a major role in bringing traditionally oriented American music to a wider audience in the 1970s. At the time Kaplan started the label, most similarly oriented companies produced albums with decidedly "homemade" packaging (e.g. cover art, etc.) and marketed the albums to a relatively narrow audience of aficionados. Kaplan realized that music of this sort had the potential to reach a wider audience, but needed to be packaged in a professional manner; people not already devotees were unlikely to take a chance on something that did not look like it came from a "real" record company. Kaplan also invested in broader promotion of the music (wide provision of albums to radio; targeted advertising to back up tours). Essentially, he located a niche between the hit-based promotion model of the major labels and the faith of the small independents that the music would find its own audience.