The music industry’s been singing a bittersweet tune as record stores are rendered obsolete by file sharers and mp3 fiends. Yet for Liz Pelly (COM’11), cofounder of the Long Island-based record label Dinosaurs in Vietnam, the recent downturn creates an opening, a power shift from centralized larger labels to communal collectives like her own.

Hanging above her desk on Allston’s Greylock Street, a sign reads, “simplify,” more of a wish than a reality, given her busy life as an up-and-coming music mogul.

“What does mogul mean?” she asks, plugging the word into an online dictionary. “Hmm, a ‘big businessman.’ I am not a big businessman.”

One of BU’s most fervent music fanatics has a passion for helping good people do good things, which is expressed in a variety of ways, including internships with the College Music Journal and as co–music director at WTBU.

At CMJ, she recalls, “I wrote a big story about student-run record labels, but I really don’t look to that as a reference. Dinosaurs in Vietnam’s nothing like them.”

“Dinos” was founded not as a business but more as a collective of writers, artists, and of course, musicians. It’s organized in egalitarian style, free from titles and hierarchies; Pelly officially calls it a record label out of necessity.

“We started it not really intending for it to become a label,” she says. “But the artists involved just started calling it that, so it stuck. It sums up our intentions, makes it easier for people to know what we’re all about.”

The label’s name came from a transcending sense of artistic promise. Originally, Dinos was a simple moniker for a collection of bands that played a sound drastically different from the “emo pop punk” saturating Long Island.

“If anyone referred to Long Island as Long Island Rock City I would say no,” says Pelly. “Dinosaurs in Vietnam is far removed from Long Island. There are four artists signed to Dinosaurs in Vietnam. For example, Tom Moran is one of the musicians and he’s inspired by musicians like Daniel Johnston and the New York City antifolk scene.”

Another Dinos act is Bdee, a one-man wonder best classified with the likes of Ariel Pink and other experimental indie rock acts under the New Weird America genre.

Pelly isn’t worried about money.

“Anyone who’s producing their music and putting it on big labels has some other motives — including money,” she says. “I think people need to understand the importance of where their music comes from. Listen to Dinosaurs in Vietnam and support DIY labels!”

Pelly makes that easy to do: all Dino releases are available to download free, right here.

Jennifer Choi can be reached at jenchoi71@gmail.com. Or follow @jenchoi on Twitter.

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