Label Guide: International Artists

International Artists (also: IA; formally: International Artist Producing Corp.) was an independent record label, founded in 1965, and based in Houston, Texas. The label was run by Lelan Rogers, the oldest brother of country music star Kenny Rogers. The label has a legendary status today for its roster of well-known Texas psychedelic rock bands, including The 13th Floor Elevators, The Red Crayola and Bubble Puppy, and other, lesser known artists in the psychedelic or garage rock genres, such as The Golden Dawn, Lost And Found and Endle St. Cloud.

International Artists was one of the earliest and most influential underground/psychedelic labels of the 1960s. During its four years of activity, the label released twelve albums, four of which were by its flagship act, The 13th Floor Elevators. The label originally folded in early 1971, but was revived by Lelan Rogers in 1978, who reissued most of the albums in several reprints.

Original first pressings of nearly all the IA albums are now considered highly collectible and achieve high prices on the market. However, it is not that easy to identify an original pressing; there have been numerous reprints, official ones and counterfeits. The late 1970s reprints used a label design that was almost identical to the original one, but this batch can be identified by the term "Masterfonics" that is stamped into the dead wax.

Lelan Rogers closed the label again in the early 1980s, but it was once again resurrected in 2008 with another set of vinyl reissues.