Louis Posen

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Louis Posen (born 1971) is an American music producer and the founder of Hopeless Records and Sub City Records. He grew up in Los Angeles and fell in love with punk rock after seeing X perform when he was 15. He also loved film and studied film at California State University, Northridge, though he did not graduate. At 19 he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, and a botched eye operation in 1994 left him legally blind. In 1993 he started Hopeless Records in Van Nuys with $1,000 saved and a self-help book, after filming a video with Guttermouth. The label signed many popular bands. In 1999 he started Sub City Records, which has raised over $2.5 million for charities, including blindness research, mental health, and suicide prevention. He created the Take Action Tour to raise awareness of suicide prevention, and Hopeless Records and Sub City donate at least 5% of their profits to charity. He is a trustee of the Foundation Fighting Blindness and is often called the "Paul Newman of punk rock" for his philanthropy. He is married and has one child.