Hearpen Records was created by David Thomas (2) in 1975 to put out Pere Ubu records. Over the years Hearpen became a production and management partner for Ubu Projex in America.
The name derives from an anglo-saxon word for harp. The "p" is a transliteration of the Anglo-Saxon thorn, a character that was pronounced th. HEARTHAN (pronounced hay-are-than, rhymes with van) gradually gave way to HEARPEN (pronounced hay-are-pen) as the label's name. The logo got designed on a day it was HEARTHAN. A rule evolved that written the name is "Hearpen" while integrated into a design it becomes "Hearthan." Hearpen is the favored pronunciation in all cases. Confusion was the foundation on which their business grew.
On December 11 2007 hearpen.com went online (see Hearpen.com). It is a web site dedicated to sales of high quality audio downloads from Pere Ubu, David Thomas, Rocket From The Tombs, 15-60-75 and related bands.