Hopeless Records thrives by adapting to changes in the music industry

A few days before Hopeless Records was to celebrate its 25th anniversary, a deluge of rain hit Los Angeles and flooded the streets around the independent punk label's Van Nuys headquarters. Water rose calf-high in the gutters around the building, making it nearly impossible to enter or leave without getting soaked.

But inside, label founder Louis Posen took a soggy visitor for a tour of the complex. Despite being legally blind because of retinitis pigmentosa, Posen knew every inch of the place by feel. He introduced the label's head of A&R and the newest crop of college-age interns, and he showed