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Scott Booker was working the counter at Rainbow Records one day when in walked a skinny guy wearing a leather jacket and a motorcycle helmet with the tinted visor pulled down over his face.

"He grabbed a copy of ‘The Song Remains the Same,' came to the counter,” Booker recalls. "And you know, that corner of 23rd and Classen could be rough at moments, and there was that briefest of moments where I was like, ‘OK, is this guy gonna buy the record, or is he gonna rob us?' And he never really said anything, and he never lifted his visor.”

It was only after the mysterious masked customer had paid and left that Booker found out he was Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips . Turned out the freaky musician worked a day job just down the street at Long John Silver's.

That was more than 20 years ago, and what followed is well-documented. Record store customers knew Booker as a square dealer who always paid fair prices for used vinyl, particularly when the seller was broke, and that endeared him to members of the wild, ragtag, psychedelic noise-pop band from Oklahoma City that was starting to make waves in the indie-label underground. They eventually signed to Warner Bros. Records and made their friend from Midwest City their manager.

Seven albums, three Grammys and the building of an international cult following later, nothing much has changed, except that Booker, 42, is branching out.

From a converted convenience store in north Edmond, he's established World's Fair, a company that manages independent artists and record labels on a worldwide basis. In a depressed and troubled music industry, it's a new way of doing business that Booker concocted with his partners in the enterprise — Kevin Wortis , of the independent, Belgium-based Play It Again Sam label, and Amaeche Uzoigwe, founder of Definitive Jux, one of hip-hop's most successful indie imprints, based in New York.

"We were seeing what was about to happen in the digital world revolution,” Booker said. "What we felt like was that there were going to be more and more artists that were going to be in a position to be able to run their own record label. But just because you can doesn't mean you know how to, and it doesn't mean you have the staff to, and you still need the things that the (major) record labels (provide for artists). ... In other words, like a sales staff.”

The World's Fair force also discovered another market for its services — foreign indie labels.

"There are a lot of record labels overseas that wanted to start up here in the States, but it was difficult for two reasons,” Booker said. "One is that it's expensive. Even if you just have one person working for you in New York City out of their apartment, it's still probably going to cost you a hundred grand a year just for that.

"And the second thing was, a record label outside of the U.S. can't get distribution unless they have a physical office here in the States. ... They would always have to license off their artists ... where they're earning a dollar to every $10 that the record label that actually puts it out in the States is earning.”

World's Fair offered the expertise to run a label and the staff with which to do it, handling publicity, sales, online blog marketing and manufacturing.

But even better, the World's Fair partners also devised a financial plan to "flip the money around” to the independent artist's advantage.

"So if an artist was getting two bucks out of every 10, in between publishing and master rights, and then the (major) record labels were getting eight bucks, we could flip it. We'll run the record label for you with a staff of nine or 10 people — now we've got about 15 — for the two bucks a unit instead of the eight — and then you guys are earning the eight.”

Since establishing the concern in 2004, Booker and his World's Fair partners have built a stellar roster of artists that includes Brighton, England's British Sea Power , Miami, Fla.'s the Postmarks , New York's Pela , New York alternative rapper El-P , Cambridge, Mass., alt-rapper Mike Ladd , Stillwater alt-pop up-and-comers Colourmusic , and Oklahoma City psych-rockers Stardeath & White Dwarfs , which features Wayne Coyne's nephew, Dennis Coyne . And, of course, the Flaming Lips are on board as well.

Independent labels the company has administered include Rough Trade, Bella Union (owned by Cocteau Twins ), Play It Again Sam, Daptone (owned by the Dap-Kings ), and Unfiltered (owned by Ivy). World Fair's newest partnership is with the the Dandy Warhols ' new label, Beat the World.

The company's success with these clients — along with the financial assistance of Warner Bros. Records — has allowed it to launch its own label, Great Society, which has signed Colourmusic, Pela, Roger O'Donnell (keyboard player for The Cure ), and Tiny Master of Today , which consists of a brother and sister known only as Ivan , 13, and Ada , 11.

"We're not getting rich by any means, but mostly it's because we keep reinvesting in our company,” Booker said. "Whenever we get a bit of money, we're like, ‘We should hire a radio person now, or maybe we should hire another press person.' ...

"Because we really think that we're onto something and so do other people. BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) has talked to us about buying us, but that didn't work out. Live Nation, they're talking about teaming up on some stuff, so we'll see what happens.”

Whatever happens, Booker said World's Fair will never get too big to remain in Oklahoma, even though it maintains an office in New York.

"It's really important to me that we do stuff here in Oklahoma, too, and show people that you literally can be anywhere and do it,” he said. "It's a personal goal of mine to bring more entertainment industry here to Oklahoma.”

To that end, Booker has involved himself in the Oklahoma Creativity Project, a collaborative statewide initiative to establish the state as a world-class center of creativity and innovation in commerce, culture and education. Booker is among the leaders from the business, education and cultural sectors who are driving the project.

"We can have an entertainment business here just like the oil business,” Booker said. "It's possible. I'd like to see us turn into the next Nashville. ... I don't want to be another New York or L.A., though.”