He began Flying Fish in 1974 to concentrate on traditional and contemporary folk music, though the catalog grew to include blues, bluegrass, country, jazz, reggae, dancefloor and rock.
[1] When Kaplan started the label, most similarly oriented companies produced albums with decidedly "homemade" packaging (e.g. cover art, etc.)
Kaplan realized that music of this sort had the potential to reach a wider audience, but needed to be packaged in a professional manner; people not already devotees were unlikely to take a chance on something that did not look like it came from a "real" record company.
Kaplan also invested in broader promotion of the music (wide provision of albums to radio; targeted advertising to back up tours).
Essentially, he located a niche between the hit-based promotion model of the major labels and the faith of the small independents that the music would find its own audience.