Searching for Brazilian netlabels to interview we ran into Tranzmitter and exchanged a few emails with its curator Marcos Paulo Tiago. The answers are translated from Portuguese.
Substak – Between
First of all, thank you for agreeing to answer a few of our
questions. Can you tell us something about the people behind Tranzmitter
netlabel and how they got involved with music?
Currently I’m the only person running Tranzmitter. My name is Marcos
Paulo Tiago. I have been listening to electronic music since 1987. Even
with little resources back then I was always searching for more
electronic music.
When and why did you feel the need to create a netlabel? Why a netlabel and not a traditional label?
I first caught wind of netlabels from other countries around 2006. A
year later I had some friends who already produced good quality
electronic music, and so I decided to get in touch with them to try
something out. We received some positive feedback so I immediately
created Tranzmitter’s first website to promote it. I think netlabels are
the best way for producers to promote their work nowadays, so I never
had any interest in creating a more traditional type of label.
Is your label focused only on deep house and techno music?
Our main focus is electronic music, Tranzmitter has releases in genres
that range from Deep, House, Techno, Experimental, Downtempo and even
Drum’n’Bass and Dubstep.
What netlabels influenced Tranzmitter? Are they still active today?
Yes, Unfoundsound, Deepindub and Inoquo. They are all still active to this day.
Some people are claiming that Jamendo, Bandcamp and Soundcloud are
bringing even more artist independence from labels. Not just from the
majors but also from indies and netlabels. My question for you is: What
are the benefits for an artist to release through your netlabel instead
of being entirely independent?
The main reason is because by releasing through a netlabel your music
won’t end up restricted to only one channel or platform. Aside from the
tracks being available through our website, they are also promoted by us
in other channels, increasing the promotional network for the artist’s
work.
Are you in contact with local venues and event promoters?
I organized a few events here in Brazil, but there are not that many
clubs and promoters opening their doors to local underground music.
We noticed on your website that you also have paid releases
available for sale. How do you see the music business operating? How
should the free and paid music world coexist in 2014?
I see the relation between free and paid as being positive marketing for
Tranzmitter. Having paid releases available is also a good stimulus for
the producers who been releasing with us for a longer time.
In the free culture and copyleft movements, Brazil is named quite
often for its techno-brega movement. It’s usually mentioned as an
example of the anti-capitalist and anti-copyright evolution of music
culture. Do you, being a Brazilian, share that view?
Tecnobrega is a popular musical genre traditional from the Northeast
Brazil. In the South – where i live – it isn’t played all that much, so I
can’t really say much about it.
Care to share with us a net release you are particularly proud of from your label and explain to us why you like it?
It’s hard to pick a release in particular. They all have something that
makes them special. I feel proud of Tranzmitter itself, how it turned
into a giant of the electronic music scene with over 120 thousand
downloads among other things. It also enabled me to become friends with a
lot of people, not only here from Brazil but also from other countries.
So the label itself makes me proud.
Thanks for your time! Any last words?
Thanks for the contact with netlabelism.com and for the good work you been doing promoting netlabels and electronic music.
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Thursday, 2 May 2013
QED Records
We recently talked with Lionel Valdelion, the person behind the QED Records, the first Philippines netlabel, active online since June 2004.
Makkina – Street Souljah
Did you have any netlabel references when founding QED? Are they still active today?
I was looking at a bunch of netlabels when I started, such as Thinnerism and No Type, and the rest of the regulars over at the Internet Archive Netlabels collection. Sadly many of those first few netlabels are no longer in existence, or have stopped releasing anything new.
The motivation to start my own netlabel really grew when I started subscribing to the netlabel release mailing lists on Yahoogroups. Seeing all this amazing material released out of bedrooms in the farthest reaches of the globe inspired me.
Your website claims QED was the first Philippines netlabel, are there others active nowdays? Can you tell us a little more about the scene there?
There are now at least three more netlabels that I know of, plus a whole lot of individual artists who are packaging their releases on Mediafire and acting as self labels. While netlabelism isn’t something that ever took off here as more of a movement or a scene, it is something that indie artists understand the need for.
Are you connected with the Indonesians Netlabels Union in any way? I know it’s another country, but somewhat close geographically. Maybe you can tell us a little more about it than what we can translate off their website?
No connection at all. That’s been the one thing lacking in my management of the netlabel: any form of organized networking.
What are the predominant type of sounds we can find at QED?
Predominantly chillout and downtempo, but also a lot of breakbeat and DnB, plus everything in between. It never had a real sound because it is held together more by a geographical home base rather than a sonic one.
I read you relocated to the US? Not wanting to pry on your personal life, but can you share with us the reason why? Do you still keep in touch with the Philippines netaudio scene?
My wife and I migrated here to the US to start a family and grab the chance for a better quality of life. So far, it’s working. But I do still keep in touch with Philippine musicians via social media.
You have a very long catalogue for a netlabel, to this date over 4000 releases. My question is: aren’t you afraid that your higher quality releases get hidden under the quantity?
That number is actually deceiving. I started the netlabel with release number qd-4200. So there are only 72 releases thus far. Not very much actually, compared to other, more active netlabels.
But yes, having a large catalog poses a challenge. How do you give equal time to promoting new and old releases? The answer, I think lies in analytics. Look at what people are downloading more of, and promote more of the same sound/genre. Then look at the under-promoted releases you believe in yourself and promote those.
Do you treat all releases the same in terms of promotion? Especially when dealing with different genres it can be difficult to remain in touch with different target audiences, how do you deal with that?
I do promote everything the same way: blasting it out on social media. And to be honest, it never really worked. Or I was never able to optimize the process. I never was able to put enough effort behind it to do it in a way needed for more people to discover us.
I tried video and Youtube for a while, but again, not enough time to do so properly.
Can you share with us your typical promotion of a new release? What websites do you contact? Mailing lists?
I started out promoting the releases using yahoogroups. Today, it’s really only via archive.org’s Netlabel page, Twitter, Facebook, and a few forums. If there’s a manual out there that lists the best ways to promote independent netlabels, I would gladly download it.
Do you have any contact with local scenes organizing or promoting concerts?
I did for a while. But since the majority of electronic musicians QED Records works with are bedroom musicians, there was never enough of a motivation to create events for the releases.
Please share with us a couple of your releases and why any new listeners should listen to them.
I picked these releases based on reader reviews posted on Archive.org:
[qd-4255] Araknidus & aLJar3d – Disturbanz
Kick ass drum n bass by two indie producers who started out producing tracks in the bedroom and parlayed it into gigs at venues.
[qd-4246] Demolee – A World in Slow Motion
Smoothest of smooth chillout and downtempo by a master of sublime groove.
[qd-4214] Makkina – Blissful
Downtempo drum n bass by a reclusive producer whose tracks have been featured on Cafe Del Mar.
[qd-4209] Acid42 – Downtampuhan
Chill house, acid jazz, ambient and a little world/ethnic flavor.
Thanks for your time! Do you have any question you would have liked me to have ask you? Also, any last words of wisdom for the readers?
Support your favorite netlabel by promoting them or buying their products (if they have any for sale).
Makkina – Street Souljah
Did you have any netlabel references when founding QED? Are they still active today?
I was looking at a bunch of netlabels when I started, such as Thinnerism and No Type, and the rest of the regulars over at the Internet Archive Netlabels collection. Sadly many of those first few netlabels are no longer in existence, or have stopped releasing anything new.
The motivation to start my own netlabel really grew when I started subscribing to the netlabel release mailing lists on Yahoogroups. Seeing all this amazing material released out of bedrooms in the farthest reaches of the globe inspired me.
Your website claims QED was the first Philippines netlabel, are there others active nowdays? Can you tell us a little more about the scene there?
There are now at least three more netlabels that I know of, plus a whole lot of individual artists who are packaging their releases on Mediafire and acting as self labels. While netlabelism isn’t something that ever took off here as more of a movement or a scene, it is something that indie artists understand the need for.
Are you connected with the Indonesians Netlabels Union in any way? I know it’s another country, but somewhat close geographically. Maybe you can tell us a little more about it than what we can translate off their website?
No connection at all. That’s been the one thing lacking in my management of the netlabel: any form of organized networking.
What are the predominant type of sounds we can find at QED?
Predominantly chillout and downtempo, but also a lot of breakbeat and DnB, plus everything in between. It never had a real sound because it is held together more by a geographical home base rather than a sonic one.
I read you relocated to the US? Not wanting to pry on your personal life, but can you share with us the reason why? Do you still keep in touch with the Philippines netaudio scene?
My wife and I migrated here to the US to start a family and grab the chance for a better quality of life. So far, it’s working. But I do still keep in touch with Philippine musicians via social media.
You have a very long catalogue for a netlabel, to this date over 4000 releases. My question is: aren’t you afraid that your higher quality releases get hidden under the quantity?
That number is actually deceiving. I started the netlabel with release number qd-4200. So there are only 72 releases thus far. Not very much actually, compared to other, more active netlabels.
But yes, having a large catalog poses a challenge. How do you give equal time to promoting new and old releases? The answer, I think lies in analytics. Look at what people are downloading more of, and promote more of the same sound/genre. Then look at the under-promoted releases you believe in yourself and promote those.
Do you treat all releases the same in terms of promotion? Especially when dealing with different genres it can be difficult to remain in touch with different target audiences, how do you deal with that?
I do promote everything the same way: blasting it out on social media. And to be honest, it never really worked. Or I was never able to optimize the process. I never was able to put enough effort behind it to do it in a way needed for more people to discover us.
I tried video and Youtube for a while, but again, not enough time to do so properly.
Can you share with us your typical promotion of a new release? What websites do you contact? Mailing lists?
I started out promoting the releases using yahoogroups. Today, it’s really only via archive.org’s Netlabel page, Twitter, Facebook, and a few forums. If there’s a manual out there that lists the best ways to promote independent netlabels, I would gladly download it.
Do you have any contact with local scenes organizing or promoting concerts?
I did for a while. But since the majority of electronic musicians QED Records works with are bedroom musicians, there was never enough of a motivation to create events for the releases.
Please share with us a couple of your releases and why any new listeners should listen to them.
I picked these releases based on reader reviews posted on Archive.org:
[qd-4255] Araknidus & aLJar3d – Disturbanz
Kick ass drum n bass by two indie producers who started out producing tracks in the bedroom and parlayed it into gigs at venues.
[qd-4246] Demolee – A World in Slow Motion
Smoothest of smooth chillout and downtempo by a master of sublime groove.
[qd-4214] Makkina – Blissful
Downtempo drum n bass by a reclusive producer whose tracks have been featured on Cafe Del Mar.
[qd-4209] Acid42 – Downtampuhan
Chill house, acid jazz, ambient and a little world/ethnic flavor.
Thanks for your time! Do you have any question you would have liked me to have ask you? Also, any last words of wisdom for the readers?
Support your favorite netlabel by promoting them or buying their products (if they have any for sale).
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Audiotalaia
I recently got in touch with Edu Comelles, the main person behind the Spanish netlabel Audiotalaia.
Hello Edu, can you tell us a little more about who is behind Audiotalaia?
Audiotalaia was founded in 2007. Since then I have managed the label by myself with punctual collaborations. Right now I work with Óscar Palou who’s in charge of developing the site. Also with Jaume Muntsant, we are usually in touch to work out collaborations or when he releases his podcast Nuvol de Fum. Also Carla Ariza designed the logo and a few guidelines about Audiotalaia’s aesthetic imagery.
But yes, basically it’s me coordinating the whole thing. In a few months we will start new projects in which more people will join me in a new endeavor involving physical releases. And yes, even though I’m by myself I always speak in plural when Audiotalaia is in the conversation: it sounds better
Can you tell us a little more about your artists and your aesthetic vision for the label?
At the beginning our main target was to release works of experimental music or sound compositions closer to an ambient approach. With time, the interests of Audiotalaia has widened the range of styles and genres. Nowadays we focus on various styles and we don’t close the door to proposals ranging from field recordings to circuit bending.
During the past three years the label has focused the interest on works and artists composing in Spain, we have discovered a very vivid and active scene (especially in Valencia) and we are focusing on spreading and disseminating works made in our country (at least we have something worth-exporting). So in the end, Audiotalaia has taken the responsibility of promoting and producing works by local and national artists. Even though we don’t close the door to foreign artists, not at all, but our primary goal is to contribute to this growing community of artists, living (or leaving) Spain.
Can you tell us about one of your recent releases and why we should check it out?
Our latest release by Basque Artist Lauki is a very nice release. He’s been collaborating for a while with Polish artist Pleq and this is his first solo album since 2010. We are happy to release his work because it captures the essence of the aesthetic philosophy of Audiotalaia. A very beautiful work based on recordings of string instruments processed and re-arranged by Lauki himself. After releasing his work we will receive him in Valencia as a guest artist at Off_Hz and this is something we rather like in Audiotalaia to meet the artists we are working with.
Lauki – CEO
I know you organize a few events now and again, especially in Valencia. Can you tell us a little more about your experience organizing local events and dealing with local promoters?
The experience in Valencia has been absolutely stunning so far. After my arrival (almost four years ago) I have discovered amazing artists working on a daily basis and producing a lot of good stuff. Avelino Saavedra, Jean Montag, Jorge Marredo, Martí Guillem, Alozeau, Josué Moreno, Víctor Trescolí or Josep Lluís Galiana are a few examples… But I could be writing names for a while. We can say that nowadays we have a very active local scene that is seen from the rest of Spain as a surprising outburst of creativity, events and culture in a political and socio-economical moment like this one.
We have an average of 3-4 concerts per month in a city not bigger than 800.000 inhabitants, a few self-catered festivals and a monthly based sound art event called Off_Hz curated by me and Carlos Flores. Off_Hz is presenting every month a double concert on different art gallery every time. Each concert counts with a local artist and some other artist we bring from the rest of Spain.
Off_Hz is having a tremendous success in the city. In this small world of experimental music or sound art or whatever you want to call it, there is only a very small amount of people you may reach, still with this disadvantage Off_hz is filling art galleries with people listening to weird music. This is just an example but the case is that Valencia (I don’t know why) is very eager to listen to new music, after three years of continuous work and a lot of pedagogy and didactics we have managed to attract new public and every time more people get interested in that.
We have always been against the inherited elitism of some festivals where you play in front of a few sound artists and composers, you deal with each other and nothing really happens. We are always avoiding this, we take the risk of confronting a non-literate audience, and see how they react, the feedback you get at the end of the concert is richer than any literate comment by some Electroacustic Music legend, something that, make no mistake, we also respect, but… sometimes a fresh and clean approach by someone with “clear ears” is a nice slap in the face.
In regards to the question about the local promoters, we in fact are some sort of local promoters, we work on a self-cattered, DIY philosophy and it has been working nicely so far. Valencia is a city that allows an easy way to organize things, the law is flexible and the rents are low. Also the underground scene in Valencia is quite a vivid one. There a lot of locals and venues where to organize a concerts is quite easy, some of them have even amazing sound equipment such as Plutón.cc a venue we collaborate with often and a epicenter of a part of this scene. In the past, places like La Clínica Mundana (currently closed) functioned in similar ways.
What is your standard procedure when promoting a new release? Do you have regular contact with album reviewers or certain preferred platforms to announce your releases?
We promote basically through social networks such as facebook and twitter. Also we have a very strong mailing list with local and international media reviewers, radio programmers and so on. One of our targets is to be very present on radio in a Spanish basis also we keep promoting the latest release until the next one pops up after (more or less) one month. We like to give time the album to widespread and become sometimes viral. Of course we send personal emails to concrete reviewers that are eager to talk about our releases. This part of the promoting machinery is focused on international media blogs or review platforms, as said before our main target is to show things done in Spain abroad.
The music world is always changing and labels need to adapt and try new models. Can you tell us more about your plans with Audition Records that are described in your homepage?
Audition Records is now in full control of Julián Bonequi. Nowadays the label has stopped production for a while. Bonequi has done amazing work recollecting and preserving a very complex and rich scene based in Berlin, after this hard work I think he deserves a break and a lot of applause.
With Audiotalaia the path leads to another adventure. We are going to open a new catalogue for physical editions that will come to fruition in the following months with new and very promising projects. Also and this is still too early we are starting to think about vinyl editions. For now we will start with CD and limited editions and as this works out we’ll see if we go further. Still with this new addition we won’t leave the free download catalogue, this will continue as always.
What are your plans for the future?
Well I guess I have answered a bit of this in the previous question but the future (as uncertain as it is) will lead us to expand our activities, we want to place a special effort on exporting our model of work to other cities and to start moving artists around the country in new projects we are already working on. So the future, I think is gonna be tough but exciting.
Any last words or a question you would have liked me to have asked?
Just to thank you Filipe for the opportunity to share with you guys what we are working on here in Valencia and Audiotalaia. Thanks very much and congratulations for the work done so far at Netlabelism.
Hello Edu, can you tell us a little more about who is behind Audiotalaia?
Audiotalaia was founded in 2007. Since then I have managed the label by myself with punctual collaborations. Right now I work with Óscar Palou who’s in charge of developing the site. Also with Jaume Muntsant, we are usually in touch to work out collaborations or when he releases his podcast Nuvol de Fum. Also Carla Ariza designed the logo and a few guidelines about Audiotalaia’s aesthetic imagery.
But yes, basically it’s me coordinating the whole thing. In a few months we will start new projects in which more people will join me in a new endeavor involving physical releases. And yes, even though I’m by myself I always speak in plural when Audiotalaia is in the conversation: it sounds better
Can you tell us a little more about your artists and your aesthetic vision for the label?
At the beginning our main target was to release works of experimental music or sound compositions closer to an ambient approach. With time, the interests of Audiotalaia has widened the range of styles and genres. Nowadays we focus on various styles and we don’t close the door to proposals ranging from field recordings to circuit bending.
During the past three years the label has focused the interest on works and artists composing in Spain, we have discovered a very vivid and active scene (especially in Valencia) and we are focusing on spreading and disseminating works made in our country (at least we have something worth-exporting). So in the end, Audiotalaia has taken the responsibility of promoting and producing works by local and national artists. Even though we don’t close the door to foreign artists, not at all, but our primary goal is to contribute to this growing community of artists, living (or leaving) Spain.
Can you tell us about one of your recent releases and why we should check it out?
Our latest release by Basque Artist Lauki is a very nice release. He’s been collaborating for a while with Polish artist Pleq and this is his first solo album since 2010. We are happy to release his work because it captures the essence of the aesthetic philosophy of Audiotalaia. A very beautiful work based on recordings of string instruments processed and re-arranged by Lauki himself. After releasing his work we will receive him in Valencia as a guest artist at Off_Hz and this is something we rather like in Audiotalaia to meet the artists we are working with.
Lauki – CEO
I know you organize a few events now and again, especially in Valencia. Can you tell us a little more about your experience organizing local events and dealing with local promoters?
The experience in Valencia has been absolutely stunning so far. After my arrival (almost four years ago) I have discovered amazing artists working on a daily basis and producing a lot of good stuff. Avelino Saavedra, Jean Montag, Jorge Marredo, Martí Guillem, Alozeau, Josué Moreno, Víctor Trescolí or Josep Lluís Galiana are a few examples… But I could be writing names for a while. We can say that nowadays we have a very active local scene that is seen from the rest of Spain as a surprising outburst of creativity, events and culture in a political and socio-economical moment like this one.
We have an average of 3-4 concerts per month in a city not bigger than 800.000 inhabitants, a few self-catered festivals and a monthly based sound art event called Off_Hz curated by me and Carlos Flores. Off_Hz is presenting every month a double concert on different art gallery every time. Each concert counts with a local artist and some other artist we bring from the rest of Spain.
Off_Hz is having a tremendous success in the city. In this small world of experimental music or sound art or whatever you want to call it, there is only a very small amount of people you may reach, still with this disadvantage Off_hz is filling art galleries with people listening to weird music. This is just an example but the case is that Valencia (I don’t know why) is very eager to listen to new music, after three years of continuous work and a lot of pedagogy and didactics we have managed to attract new public and every time more people get interested in that.
We have always been against the inherited elitism of some festivals where you play in front of a few sound artists and composers, you deal with each other and nothing really happens. We are always avoiding this, we take the risk of confronting a non-literate audience, and see how they react, the feedback you get at the end of the concert is richer than any literate comment by some Electroacustic Music legend, something that, make no mistake, we also respect, but… sometimes a fresh and clean approach by someone with “clear ears” is a nice slap in the face.
In regards to the question about the local promoters, we in fact are some sort of local promoters, we work on a self-cattered, DIY philosophy and it has been working nicely so far. Valencia is a city that allows an easy way to organize things, the law is flexible and the rents are low. Also the underground scene in Valencia is quite a vivid one. There a lot of locals and venues where to organize a concerts is quite easy, some of them have even amazing sound equipment such as Plutón.cc a venue we collaborate with often and a epicenter of a part of this scene. In the past, places like La Clínica Mundana (currently closed) functioned in similar ways.
What is your standard procedure when promoting a new release? Do you have regular contact with album reviewers or certain preferred platforms to announce your releases?
We promote basically through social networks such as facebook and twitter. Also we have a very strong mailing list with local and international media reviewers, radio programmers and so on. One of our targets is to be very present on radio in a Spanish basis also we keep promoting the latest release until the next one pops up after (more or less) one month. We like to give time the album to widespread and become sometimes viral. Of course we send personal emails to concrete reviewers that are eager to talk about our releases. This part of the promoting machinery is focused on international media blogs or review platforms, as said before our main target is to show things done in Spain abroad.
The music world is always changing and labels need to adapt and try new models. Can you tell us more about your plans with Audition Records that are described in your homepage?
Audition Records is now in full control of Julián Bonequi. Nowadays the label has stopped production for a while. Bonequi has done amazing work recollecting and preserving a very complex and rich scene based in Berlin, after this hard work I think he deserves a break and a lot of applause.
With Audiotalaia the path leads to another adventure. We are going to open a new catalogue for physical editions that will come to fruition in the following months with new and very promising projects. Also and this is still too early we are starting to think about vinyl editions. For now we will start with CD and limited editions and as this works out we’ll see if we go further. Still with this new addition we won’t leave the free download catalogue, this will continue as always.
What are your plans for the future?
Well I guess I have answered a bit of this in the previous question but the future (as uncertain as it is) will lead us to expand our activities, we want to place a special effort on exporting our model of work to other cities and to start moving artists around the country in new projects we are already working on. So the future, I think is gonna be tough but exciting.
Any last words or a question you would have liked me to have asked?
Just to thank you Filipe for the opportunity to share with you guys what we are working on here in Valencia and Audiotalaia. Thanks very much and congratulations for the work done so far at Netlabelism.
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
This Side Music
The next netlabel interview in our monthly rotation is with the guys behind This Side Music,
a duo based out of Greece, focusing their netlabel on electronic music
(house/techno). They have been running it since 2007 and have had 18
releases so far.
Lee Fraged & Double Trouble – Say it with your own words
Could you please introduce us to the people behind This Side Music? Who are you? What is your background? What do you do for a living? How did you get connected with music and netaudio?
The netlabel started in Crete island, Greece, by Lee Fraged and Linny Berret and it was a product of a years-long friendship and musical companionship. Lee currently has an office job, he has worked in record sales for many years. Linny is a computer engineer. We have both been spinnin’ records (house/techno) and serving the local scene since the late 90’s – the club is where we met. What brought us even closer was a common taste in music and, of course, living in the same house for many years.
We also consider Dimitri Barnias (aka Dok) the third member of the family. Dimitri has contributed a great deal with his music, his spirit and his studio equipment and time to what we do.
When and how did you feel the need to start a netlabel?
Back in 2006, when the idea was first conceived, we had already experimented with various methods of electronic music production along with friends in the local scene. We tried to find ways to express ourselves independently, outside the music industry rules and commercial mindset, and the technology was available to help us achieve our goal. Several other existing netlabels inspired us (such as Thinner/Autoplate, Deepindub, Tropic et al.) so when we had enough material to justify the creation of a new one we decided to set it up – that was in 2007. One of our main goals was to share and promote music of our personal taste with a focus on great sound, as close as possible to the traditional labels. We wanted This Side Music to be a musical commonplace for like-minded people, rather than just an outlet of random sounds.
Do you feel the premises that made you start are still present nowadays or has the world changed and your objectives along with it?
This Side Music is still a resource for good electronic music, under a Creative Commons license, so our main goal is still alive. Items are available for sale from time to time – we’ve had a DIY CD release that fared quite well in terms of sales and there is also a release available on Bandcamp. It’s important to keep in mind that this is a non-profit situation, so we have to cover all expenses such as server & mastering costs ourselves – actual income from donations or sales is minimal. Kudos to Dimitri’s Diapason Studio for serving us for free when we need it!
The world changes of course; we relocate from time to time (Lee has lived in Berlin for 2 years, Linny currently lives in Athens), we get busier in our personal and professional lives, and this translates to a slower release cycle. We believe that having 3-5 releases per year is good enough if we want to keep the spirit alive. We also have other projects we plan to associate with This Side Music, such as a traditional vinyl release.
How do you measure the success of your netlabel?
It’s been more than five years since the first release, and we have a nice roster of artists that support us and have become our friends, some of our releases were really successful, in terms of downloads and feedback (while some others not so much), but most importantly we have enjoyed some fine music. It is an ongoing ride and we plan to keep a steady, albeit slow, pace.
You divide your catalogue into 2 sections, can you tell us a little more about that? Why does that division make sense?
We indulge ourselves in a wide spectrum of electronic music, so in the sense of “releasing good music”, we decided that we should release more than one specific style. The division in 2 sections was the simplest that could be, one “Up” section for mostly uptempo, driving stuff and one “Down” section as a space for home listening, ambient or esoteric music. Every listener can choose to follow the activity on the “sublabel” that interests them most; someone interested in dance music might want to filter out the experimental sounds of This Side Down, for example, and vice versa. Each section seems to have its own fan base, the “Up” being more popular as expected. Moreover, the ‘This Side Up/This Side Down’ juxtaposition sounds nice.
Can you tell us a little about the situation in Greece and how it affects your personal life and also the label?
The financial crisis has affected friends and people around us deeply – increased unemployment and depression – and it’s hard to overlook such a situation. We try to counterbalance this with good music and engagement in creative activities on a personal level as well as through the netlabel.
Are you connected with local promoters to organize local gigs for your artists?
We prefer to organize our own gigs and events in local venues – including Healthy Summer, an annual summer event in southern Crete. Local artists get more exposure – covering travel expenses to the southernmost point in Europe is not cheap – but sometimes artists from the label come on vacation here, so we hook them up with a gig or two if possible. Other promoters in the area are mostly all about money and cheesy commercial music so smaller or specialist venues are our targets.
How do you see the world of music evolving in the next couple of years?
The fact is that music gets recycled as time goes on, while technology evolves and production values and techniques change. We expect to hear fascinating and unexpected new sounds, as well as some of the same, modernized probably, yet actually tried and tested formulas.
Can you tell us a little more about your next upcoming release?
Currently we are working on a new Dok release for This Side Down, a conceptual mini LP with manipulated ambient recordings from his DAT tapes.
Thanks for your time. Any last words of wisdom for our readers?
If you really believe in something, do it yourself. Don’t expect others to do it for you.
Link to the Label Page.
Lee Fraged & Double Trouble – Say it with your own words
Could you please introduce us to the people behind This Side Music? Who are you? What is your background? What do you do for a living? How did you get connected with music and netaudio?
The netlabel started in Crete island, Greece, by Lee Fraged and Linny Berret and it was a product of a years-long friendship and musical companionship. Lee currently has an office job, he has worked in record sales for many years. Linny is a computer engineer. We have both been spinnin’ records (house/techno) and serving the local scene since the late 90’s – the club is where we met. What brought us even closer was a common taste in music and, of course, living in the same house for many years.
We also consider Dimitri Barnias (aka Dok) the third member of the family. Dimitri has contributed a great deal with his music, his spirit and his studio equipment and time to what we do.
When and how did you feel the need to start a netlabel?
Back in 2006, when the idea was first conceived, we had already experimented with various methods of electronic music production along with friends in the local scene. We tried to find ways to express ourselves independently, outside the music industry rules and commercial mindset, and the technology was available to help us achieve our goal. Several other existing netlabels inspired us (such as Thinner/Autoplate, Deepindub, Tropic et al.) so when we had enough material to justify the creation of a new one we decided to set it up – that was in 2007. One of our main goals was to share and promote music of our personal taste with a focus on great sound, as close as possible to the traditional labels. We wanted This Side Music to be a musical commonplace for like-minded people, rather than just an outlet of random sounds.
Do you feel the premises that made you start are still present nowadays or has the world changed and your objectives along with it?
This Side Music is still a resource for good electronic music, under a Creative Commons license, so our main goal is still alive. Items are available for sale from time to time – we’ve had a DIY CD release that fared quite well in terms of sales and there is also a release available on Bandcamp. It’s important to keep in mind that this is a non-profit situation, so we have to cover all expenses such as server & mastering costs ourselves – actual income from donations or sales is minimal. Kudos to Dimitri’s Diapason Studio for serving us for free when we need it!
The world changes of course; we relocate from time to time (Lee has lived in Berlin for 2 years, Linny currently lives in Athens), we get busier in our personal and professional lives, and this translates to a slower release cycle. We believe that having 3-5 releases per year is good enough if we want to keep the spirit alive. We also have other projects we plan to associate with This Side Music, such as a traditional vinyl release.
How do you measure the success of your netlabel?
It’s been more than five years since the first release, and we have a nice roster of artists that support us and have become our friends, some of our releases were really successful, in terms of downloads and feedback (while some others not so much), but most importantly we have enjoyed some fine music. It is an ongoing ride and we plan to keep a steady, albeit slow, pace.
You divide your catalogue into 2 sections, can you tell us a little more about that? Why does that division make sense?
We indulge ourselves in a wide spectrum of electronic music, so in the sense of “releasing good music”, we decided that we should release more than one specific style. The division in 2 sections was the simplest that could be, one “Up” section for mostly uptempo, driving stuff and one “Down” section as a space for home listening, ambient or esoteric music. Every listener can choose to follow the activity on the “sublabel” that interests them most; someone interested in dance music might want to filter out the experimental sounds of This Side Down, for example, and vice versa. Each section seems to have its own fan base, the “Up” being more popular as expected. Moreover, the ‘This Side Up/This Side Down’ juxtaposition sounds nice.
Can you tell us a little about the situation in Greece and how it affects your personal life and also the label?
The financial crisis has affected friends and people around us deeply – increased unemployment and depression – and it’s hard to overlook such a situation. We try to counterbalance this with good music and engagement in creative activities on a personal level as well as through the netlabel.
Are you connected with local promoters to organize local gigs for your artists?
We prefer to organize our own gigs and events in local venues – including Healthy Summer, an annual summer event in southern Crete. Local artists get more exposure – covering travel expenses to the southernmost point in Europe is not cheap – but sometimes artists from the label come on vacation here, so we hook them up with a gig or two if possible. Other promoters in the area are mostly all about money and cheesy commercial music so smaller or specialist venues are our targets.
How do you see the world of music evolving in the next couple of years?
The fact is that music gets recycled as time goes on, while technology evolves and production values and techniques change. We expect to hear fascinating and unexpected new sounds, as well as some of the same, modernized probably, yet actually tried and tested formulas.
Can you tell us a little more about your next upcoming release?
Currently we are working on a new Dok release for This Side Down, a conceptual mini LP with manipulated ambient recordings from his DAT tapes.
Thanks for your time. Any last words of wisdom for our readers?
If you really believe in something, do it yourself. Don’t expect others to do it for you.
Link to the Label Page.
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Zorch Factory Records
Our netlabel interview tour continues, this time focusing on France with Zorch Factory Records. A netlabel focusing on alternative / dark / goth / punk music genres.
Madame B – Religious cold
Can you please introduce the people who run Zorch Factory Records? What are their backgrounds and how long have they been involved with promoting music?
Well in fact there is only me, Manu, running the label, for the greater part of our existence since our founding back in 2008. Two months ago I started cooperating with a writer that helps me with record reviews and summaries. He’s American, thus a native English writer, and it gave a new dimension to the label.
About me, I would say that I have been into music since 2003. I played in a couple of bands, including my own project, Camp Z, created in 2006, went on stage a few times, met a lot of other bands and people within the scene (promoters, djs, writers of fanzines and webzines).
I read from your website that you started the label in 2008. Why did you feel the need to start Zorch Factory Records?
I created my own musical band/project in 2006. In 2007/2008 I was signed by a wonderful dark indie label. But soon after it was clear that I would not sell much. After 2005 it began to be hard for traditional labels to sell CDs and I wasn’t doing much gigs with this band… So I decided to release the next records of Camp Z online, as free download so that a maximum number of people could be reached. I was a webmaster, web programmer and designer… That’s how it all started.
Did your motivation or objectives change since then? If so, in what way? If not, hasn’t the music world been changing since then?
No, my motivation or objective are the same. Surely the music world has been changing since, digital music taking over more and more. But the idea of an independent netlabel, a place where people could discover and grab good underground music for free is the same. I just added a little commercial dimension. I signed a partnership with another dark indie netlabel, afmusic that distributes some ZFR releases on all major digital music stores.
Zorch Factory focuses on the so called alternative and goth genres: deathrock, post punk, batcave, industrial. There aren’t that many netlabels focused on these niche genres. Compared to the number of netlabels releasing techno for example. Can you share your opinion on why that might be?
I think the reason is quite simple. These genres are closer to “rock” music attitude rather than electro. So they remained away from the computer longer than the techno or electro musicians. They were still focused on the classic aspects of the genre like, rehearsals, gigs, recording full length albums in studio, and making “discs” whether it was vinyl or CD. At the same time electro people were already very active on the net, sharing music, recording on their laptop, producing music on the net, etc.
Rock musicians became familiar with releasing their music online later, through services like last.fm, jamendo, myspace, etc. And for niche genres, dedicated labels like Zorch Factory was a good way of being visible. That’s why I received so many demos & applications.
Can you tell us a little about the netaudio scene in France? Are you in touch with other netlabels? Are there many active netlabels?
I am not really aware of the netaudio scene in France. Not at all in fact, except for these niche genres. And in France there are no other netlabels like ZFR. Yet some traditional labels in the scene are starting to release things as digital, like free samplers of their artists. And some other netlabels appear from time to time. And there are some bands which are very active on their own. I mostly cooperate with my big partner afmusic, which is really a leader of the genre in Europe at least.
Your deal with afmusic from Germany enables you to publish CD releases. Do you feel physical releases still carry a certain importance? We all know they reach less people, but do they generate more reviews and specialized attention?
Well the deal with afmusic only covers commercial digital releases. Meaning these releases will appear on iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, Spotify… Still I agree with you regarding physical releases. These are still generating more attention from traditional magazines for example, while reaching far less people…
Do you collaborate with local promoters to organize events for your artists? If so, can you tell us in what form? If not, why not?
No, simply because I do not have the time for this. I’d love too, but I have a job, a family, and not enough time or energy for more than the label!
Why the restriction of no derivatives on your standard creative commons license? Are you against the remix culture? Wouldn’t it make sense to let the people who are inspired from your releases to create and share their work? You don’t lose anything from it, only stand to gain more publicity. Or are you concerned with protecting your image?
Well it’s more something related to the “rock” music culture which is not that familiar with remixes, we expect that the band asks for such remixes and provides the remix kit for it, or if someone does a remix they let the original musician know about it before releasing it. So it was more a choice to have a license model that fits the label band’s culture in general. But each band is free to ask for a more flexible creative commons license model.
Thank you for your time, and good luck with your future efforts.
Madame B – Religious cold
Can you please introduce the people who run Zorch Factory Records? What are their backgrounds and how long have they been involved with promoting music?
Well in fact there is only me, Manu, running the label, for the greater part of our existence since our founding back in 2008. Two months ago I started cooperating with a writer that helps me with record reviews and summaries. He’s American, thus a native English writer, and it gave a new dimension to the label.
About me, I would say that I have been into music since 2003. I played in a couple of bands, including my own project, Camp Z, created in 2006, went on stage a few times, met a lot of other bands and people within the scene (promoters, djs, writers of fanzines and webzines).
I read from your website that you started the label in 2008. Why did you feel the need to start Zorch Factory Records?
I created my own musical band/project in 2006. In 2007/2008 I was signed by a wonderful dark indie label. But soon after it was clear that I would not sell much. After 2005 it began to be hard for traditional labels to sell CDs and I wasn’t doing much gigs with this band… So I decided to release the next records of Camp Z online, as free download so that a maximum number of people could be reached. I was a webmaster, web programmer and designer… That’s how it all started.
Did your motivation or objectives change since then? If so, in what way? If not, hasn’t the music world been changing since then?
No, my motivation or objective are the same. Surely the music world has been changing since, digital music taking over more and more. But the idea of an independent netlabel, a place where people could discover and grab good underground music for free is the same. I just added a little commercial dimension. I signed a partnership with another dark indie netlabel, afmusic that distributes some ZFR releases on all major digital music stores.
Zorch Factory focuses on the so called alternative and goth genres: deathrock, post punk, batcave, industrial. There aren’t that many netlabels focused on these niche genres. Compared to the number of netlabels releasing techno for example. Can you share your opinion on why that might be?
I think the reason is quite simple. These genres are closer to “rock” music attitude rather than electro. So they remained away from the computer longer than the techno or electro musicians. They were still focused on the classic aspects of the genre like, rehearsals, gigs, recording full length albums in studio, and making “discs” whether it was vinyl or CD. At the same time electro people were already very active on the net, sharing music, recording on their laptop, producing music on the net, etc.
Rock musicians became familiar with releasing their music online later, through services like last.fm, jamendo, myspace, etc. And for niche genres, dedicated labels like Zorch Factory was a good way of being visible. That’s why I received so many demos & applications.
Can you tell us a little about the netaudio scene in France? Are you in touch with other netlabels? Are there many active netlabels?
I am not really aware of the netaudio scene in France. Not at all in fact, except for these niche genres. And in France there are no other netlabels like ZFR. Yet some traditional labels in the scene are starting to release things as digital, like free samplers of their artists. And some other netlabels appear from time to time. And there are some bands which are very active on their own. I mostly cooperate with my big partner afmusic, which is really a leader of the genre in Europe at least.
Your deal with afmusic from Germany enables you to publish CD releases. Do you feel physical releases still carry a certain importance? We all know they reach less people, but do they generate more reviews and specialized attention?
Well the deal with afmusic only covers commercial digital releases. Meaning these releases will appear on iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, Spotify… Still I agree with you regarding physical releases. These are still generating more attention from traditional magazines for example, while reaching far less people…
Do you collaborate with local promoters to organize events for your artists? If so, can you tell us in what form? If not, why not?
No, simply because I do not have the time for this. I’d love too, but I have a job, a family, and not enough time or energy for more than the label!
Why the restriction of no derivatives on your standard creative commons license? Are you against the remix culture? Wouldn’t it make sense to let the people who are inspired from your releases to create and share their work? You don’t lose anything from it, only stand to gain more publicity. Or are you concerned with protecting your image?
Well it’s more something related to the “rock” music culture which is not that familiar with remixes, we expect that the band asks for such remixes and provides the remix kit for it, or if someone does a remix they let the original musician know about it before releasing it. So it was more a choice to have a license model that fits the label band’s culture in general. But each band is free to ask for a more flexible creative commons license model.
Thank you for your time, and good luck with your future efforts.
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Drowning
Continuing the tour of netlabel interviews per country in alphabetical order, I dug up a Danish netlabel called Drowning
and asked its founder and curator Danny Kreutzfeldt some questions on
their state of operations. Drowning focuses on drone and doom sounds,
not everyone’s cup of tea, but, as you’ll read, their answers still
provide interesting insights on how some labels operate and the parallel
with the diy music scene.
Wyrm – Ouroburous Harpegnathos
Can you please introduce to us the people who run Drowning. What are their backgrounds. Is it just you running the whole label Danny?
Drowning is run solely by me. I live in Denmark and work professionally with web stuff, but have been involved with electronic and extreme music since adolescence. My first release was a dubby ambient EP on the pioneering netlabel Thinner in 2002. From 2002 till 2008 I released a lot of music on netlabels and physical format labels. I was a part of the Noisejihad concert/party-organization until we closed in 2008. At some point I also ran a small hateful CDR label called 8K Mob.
Today, I’m involved with the Danish electronic music label Uhrlaut. Back in 2008 it was the first label in the world to have an official collecting society (KODA) backing an LP/CD release, which was also made available as free Creative Commons mp3s. While I’m not really active making new music anymore, I still have a solo music project called Periskop, with which I’m currently working on an LP/free download album on Uhrlaut in 2013.
When did you feel the need to create Drowning? Why the focus on drone/doom? Was there a lack of labels focusing on the genre?
Drowning is a drone & doom netlabel, which means it mainly releases drone doom metal. I’ve been fascinated by this type of music for a long time. The notion of brutal primitive sound taking the form of slow evocative art immediately appealed to me. But Drowning is not a strictly genre-specific label and I’m interested in releasing anything drone-based or doom-like, as long as it fits the overall aesthetic. This is pretty normal for the many labels out there releasing drone doom metal, but I don’t think there are any of them that operate as a netlabel.
I started Drowning in 2009 as a pet project, where I could try out things related to doing music on the web. Because of the monumental overproduction and overpromotion of culture, these are interesting times. One consequence has been that music as a consumer product has become almost completely worthless. The obvious solution to this is to turn every label into a CC-based netlabel. But this raises the question of where the value is in music these days. And despite offering music for free, if the promotion is not done well, people will still feel like you’re trying to steal their time from them. All this fascinates me.
How does Drowning relate to the local scene? Do you organize concerts? Do you have any connections with local promoters? Or do you operate solely on the internet?
A firm grounding in a local scene is very useful for an artist, band or physical format label. This is also somewhat true for a netlabel, but sadly I have plenty of connections and not enough time. So far there has only been one Drowning release event, which was earlier this year in my hometown Aarhus for Moongazing Hare’s “The Sunderland Wreck”. I’ve been meaning to do some showcases for ages, and it’s probably the one thing I need to find better time for, in order to promote Drowning effectively in Denmark.
I noticed on your website you have some videos as well. Do you feel the video component is essential in the process of bringing people to listening to the sounds?
Well, for the moment they are no-budget videos made by the acts themselves – and mainly just an excuse to have a presence on YouTube. YouTube is where most people younger than 60 check out new music, but there’s so much, and the suggestion function is extremely poor. If a good well-subscribed YouTube channel has made the effort of uploading a release, I think it’s a very nice gesture and holds a lot of value. Even though it doesn’t generate a lot of traffic to the netlabel site, it gets the music heard. As a netlabel though, it only really makes sense to make videos for YouTube, if you release an already established name, that people are actively searching for.
If none of this is happening, the long way around would be to build up your own successful YouTube channel, or search for channels you can try to push your stuff to.
I know you personally been involved with several label and music projects under a few different genres. Do you notice a parallel between those niche genre scenes? I’m talking in terms of how they position themselfs in the netaudio / cdr / commercial aspect.
The one thing I would say strikes me the most in all scenes or genres these days is, how big the difference can be between the high quality of some music compared to how few people that are into it.
While this has certainly been emphasized by the cultural overproduction, I really don’t think this is about our culture getting more superficial or uncritical. In fact I think the opposite is happening on many scenes. It’s more about the average musician being naïve about how the work is being perceived among all the other stuff, that’s out there. It’s extremely important to have the whole package make sense: Music, band name, album title, artwork and whatever story, message or impression you can make the whole thing revolve around. Otherwise very few people will know why they should spend time on it.
This also falls back on many labels, which may be good at making quality music products, but are completely clueless about local or online promotion, so they have no idea how to get the releases out once their distribution partners close down.
In this sense, musical talent is less and less just about making good music, and more and more about also getting the whole act to make sense, and about making things happen around you.
Can you tell us a little on the Danish netaudio scene? How many labels are out there? What genres they cover?
I don’t think there is a Danish netaudio scene, and I have no idea how many Danish netlabels there are. I remember Kyoto had a good electronic dub thing going back in 2005-2006, and I know Illphabetik have been releasing random electronic crap for ages. And then there’s Uhrlaut I mentioned earlier, which also deals with electronic music.
However, I’ve been seeing more and more DIY labels putting their stuff up for free download once the physical limited edition product has sold out. This is a wonderfully obvious thing, that I would encourage any DIY label to do. A fine example of this is Golem Tapes from Aarhus, which caters an eclectic style around experimental rock, tape loop drones and surreal jazz.
Thank you for your time! Any last words of advice for people digging through netaudio to discover good music or the folks curating and promoting it?
To the people looking for good netaudio: Good luck.
To the people running netlabels: Don’t waste people’s time; don’t release boring mediocre music just because you can; don’t make confusing websites just because they look cool. People will hate you and leave you.
Wyrm – Ouroburous Harpegnathos
Can you please introduce to us the people who run Drowning. What are their backgrounds. Is it just you running the whole label Danny?
Drowning is run solely by me. I live in Denmark and work professionally with web stuff, but have been involved with electronic and extreme music since adolescence. My first release was a dubby ambient EP on the pioneering netlabel Thinner in 2002. From 2002 till 2008 I released a lot of music on netlabels and physical format labels. I was a part of the Noisejihad concert/party-organization until we closed in 2008. At some point I also ran a small hateful CDR label called 8K Mob.
Today, I’m involved with the Danish electronic music label Uhrlaut. Back in 2008 it was the first label in the world to have an official collecting society (KODA) backing an LP/CD release, which was also made available as free Creative Commons mp3s. While I’m not really active making new music anymore, I still have a solo music project called Periskop, with which I’m currently working on an LP/free download album on Uhrlaut in 2013.
When did you feel the need to create Drowning? Why the focus on drone/doom? Was there a lack of labels focusing on the genre?
Drowning is a drone & doom netlabel, which means it mainly releases drone doom metal. I’ve been fascinated by this type of music for a long time. The notion of brutal primitive sound taking the form of slow evocative art immediately appealed to me. But Drowning is not a strictly genre-specific label and I’m interested in releasing anything drone-based or doom-like, as long as it fits the overall aesthetic. This is pretty normal for the many labels out there releasing drone doom metal, but I don’t think there are any of them that operate as a netlabel.
I started Drowning in 2009 as a pet project, where I could try out things related to doing music on the web. Because of the monumental overproduction and overpromotion of culture, these are interesting times. One consequence has been that music as a consumer product has become almost completely worthless. The obvious solution to this is to turn every label into a CC-based netlabel. But this raises the question of where the value is in music these days. And despite offering music for free, if the promotion is not done well, people will still feel like you’re trying to steal their time from them. All this fascinates me.
How does Drowning relate to the local scene? Do you organize concerts? Do you have any connections with local promoters? Or do you operate solely on the internet?
A firm grounding in a local scene is very useful for an artist, band or physical format label. This is also somewhat true for a netlabel, but sadly I have plenty of connections and not enough time. So far there has only been one Drowning release event, which was earlier this year in my hometown Aarhus for Moongazing Hare’s “The Sunderland Wreck”. I’ve been meaning to do some showcases for ages, and it’s probably the one thing I need to find better time for, in order to promote Drowning effectively in Denmark.
I noticed on your website you have some videos as well. Do you feel the video component is essential in the process of bringing people to listening to the sounds?
Well, for the moment they are no-budget videos made by the acts themselves – and mainly just an excuse to have a presence on YouTube. YouTube is where most people younger than 60 check out new music, but there’s so much, and the suggestion function is extremely poor. If a good well-subscribed YouTube channel has made the effort of uploading a release, I think it’s a very nice gesture and holds a lot of value. Even though it doesn’t generate a lot of traffic to the netlabel site, it gets the music heard. As a netlabel though, it only really makes sense to make videos for YouTube, if you release an already established name, that people are actively searching for.
If none of this is happening, the long way around would be to build up your own successful YouTube channel, or search for channels you can try to push your stuff to.
I know you personally been involved with several label and music projects under a few different genres. Do you notice a parallel between those niche genre scenes? I’m talking in terms of how they position themselfs in the netaudio / cdr / commercial aspect.
The one thing I would say strikes me the most in all scenes or genres these days is, how big the difference can be between the high quality of some music compared to how few people that are into it.
While this has certainly been emphasized by the cultural overproduction, I really don’t think this is about our culture getting more superficial or uncritical. In fact I think the opposite is happening on many scenes. It’s more about the average musician being naïve about how the work is being perceived among all the other stuff, that’s out there. It’s extremely important to have the whole package make sense: Music, band name, album title, artwork and whatever story, message or impression you can make the whole thing revolve around. Otherwise very few people will know why they should spend time on it.
This also falls back on many labels, which may be good at making quality music products, but are completely clueless about local or online promotion, so they have no idea how to get the releases out once their distribution partners close down.
In this sense, musical talent is less and less just about making good music, and more and more about also getting the whole act to make sense, and about making things happen around you.
Can you tell us a little on the Danish netaudio scene? How many labels are out there? What genres they cover?
I don’t think there is a Danish netaudio scene, and I have no idea how many Danish netlabels there are. I remember Kyoto had a good electronic dub thing going back in 2005-2006, and I know Illphabetik have been releasing random electronic crap for ages. And then there’s Uhrlaut I mentioned earlier, which also deals with electronic music.
However, I’ve been seeing more and more DIY labels putting their stuff up for free download once the physical limited edition product has sold out. This is a wonderfully obvious thing, that I would encourage any DIY label to do. A fine example of this is Golem Tapes from Aarhus, which caters an eclectic style around experimental rock, tape loop drones and surreal jazz.
Thank you for your time! Any last words of advice for people digging through netaudio to discover good music or the folks curating and promoting it?
To the people looking for good netaudio: Good luck.
To the people running netlabels: Don’t waste people’s time; don’t release boring mediocre music just because you can; don’t make confusing websites just because they look cool. People will hate you and leave you.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Monofónicos
I set out to find another netlabel to interview following the
alphabetic order of countries, sadly my attempts to contact a Brazilian
netlabel didn’t go so well, so I skipped directly to the letter C and
googled up Monofónicos from Colombia with half a dozen artists in their roster and double that amount of free releases available for download. Miguel Isaza, co-founder and artist of Monofónicos and also curator of other netlabels and CC projects (such as invisiblevalley.com and ins-out.com) was kind enough to answer a few questions about them.
Qk – Valencia (Booiamrudolf Remix)
Can you tell us a little about who runs the Monofónicos netlabel? Who are you? What’s your background?
The netlabel is run mainly by Miguel Isaza and Douglas Fugazi, but most of the time we like to work collectively, taking decisions between several artists of the netlabel. There are certain roles for each person, but we like to think as a family and work as a family, so at the end, there are around 8 people running the whole project.
Monofónicos started in 2008, please tell us how and why.
We started with the idea of using new technologies to not only create and talk about the music we make, but also to engage new people and create a local community of artists interested in sharing their creative ways, ideas and projects. We started the project as a collective running different projects dedicated to several tasks, including the netlabel, but also events, workshops and a recent activism project which wants to create consciousness for sound, listening and new ways of using noises locally. We think sound and music are keys for humanity and we try to dedicate time to spreading the word about that.
What can you tell us about the Columbian netaudio scene? Are there many netlabels? How do they relate to the local music scene?
Compared to other countries, there are not so many netlabels in Colombia, but in the last decade the scene has been growing with fresh music of many flavours. One thing I’ve noticed in the netlabel scene here is dedication. Not only the work of the artists, but also the graphic aspects, the mastering, the promotion, etc. It’s always present on the releases. Look at the work of a veteran netlabel like Series Media, who have been doing an incredible job with their releases. They’re a big inspiration not only for the local scene, but also for the entire netlabel scene, since their work is at the level of any other label. When you get free music created with that passion and shared with that intention, you feel rewarded. It’s something we share at Monofónicos, since we think a netlabel is not an easy label with free music. We like to work, to dedicate ourselves to the music, and to give it for free no matter how hard could be to take time and money. We just love sounds.
You seem to be focused on releasing only electronic music, is it a conscious decision?
More than electronic music itself, we think about the revolution of the “one-man band”. We’re not attached to any particular genre or style and you can notice that when you listen to releases that feature all kinds of instruments and techniques, but yes, we’re mainly working in the fields of electronic music, not necessarily electronic sounds. Just independent music being created with the help of analog and digital machines, acoustic instruments, recorders, etc. One can say that music this days is electronic, since it depend on machines/electronic devices, but talking about genres, yes, we have several dance releases and also some experimental ones combining all kinds of things, from field recordings to analog synths and programmed sequences. It’s all about diversity!
Anónimo – Mypetitmal
You released a physical CD at some point. Did the CD do well? Are you planning more? Do you feel it’s important to have both physical and non-physical releases? Can you tell us a little more about the advantages and disadvantages of this medium?
Yes, we sold all the copies of that one and there’s a second CD in the works right now. Should be released in the next month or so. Not killing the physical way is important, not only because material things have a different feeling and process, but also because we can reach different people in that way. We don’t put out CD’s for the money, so it’s not expensive and there’s no winning or losing anything. We just like to share our music and that’s a great way to do it. People like to have a unique piece of material in their hands and we just make that possible for them. It’s something refreshing also for the netlabel, and give us the opportunity to make some exclusive works for that line.
You also organize some events on occasion. Do you feel it’s important to have a more local presence? How are your relations with local event promoters?
That is a very important aspect in our work. We have two kinds of events: one is the party, when our DJs play, the artists do some live sets and the family comes to one place to have fun and feel the music with their entire body, a dancing event. The other kind of events are dedicated to workshops, lectures and sharing knowledge. We think is very important to not only share music and play, but also teach, share anything you know, invite new people to do the same thing we do, etc. Doing this is our way to contributing to a change of consciousness and cultivating the spirit of music creation we all have.
How do you measure the success of your label activities?
We don’t think too much about that, really. Success for us is when you listen to the music and feel it with your entire being. At the end, It doesn’t matter how many people download an album, what kind of genre we’re managing or how the attendance is at events. A successful activity for us, is one that is achieved. The response is not measured, just received as it wants to come.
Thanks for your time! Keep up the cool work! Any last words of advice for netaudio artists, labels or people looking to discover new music on the internet?
Thanks to you for the invitation and thanks to the netaudio scene for sharing music in such amazing way. To the artists, thanks for believing in freedom. To the netlabels, thanks for making it possible to believe in freedom. And to the listeners, let’s keep being free and let’s download any sound you like from Monofónicos and any other netlabel. We are all creating a paradise of revolution.
Qk – Valencia (Booiamrudolf Remix)
Can you tell us a little about who runs the Monofónicos netlabel? Who are you? What’s your background?
The netlabel is run mainly by Miguel Isaza and Douglas Fugazi, but most of the time we like to work collectively, taking decisions between several artists of the netlabel. There are certain roles for each person, but we like to think as a family and work as a family, so at the end, there are around 8 people running the whole project.
Monofónicos started in 2008, please tell us how and why.
We started with the idea of using new technologies to not only create and talk about the music we make, but also to engage new people and create a local community of artists interested in sharing their creative ways, ideas and projects. We started the project as a collective running different projects dedicated to several tasks, including the netlabel, but also events, workshops and a recent activism project which wants to create consciousness for sound, listening and new ways of using noises locally. We think sound and music are keys for humanity and we try to dedicate time to spreading the word about that.
What can you tell us about the Columbian netaudio scene? Are there many netlabels? How do they relate to the local music scene?
Compared to other countries, there are not so many netlabels in Colombia, but in the last decade the scene has been growing with fresh music of many flavours. One thing I’ve noticed in the netlabel scene here is dedication. Not only the work of the artists, but also the graphic aspects, the mastering, the promotion, etc. It’s always present on the releases. Look at the work of a veteran netlabel like Series Media, who have been doing an incredible job with their releases. They’re a big inspiration not only for the local scene, but also for the entire netlabel scene, since their work is at the level of any other label. When you get free music created with that passion and shared with that intention, you feel rewarded. It’s something we share at Monofónicos, since we think a netlabel is not an easy label with free music. We like to work, to dedicate ourselves to the music, and to give it for free no matter how hard could be to take time and money. We just love sounds.
You seem to be focused on releasing only electronic music, is it a conscious decision?
More than electronic music itself, we think about the revolution of the “one-man band”. We’re not attached to any particular genre or style and you can notice that when you listen to releases that feature all kinds of instruments and techniques, but yes, we’re mainly working in the fields of electronic music, not necessarily electronic sounds. Just independent music being created with the help of analog and digital machines, acoustic instruments, recorders, etc. One can say that music this days is electronic, since it depend on machines/electronic devices, but talking about genres, yes, we have several dance releases and also some experimental ones combining all kinds of things, from field recordings to analog synths and programmed sequences. It’s all about diversity!
Anónimo – Mypetitmal
You released a physical CD at some point. Did the CD do well? Are you planning more? Do you feel it’s important to have both physical and non-physical releases? Can you tell us a little more about the advantages and disadvantages of this medium?
Yes, we sold all the copies of that one and there’s a second CD in the works right now. Should be released in the next month or so. Not killing the physical way is important, not only because material things have a different feeling and process, but also because we can reach different people in that way. We don’t put out CD’s for the money, so it’s not expensive and there’s no winning or losing anything. We just like to share our music and that’s a great way to do it. People like to have a unique piece of material in their hands and we just make that possible for them. It’s something refreshing also for the netlabel, and give us the opportunity to make some exclusive works for that line.
You also organize some events on occasion. Do you feel it’s important to have a more local presence? How are your relations with local event promoters?
That is a very important aspect in our work. We have two kinds of events: one is the party, when our DJs play, the artists do some live sets and the family comes to one place to have fun and feel the music with their entire body, a dancing event. The other kind of events are dedicated to workshops, lectures and sharing knowledge. We think is very important to not only share music and play, but also teach, share anything you know, invite new people to do the same thing we do, etc. Doing this is our way to contributing to a change of consciousness and cultivating the spirit of music creation we all have.
How do you measure the success of your label activities?
We don’t think too much about that, really. Success for us is when you listen to the music and feel it with your entire being. At the end, It doesn’t matter how many people download an album, what kind of genre we’re managing or how the attendance is at events. A successful activity for us, is one that is achieved. The response is not measured, just received as it wants to come.
Thanks for your time! Keep up the cool work! Any last words of advice for netaudio artists, labels or people looking to discover new music on the internet?
Thanks to you for the invitation and thanks to the netaudio scene for sharing music in such amazing way. To the artists, thanks for believing in freedom. To the netlabels, thanks for making it possible to believe in freedom. And to the listeners, let’s keep being free and let’s download any sound you like from Monofónicos and any other netlabel. We are all creating a paradise of revolution.
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