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.
Sunday 28 October 2012
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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