Webbed Hand

We recently talked with Chris McDill, curator of Webbed Hand Records to get some insight on their label and how they operate.
Lyndsey Cockwell – DWP
Who are the people behind Webbed Hand Records? What do they do for a living? How did they get involved with music?
I have been at the helm of Webbed Hand since its founding, and presently I am assisted by Aria Nadii, who designed the website and handles some administrative functions outside my skill set. Her input into this label has been of great value. When I first started the label my brother helped, as he was starting a label of his own, so we shared resources and ideas.
For a living we do, to borrow a classic quote, “a little of this and that.” Our involvement in music began as listeners and slowly evolved into being creators. I had sporadic experiments in tape-based sound art dating back to the late 80s, but didn’t get serious until mere months before I founded Webbed Hand.
What was the motive for starting Webbed Hand in 2003? Is it still valid today?
In the beginning, it was not a netlabel, but a CDr label which I started for the purpose of selling my own recordings. At that time I was also giving away mp3s hosted on my website. It was costing me more than I was making and the situation was not sustainable, so I had to seek an alternative.
In 2004, I learned from a friend about Creative Commons licensing and about the new section at the Internet Archive for netlabel hosting, and that inspired me to change Webbed Hand to a CC-licensed netlabel, not just for my own work, but open to other artists who make work that shares my musical aesthetic.
So I’d say the motive that is still valid today started in 2004, and it was a different motive prior to that.
Has your promotional release process changed through the years? Can you share with us your usual steps when dealing with promoting a new release?
By and large, I expect artists to take up most of the burden of promoting their work. I make announcements on Twitter and in relevant forums including Facebook, which does draw some listeners, but the biggest “hits” on Webbed Hand have come from artists themselves passionately spreading the word about their music. This is how it’s always been with Webbed Hand, and I think listeners appreciate that I’m not aggressive about pushing the music.
There seem to be more ambient / drone netlabels then there used to be physical labels. Do you agree? Do you think this is due to the internet allowing people to discover and share niche genres more easily?
Yes, and yes. Ambient and drone music didn’t have a lot of commercial potential, so the big labels weren’t exactly sending out A&R men to sign up ambient acts. Indie labels did release ambient, but only the biggest names sold well. The largest and most overlooked presence in the days before the internet was the myriad cassette labels, sharing experimental, drone, noise and other marginal genres. Highly collectible, some of that stuff. A few of those tape labels even turned into netlabels eventually.
The current prevalence of ambient/drone netlabels can be attributed to a combination of factors. Home recording has become affordable and of a better quality than ever before. Music production software, such as softsynths makes it possible to inexpensively get sounds that once would have required an investment of many thousands of dollars. Broadband internet access and the presence of sites that will host your music for you. It is no wonder there’s been such an explosion of talent, and the ability to share it, bypassing the old music industry gatekeepers.
Have you done or considered printing limited physical editions? Why or Why not?
That is how Webbed Hand started out, but I have not done it since 2004. Since then I have adopted for Webbed Hand the philosophy of 100% free digital-only music sharing.
I do have a plan for selling some of my own music on cassettes, but they will not be under the Webbed Hand imprint. I’ll have to start a new label for work of that kind.
You have a lot of releases out on Webbed Hand. How do you deal with quality control and the quantity of demos submitted?
One of the main ideas behind Webbed Hand is that it’s a label that releases things that are to my taste. If I like something, and it fits within the genres to which the label is oriented, I’ll release it. I’m not looking for the best of these genres, just whatever appeals to me. I have accepted work that from a production standpoint is sub par, but had a good feeling to it.
In the kind of work I release on Webbed Hand, quality is a very subjective thing. Even an untrained ear can distinguish a virtuoso of piano or guitar, but what identifies a virtuoso of drone music? In experimental work the criteria are much hazier. It generally comes down to evocativeness and production quality, and the powers of evocation trump everything else.
The quantity of submissions I manage by revising the submission page on the Webbed Hand site when I get too busy. For example, presently I am not taking work from artists new to the label, except for contributions to our “Rain” series of long-form ambient albums.
I tend not to think of submissions as demos, which to my understanding are rough edits of works in progress. I ask artists to give me release-ready material in the format and bitrate they want it shared at. I try to have a very fast turnaround time between getting the submission, accepting it, and releasing it. I have heard of some netlabels that take months.
Do you (or your artists) have any contact with local promoters to organize local events?
I wouldn’t know about the artists, as they don’t inform me of their personal activities. I share some of their albums, and that’s just about all. Webbed Hand has no local connections. As far as I know, not even any artists or friends within hundreds of miles.
How do you feel about twitter and youtube as a way to promote your work? Does it really reach strangers?
I use both, and they seem to reach some people, about proportional to the effort I have put into them, which is not much. Probably Facebook has a better reach because I’ve built a better network there and am a member of a lot of ambient-related groups. Youtube is mostly a playground for me to make music videos for my own recordings.
Any particular releases you are most proud of?
It’s hard to play favorites, so I’ll take the easy way out and say I’m proudest of the compilations. Some of them were a great success and it was fascinating to see the diverse ways that artists interpreted the themes of each. One of the earliest compilations, Far Afield, is approaching 75,000 downloads. In 2008 I released a compilation of ambient made with string instruments, and there are some terrific pieces on there. Highly recommended.
Thanks for your time! Any last words for our readers?
Sure. A bit about netlabel etiquette for artists who are seeking to get an album released.
In this day and age, there are many places to share your work beside netlabels, and you might even be able to make money by self-releasing, for example on Bandcamp. The primary value of a netlabel right now is if you have work of a specific style or subgenre, a netlabel will introduce your work to fans of that subgenre, and bring you into that community.
So if you say, yes, that’s what I want, then you need to find a label that exactly fits your style. Don’t just e-mail every netlabel you find on Google. Locate a few that closely match your genre, then listen to as much of their catalogs as you can, and really ask yourself which of those do you find the closest affinity with. First approach them. Submit to only one label at a time.
If your work is too different from the typical work on a label, they are more likely to reject it no matter how good it is, because they have an audience established for a certain sound, and they may not be part of other genre communities, so it’s harder to promote what lies outside their area of interest. Many netlabel owners are swamped by submissions that are completely inappropriate, because submitters didn’t do a little research first. Somewhere out there is a perfect netlabel for you that will take your work, and you’re not going to find it by spamming. If you really want to be part of a scene, get to know it. If you want to be heard, start by being a good listener.

Tranzmitter

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.

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).