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Rockin with their netlabel since 2004! Sven Swift and Sim Sullen Interview with DIY-Netlabel 12rec | With their fabulous 50th release it s time to visit the Do-It-Yourself Netlabel 12rec from Germany. Phlow met Sim Sullen and Sven Swift on the digital highway to have a chat about the strategies, attitude and why they enjoy exploiting themselves in the name of music! Together we unravel some old 12rec-screenshots, watch once more our most favorite netlabel-video-clip to date and listen to their new compilation. 12rec Netlabel is a two-headed squirrel. Most of you know already Sven Swift for his in-depth-reviews on Phlow-Magazine.com and his headstrong compilations he contributes to the world-wide netlabel-phenomena. In comparison Sim Sullen seems more quiet, but the head behind travels a lot through germany, fotographing creative commons- and web 2.0-conferences. I celebrated already together with them at Netlabel Festival Zürich in 2006 - and guess, what can I tell you about this netlabel-duet? Amusing, freaky and truly dedicated Simon and Sven, how did you guys meet and how did you get the idea of coordinating a Netlabel together? Sven: Sim and me know each other from school days. We both grew up in a small city at the outer brims of the Ruhr Area in Northern Germany. We had a band and spend a lot of time photoshopping, doing flyers and stuff. We were listening to 60 s Jazz and electronic music which none of our friends did - I think that forced us together The first recordings of our band Majestik12 were published on tape, but for the second album we decided to go online. That was out first glimpse of what the web can do for us. The opportunity to share music via the net were pretty exciting for us these days imagine that, kids! One or two years later, a friend that just had started his studies at the KHM in Cologne came up with different demos fellow students had blessed him with. These were Sichtbeton, Yokölast and Jasmin. Simon already got in contact with the Netaudio scene, and listening to all this awesome left-field music we agreed to found a Netlabel as well. Click on the thumbnails to see, how the 12rec-website looked like in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007! On the one hand, 12rec. seems to be a very serious project. On the other hand, I had the feeling that sometimes plain fun is your agenda. Is there a main concept behind 12rec., have you got a special intention or message while releasing free music or is it just a fun project? Sven: Both is true, actually. It s definitely important to us that people recognize the Creative Commons license we re working with; that listeners are aware of the fact that our music is free, in a political sense, if you dare. And we re glad to be a label rather than one of these faceless file hosters! Despite our stylistic versatility, people know that there is no bullshit up at 12rec. Maybe the label concept sounds dated in times of UGC but this bit of nostalgia is something I can definitely live with. But neither Sim nor me are out for recruiting pees for the Netaudio fuzz. The main agenda is good music - good music, good artwork and a few well-written, humours words about the music. Are seriousity and humour contrary values? Don t hope so! On the next page you get a private peek on how the 12rec-boys produce their wonderful CDs and why they like to enjoy exploiting themselves!

Interview with Broque Netlabel | The German label Broque follows a mixed strategy. Under the clever management of Christian Kausch and Heiko Schwanz Broque distributes music in several formats and ways. While DJs can buy vinyl-records worldwide at their record dealer of choice, the netizens get free mp3 music released under a creative commons licence on their website. To complete the cycle of music distribution musiclovers can purchase MP3s of the vinyl releases on Beatport. We talked to Christian Kausch to figure out, what s important for a professional netlabel today, how you push your music into webshops and if you can make some profit out of it. While Broque recently pushed out a fantastic release called Pseudónimo terra firme e.p. we thought, we might talk to the grown up (not only) techno netlabel from Germany. And, yes, we squeezed out some interesting questions for you. Keep on reading! Whose scepter is swinging behind the Broque-curtain? We’ve got two main characters behind our curtain: Tend (Christian Kausch) is the man for promotion, A&R, webdesign, licensing, booking, accounting, shipping, scheduling and all things like these. Granlab (Heiko Schwanz) is the technical director with the key for our servers, the connection to our digital ditributors and also the mastering head. We’ve got a new art director, named Thomas Gumprecht, and many other helpers, we can’t exist without. Music connects! Friends for lifetime, partners on Broque Netlabel: Christian and Heiko Most netlabels publish their music only as digital downloads. You follow a mixed up strategy and distribute your music as mp3 and vinyl. Why do you do so? We were never friends of seperating drawers or formats. I think, so we’ve got the chance to get attention by all music-fans without any restrictions. When you publish a new vinyl, how do you choose the tracks? Are there any guidelines you follow? We’ve got a very nice artist pool and get many demos every week. Our only guideline is, that the music must have soul and groove. It’s very important for us to get to know the artists. We want to work together to get new inspirations and hope they get also new experiences by working together with us and our other artists. It’s so nice to see, if new people come together making new projects or just have a good time by exchange or something like that. It’s terrible, because there are so many people who can’t talk a normal sentence with you, or they have ideas from another world – so we must say “No way!”.

The CC Mixter Remix-Project by Calendar Girl | Tamara Barnett-Herrin - better known as calendar girl - started a fantastic project back in October 2006. The idea was simple: Write each month a song and release the original material under a creative commons licence. Than ask other producers and musicians to remix the songs. Now one and a half year laters Calendar Girl looks back on the results: more than 300 remixes! And like she promised she publishes a record with 12 fantastic songs. A story on how to use the web to interact with other musicians worldwide. “I write one song a month. You remix and feedback. We make a record.” When and how did you get your idea of your Calendar Songs-Project? I d been writing demos in my bedroom for a couple of years, but I kept finding myself very frustrated by the process of never having anything finished . And I felt I was working in a vacum. I could play my music to friends and family but getting it out there - whatever that means - felt so impossible. I never want music to become a chore, or to find myself complaining about making music, how hard it is, etc., etc. It became clear to me that this process of making demos can also at the same time make you very bitter! So I tried to think of a way for my music to find another route into the ether And obviously putting it online was the best solution. But of course, MySpace isn t everything So I kind of fashioned the idea of writing new songs for a website, where I could draw people in by inviting them to remix my songs. I wanted the site to have the air of a challenge to it, something where you could come back to check up on my progress, so I challenged myself to write a new songs each month that had to be inspired by that month. That way I gave people a reason to come back to the site after their first visit, like I wonder if she made it this month . It all went online in October 2006. It took about two months to put it together from when I had the idea. If you speak in terms of music-engineering, there is a saying Garbage in, Garbage out! . It means, if you record music badly, you can t do anything to make it sound better. What kind of equipment did you use to produce your songs? Are they all recorded at home? I m not sure I agree with that saying. I would rather listen to a bad recording of a good song than an amazing recording of a terrible song. And I put all my faith in people having the same attitude as me, because I know I can t make the most perfect recordings. I record at home into Garage Band, I m terribly lazy, I haven t even made soundproofing! All the A Cappellas sound like my bedroom! But I made a decision to it this way - to really concentrate on writing instead of spending all my time getting the best equipment and teaching myself how to master it. Maybe I m a bit of a purist but I like things that sound like what they are.

Free Music Digger | With his Podcast called Machtdose Podcaster Roland presents a treasure box full of the most terrific netlabel-music around. While fascinated hopping from country to country he presents music from all kind of genres. His Machtdose Show gives a damn about music-boundaries and leads you each time into new corners of the netlabel world. An interview with a Netaudio-Podcaster. When did you make your first contact with the free music scene, especially netlabels? Do you remember the first release you downloaded? I can t remember exactly but it must have been in 2003 or 2004 when I had discovered the (now dead) webjay.org site. On webjay you were able to create playlists with links to online available mp3 s - and through playlists by other users I became aware of netlabels like Observatory, Tokyo Dawn and Bevlar (unfortunately all three aren t active anymore, last two are even down for a longer time now). I then presented in my weblog ronsens a first playlist called sentimental journey in netaudio and that was the start of collecting netaudio tracks by myself. The next lists were then already published on Machtdose, a more music-centered weblog originally initiated by my friend Gregor. Some time later I went then to present the tracks in a podcast with moderation. What drives you to dig especially into the world of netlabels? Simple answer: the music. This is really what it is all about: the music and nothing else. If you visit a netlabel site you normally know exactly nothing about the presented tracks and artists. You just listen to their music - and then it s on your site to decide if you like it or not. There s no marketing strategy, no public image, no music critic who tries to take influence on that. Next big point is that you have access to really international music which you wouldn t listen to otherwise, from artists all over the world - and not only the main markets. In our last episode we ve had music from Bulgaria, Portugal, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Hungary, Austria, the United States, Spain, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Canada and Argentinia - and it s like that month per month. A lot of people claim that the netlabels are a bunch of amateurs. They give their music away for free , they say, because otherwise noone would buy their records. What would be your answer to such a statement? Besides it isn t true and that there are enough examples of professional musicians who have released on netlabels? Even if you agree that most netlabel artists won t earn any money with their work - what s wrong with that? Often enough it is for example a conscious decision not to follow any commercial logic - like the one which is basis of this statement: that commercial success is a serious indicator for the quality of music. I think most of us have made other experiences, just listen to top seller music charts and you know what I mean. Last not least: if you take a look on the development of the music market and the fact that music is getting more and more an immaterial good with profound consequences for its distribution, you shouldn t be too snobby about netlabelism - on the contrary it will probably give you some hints of what could be possible future models for promoting music.

Design Artwork by 143 The Love For Music | Camomille is one of the oldest and most exceptional netlabels to date. With Vince Fugère as its head Camomille set some high fidelity milesstones in the netaudio world. The sound could be best described as a mixture of Ambient, Indietronica and IDM. With extraordinary strong illustrations and artworks Camomille confronts its audience with beautiful art. In our interview Vince unveils the origin, secrets and history of Camomille. Interview done by Dave Keifer who does odd jobs for Dog Eared Records and releases music as Cagey House. The Roots and Origin Of Camomille Netlabel Phlow: Can you describe the early Bulletin Board days? For instance: Was it a big scene? How did people find out about it? How did you get involved? Were the participants mostly musicians - or did non-musicians use it to find music as well? How did it actually work? Vince: I started being in contact with the BBS (Bulletin Board System) scene back in 1994-1995. Back then an internet connection was pretty much out of the question and it only started getting some media attention. It all started for me when a friend of mine invited me to connect to another friend s computer using my really high-speed 14.4 dialup modem to play games on his computer. He had created an interface where we could browse his site. It was all done in ANSI/ASCII interfaces and there was a spot to download music and images, and also a forum to chat. Only 2 users could be on it at any time. It is back then that I got my first contact with my passions for graphic design and music. There was an art-form unfamiliar to most now which is ANSI art. Back then, the DOS interface we used to connect to BBSs was 16 colors, if I remember correctly. Some early graphic artists used this extremely limited set of colors to create absolutely beautiful renderings. From that first BBS you connect then you can see the other BBSs in your area code in the links section. I started researching this intriguing ANSI art and found that some artists had created groups from which they published Artpacks. One very popular group back in the day was ICE. What was great is that in order that your local BBS have these files and artpacks and updates from these Artgroups, they had to connect to other BBSs way outside your area code, and the distribution of new files was made this way. Hence the feeling of an underground community we all felt while connecting to BBSs. Design Artwork taken from comic book by Selfmademusic On those artpacks, you could find ANSI art, poetry and weird files that had weird extensions, like .mod, .s3m, .xm and .it. After some research I found players for those kind of files and to my amazement they were music modules. A module, basically, is a file that is somewhat like a .midi file or a sequence file from your favorite sequencer, but that can play only .wav samples that are imbedded in the file itself. There were different reasons for this. From what I know, the tracker (music software) in various forms, was used to create the music found in Amiga and nintendo or any early game system because the filesize was so small. For early nintendo games, well most games anyways, you only had to store 4 really small wav files (a sine wave, a square wav and 2 noise samples for example) and use them in different ways to create sound. Hence the chipmusic scene that is still pretty huge and still getting bigger to this day. This small file size was perfect for the BBS, with out 14.4, it was hell to download .mp3s.

Timeless Eloquent House | The sound of Epsilonlab is lush, deep, melodic, dubby and techy. You find the spirit of house-music in every release. With great musicians like Paul Keeley, Pheek, Eloi Brunelle or Sensual Physics Epsilonlab published some of the finest house-music released under a cc-licence. Even if Epsilonlab is a little quiet right now, we can state, that the Epsilonlab Collective is without any doubt one of the first professional netlabels. Epsilonlab grew suddenly out of the ground, we raised our hands frenetic in the air and embraced than the beautfiful sounds from Canada. The canadian netlabel Epsilonlab has quite well-known producers on its roster like Paul Keeley, Eloi Brunelle, Pheek, Sensual Physics or Jeff Benett. Somehow I think the sound is best described as friendly. While the heart is full of love for house-music, the production of most of the releases sound digital and most of the time crystal clear. One of my favorite musicians on Epsilonlab is Paul Keeley. Paul Keeley who did also the mastering for a lot of releases on Epsilonlab produces colorful TechHouse-Music. With each release he convinced me again that he is a master of melodic TechHouse tunes with a slight trance-approach. To discover the sound of Paul Keeley you have to begin with his beautiful live-act-mix Paul Keeley - Live @ Elektra, QC . Than dig deeper into the archive. One of my favorite netlabel-tracks to date is still the amazing Cold Sweat from Sensual Physics aka digitalverein aka Joerg Schuster. Don t miss the according Expanding Itself EP with four fine tracks hard to define. To make my bunch complete, check out Eloi Brunelle. Eloi is the head behind the netlabel, the man who helds it all together. Even if his musical approach is slightly harder and techno his beloved brother, he expands the Epsilonlab Music-Archive with straight forward productions for clubheads. Yet his weird, humurous track called My Submarine together with Vanessa Moore on Psychotonic EP is still my favorite. Videoclip Spaceball by Fukkle Bim Jerry Lately the german blogger, experimentalist and netaudio musiclover Janos Krüger aka Fukkle Bim Jerry sent me his beautiful little videoclip called Spaceball . He choosed the Epsilonlab track “On The Stone” from Black Foundation Dub E.P. by Mossa as the musically counterpart for his pictures. The videoclip shows how you can combine a 99cent-toy for children with good music with some smart video-editing. Everything was released under a creative commons. So spread the love :) MP3 Techno House TechHouse Music Download For starters - Five Great Releases on Epsilonlab Paul Keeley - Rocky Mountain Funk [EPS07] (ZIP-Archive) Sensual Physics - Expanding Itself [EPS17] (ZIP-Archive) Eloi Brunelle - Psychotonic EP [EPS14] (ZIP-Archive) Alland Byallo - Club Soda Salt [EPS06] (ZIP-Archive) Dublee - Deviation EP [EPS21] (ZIP-Archive) Netlabel: www.epsilonlab.com

Interview with the italian Dharmasound Netlabel | Over the past couple of years, the Rome-based net-label dharmasound has put out nearly forty first-rate releases covering a wide range of music. Last Fall, Gianluigi Cocco - dharmasounds’ general manager and artistic director - was kind enough to take some time to talk a bit about the label, their philosophy of music, and their place in the net-label scene. Dave Kneifer talked for Phlow with the labelhead. Interview done by Dave Keifer who does odd jobs for Dog Eared Records and releases music as Cagey House. Phlow: Dharmasound has a really sharp website. It s well organized, has a clean design, and a cool look. What kind of web design or technical advice would you give to somebody who was thinking of starting a netlabel? Cocco: Actually we are working on the new website and it will be very innovative: we are trying to conceive a visual virtual place without any conventional web layout. Our goal is to let users feel comfortable with navigation and, mainly, give them a nice relaxing virtual environment. A netlabel-website is the window on the real world so it has to be very representative and give users a large number of services like streaming, previews, news, music-files in different format and different quality and, very important, a well organized catalog. For a netlabel like dharmasound.com who has a multi-genre catalog, it s a priority to offer users a support to quickly navigate through releases and genres. We are now working on this particular issue and the new website will have a new catalog navigations logic based upon environments and colours. Phlow: You provide a means for a lot of interactivity as well. On the message boards, for instance, people can upload demos and news about releases and live dates. I think this kind of thing is one of the real advantages netlabels have over traditional label, which is that they can serve as a hub for a virtual - or even a physical community. Which raises my next questions: Did dharmasound grow out of an already existing community? Or do you feel that you ve helped to create a new community? Cocco: Dharmasound started out in 2005 from a small group of artists based in Italy. At that particular time we built up a small site with few releases and 4 or 5 visitors per day :-). In these two years we grew up in terms of catalog, artists, listeners and we also started a message board called dharmaboard which is our place to share free music, demos, informations and experiences with people, musicians and other netlabels. I s slowly growing up and I think it will give a good help to diffuse independent music released under Creative Commons License. Phlow: I see that this past August you guys hosted a live event at a club in Rome that featured five dharmasound artists. How did that go? And do you plan on more in the future? Cocco: I think live events are the core of a netlabel activity. Artists need to get out from the web to meet audience. OUTPUT event was a sort of introduction to dharmasound s music and it was a good opportunity to let people know that other music distribution models are possible. We are planning to increase our live activities and we re trying to involve other netlabels into a project that could be described as a sort of international booking network. Phlow: Dharmasound has always focussed mostly Creative Commons tracks - free downloads in other words. But for a while you also had some tracks for sale although you seem to have discontinued that. I was wondering why you no longer have the for-sale tracks? And also what your ideas are about net-labels as potential money-making operations? Cocco: It was a sort of experiment. Almost one year ago we decided to ask users a donation for each download. Our goal was to cover web hosting costs and share the profits with artists. Obviously all the tracks were released under CC license and everyone was able to freely share music bought at dharmasound.com, in other words it was a sort of donation or contribution rather than a traditional selling. But, though the price was very low (€ 0.50 per track), unfortunately the experiment was unsuccessful so we decided to go back to the roots: free download of all our releases! We have to realize that we aim towards a different kind of market completely free and innovative, traditional distribution models are quickly dying and we have the great opportunity to build something new. I think at the moment netlabels are only able to earn money from the live activity organization. That s it. No sponsorships, sellings or wathever until we ll get bigger and we ll offer high-quality catalogs. Phlow: Finally, what s been your favorite experience while running dharmasound? Cocco: The greatest experience was to meet interesting people (artists, musicians, collaborators). People from all over the world with completely different cultures and backgrounds. Let me give a big thanks to some of them: Stefano who was our artistic director since last month, Mari our graphic designer (I definitely love her works), Luca, Francesco and Alfredo who recently joined our staff doing a great work. Thank you guys! Phlow: Thank you for the interview! Links and so Netlabel: www.dharmasound.com