Friday 30 April 2010

Audio Gourmet Netlabel Music/Submission Policy

This post will outline some rough guidelines for the music policy of the Audio Gourmet Netlabel. I don't want it to be overly strict or regimented - I just feel there are a couple of things that need to be cleared up at this stage:

WHAT WE WANT:
Music that either fit somewhere under the following genres:
Ambient, Soundscapes, Drone, Sound Design, Electro-Acoustic, Acoustic, Modern Classical, Tape/Loop manipulations, Acoustic Gloom, Avant-Garde Minimalism, Musique Concrete, Field Recordings, Phonography, Experimental/Ambient Jazz, Experimental/Abstract Folk, Glitch (Ambient Based)

WHAT WE DON'T WANT:
Dance or IDM music, Anything with a beat arrangement - percussion and drum sections to be loose and undefined. This doesn't necessarily mean I am against these styles of music - it's just not the direction I want the label to go down I'm afraid.

GUIDELINES:
  • Albums/E.Ps mustn't be a second over 15 minutes, but may be up to a minute shorter if necessary. Aim for that 15 minute timeframe when writing/compiling the record.
  • No less than two tracks for the album/E.P - I want to try and keep the pieces no longer than 7 minutes so that there's a chance that people can use them in mixes. No single long form drones are arrangements please. Not that I don't enjoy listening to them mind!
  • mp3 quality to be 320kbps. My computer has hardly any space left, so try to encode your work ready for release for me, rather than sending over massive WAV files.
  • If you have artwork then send it over and it can be used if suitable.
  • Write a short paragraph about the concept of your work, or maybe a brief overview of yourself as an artist. I'll write a few words about each release too. I can also post links to any current releases you have out or anything else you'd like to promote.
  • When a release is out, I'll make sure I put in a fair bit of work to get it promoted. Anything you as the artist can do to help promote the work too will help drum up some interest.

If you have anything to send for consideration, email me at Audiogourmet@gmail.com

I'll take a listen and get back to you either way. There may be a wait as we start to build a release schedule, but I should be able to get albums out pretty quickly as they will of course be short and quick to upload

Cheers,

Harry

Introducing the Audio Gourmet Netlabel!

Hi, and welcome to the Audio Gourmet Netlabel. I'm Harry Towell, and for the last couple of years I have run the Audio Gourmet blog - posting reviews, mixtapes, releases and general ramblings about the music I am particularly fond of. This has of course varied over that timeframe but largely focusses around the ambient/modern classical/drone/electro-acoustic movements.
Also, I myself have produced music for both netlabels and limited edition CD labels under the guises Spheruleus, Audio Gourmet and Eyes Flutter Beneath.

I have long toyed with the idea of setting up a netlabel or label of some form and it is a direction I've always seen myself heading towards as my fondness for music intensifies with time.
So, I have set up this blog and a netlabel page on www.archive.org to showcase a collection of music released for free under the Creative Commons license.

This netlabel collection is conceptually based around mini albums, E.Ps and short pieces of sound-art that serve to exact the timespan of a standard tea break. (This in compliance with British employment law, is 15 minutes - at least, so I believe...)
On your average work tea break, this mere fifteen minutes is obviously not enough to listen to an album in full and thus this netlabel concept was born:

"A netlabel to showcase a collection of short albums and E.Ps that can be listened to in full during a standard working tea-break."

Over the forthcoming months, years, decades or however long I decide to run with the project, I hope to bring you some fine audio from a selection of top artists new and familiar.

I do need a bit of help setting up though - here are a few things I am looking for:

MUSIC
Obviously, a netlabel cannot run without contributing artists and I am sure you'd overlook an endless collection of works by my good self...so I am appealing for artists who are keen to get something together that I could consider for a release here.
I'll post up a rough guideline of what I'm after in a moment. It's likely by the time you've read this that I've got that posted- so scroll up and take a look and see whether it appeals to you.

VISUALS
I'm a sound artist and rambling non-sensical writer, not a visual artist or photographer. So, I am going to need to hear from someone in the world that would be willing to assume 'picture duty' for this. In some cases, the sound artists may wish to get something together themselves - which is fine, but for the artists lacking in graphic flair like me, we're going to need someone keen to help out. Credit will of course be given for whoever helps out - maybe we could have a few people involved in this? We'll see. Email me if you're interested: audiogourmet@gmail.com

HELP!
I am likely to need assistance and advice from people already established or in the know, since this is very much a new venture. I know how netlabels work having supported them for years - but I have of course never run one before. If anyone could lend some support and ideas, maybe get involved with the running of the netlabel - please get in touch. I'll need someone IT savvy on-board too, let me know if you can help out with this.

Anyway, I hope this venture is enjoyable and rewarding - hopefully we'll be able to turn some heads with some superb music.

Cheers,
Harry