Structure.

Free music. It’s a wonderful thing. Quite nice compared to shelling out a buck for a single DRM “protected” (protection from who? From you!) track on iTunes. Sadly, netlabel artists will likely never earn nearly as much money as the big name musicians backed by the big name record labels selling out for the big bucks.

The netlabel scene doesn’t have the structure. Sure, there are great facilities for the individual netlabels such as archive.org and scene.org, but there is no netlabel committee. There is no large entity that gives the scene structure. Netlabels are scattered across the web. Some are larger and more popular while others are only found in the nooks of the internet. The netlabel scene is in a constant state of disarray.

What am I getting at? I’m actually asking myself that question, and you may be wondering the same aswell.

“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” Those are ofcourse the words of the great Martin Luther King Jr., delivered on August 28th, 1963, and I couldn’t have put it any better on this day, the 20th of September, 2006. That magnificent speech was on topic of racism, equality, and the dream that men and women of all different color could one day consider each other as equals. While my dream is a far cry from his, it is nonetheless a dream. My dream is that one day netlabels will be united, whilst still retaining individuality. It may not seem like such a big deal to have each and every netlabel hand in hand with one another, but just think about it for a minute. If we could harness all of its chaos and turn it into one unified entity, what more great things would we be able to accomplish?

For now, it’s just a dream. The netlabel musician will remain poor in comparison to the likes of corporate empowered entities. But, I will always believe in a brighter future. And, again, for now, do what you can to give a helping hand to the musicians of this scene. Drop a few bucks in their digital tin can “Donate” buttons. Send them an email telling them how much you enjoy their music. Or just spread the word.

“Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

Cured.

i know that it has been a while since i’ve reported a new release from the netlabel scene.

i’m SORRY.

it is just way too much for me to handle on my own. is it possible for me to continue to report on all known netlabel releases, daily? yes. but it is a full time job, without pay (which i sadly need to survive). i’m still trying to figure a way to spread workload over multiple individuals so that bleepwatch will be a more community driven system, and at the same time retaining common structure in each post.

technical and nontechnical tips and ideas are more than welcome.

on a lighter note, a new facility of bleepwatch has begun. along with a very bright new member to the bleepwatch family. interviews with netlabel heads, run by a great netlabel musician, david keifer. the first interview is UP! check it out. HERE.

look forward to more fun Q&A’s. if you head a netlabel and would like to be interviewed for bleepwatch, by mister david keifer, drop me a line.

want to volunteer? become a part of bleepwatch? help support the netlabel scene? send me a message! otherwise– enjoy. there are plenty of past releases to browse through, and, with hope, more to come in the future. support the future of music. fuck the RIAA.

patrick

Sick.

Sorry for the lack of updates today. I’m sick and am going to be taking a few days off. Check back soon!