Interferencje #8

ETlogo_ruitInterferencje is a section of the Polish Trzecia Fala webzine… recently  I did an interview with them on topics as social media, experiments in music, and label work ethics… the webzine included one of my dj sets / mix tapes with the interview…

You  can read the interview and listen to the mix here… and I also posted the interview below…

– What does it mean to be an independent label in social media era?

It differs I guess from your point of view as a label and attitude towards social media, culture and an audience… it also differs from the vision and mission you have as a label.

You can take the world as it is and this world includes social media networks… or you can question the world as it is including social media networks…

I do not trust regular media channels… and in fact I do not trust big companies and established institutions… I do not want to claim that all you read and all you are told through these channels and by these companies and institutions are lies… but I would like to stress that at least the perception on reality published and spread around is mostly not my perception on things…

But back to social media networks… to me these are inventions, maybe not intended so but mostly used in that way, to distract people/yourself… I have been on Facebook myself and my experience there is that 99% of all things people post is complete nonsense… but still people waste a lot of their time with it… maybe afraid to miss out on something…

Also I have experienced that people rather comment on, or simply just “like”, nonsense and do not pay attention to true content… and also I like to call it Fakebook… this as most people just “like” their way around it without being truly involved in what they say they like… I doubt they even if most people know what they are liking most of the time… sorry… I would like to be more positive and give people more credits… but this is my personal experience after observing this platform for some time…

In general people on internet like to present themselves and their lives in a different way as it really is… better, nicer, et cetera… the negative sides and less beautiful parts of live seems mostly to be left out… social media only seem to make this trend more evident…

So after some time on Fakebook and getting rather negative I decided to delete it… I had many so called friends and many likes on a labelpage… but it had no value… and as an experiment I deleted it all… and I can tell you I did not loose any real friend, fan or webshop customer… and it keeps me more relaxed not being drowned in lots of nonsense and people who present themselves very different as they really are…

A little side note… my intention is not to offend people and I know some people out there make use of Fakebook or other social network platforms in a well thought way to get some selected information they look for…

And… another side note… I still use Twitter… this is it is more old school media to me… it is more sending instead of (fake) interaction and I use it for spreading label news and stuff… also I do use Soundcloud and Mixcloud as these platform are content based…

– Do you think experiment in music is still possible? If yes – what does it mean?

Experiments are always possible…. But maybe you mean if I think it is still possible to create new and original music? If you mean this my answer is yes and no… it is hard to create something new and original but it is possible… but what is new and original? Words like these have become hollow and overrated concepts… and how to judge what is new and original? Anyway… I think it is very hard to come up with something truly new and original… something like pioneers did like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire did for example…

But still… in the context of today you can make a difference and have a sound of your own… even if it is not as mind blowing and not as out of this world as the stuff some artists did before… so to me artists today who have a focus on creating a sound of their own unrelated to trends and hypes have meaning… if you do this your are authentic to me… and that has to me more value as trying to be new and original…

Same thing goes for experiments… experimental music is today often a genre or style definition… which is crazy to me… popular music can be experimental… just as music in any style of genre… but what is an experiment? To me an experiment is trying something out you did not do before… this can be anything… like if you always work out your concepts completely before going to record a track then doing a one take recording from scratch is an experiment… and if you normally play on a keyboard in the regular way but then use only pre-sets for a track then that is an experiment too… are these experiments original and never done before? No of course not… but is it relevant? As long as the music created is good, honest and authentic…

So yes… I am sure experiments are possible… but I think truly original experiments are rare… like truly original music is rare…

– How would you describe the ET work ethics?

I would define ET as non-conformist, truly independent, DIY and being part of the counter culture… …

To explain a little bit what I mean with this… I have been running my label since 2004… I have seen many labels come and go… I have seen hypes come and go… I have seen scenes come and go… and I am sure I am still here because I always do what I want and when I want… content wise and business wise…

Being truly independent is part of this for me… for me independent is not a hollow concept or part of an image but a way of thinking and working… in short it comes done to this… every single record I ever released has gone through my hands… from concept to distribution all is done by myself… for me it is the only way… of course I am working with people for mastering and who work with me on the design of the records… and I am in contact with many “industry“ people like shop owners, journalists, other label owners… but in the end I am an einzelgänger… my label and releases are never part of any scene and always ahead of and/or ignorant of hypes and trends, so never aiming at easy success in any way… I aim at long term relevance not at quick and easy satisfaction for a specific target audience… and the only way to do is for me is to have control on the complete process of production, promotion and distribution… and this is only possible if you do not have to make compromises with anybody else…

Due to this and due to the fact that I am outspoken about these things I have not always made friends with other labels, or musicians and some other people in this “music world”… but I am not here to make friends… I am here to make relevant releases… releases that add something to the masses of records released every week (day?)… and… I value the few freaks and collectors out there a lot who cherish my label and releases…

– How do you choose artists too cooperate with?

First of all the music has to interest me of course… in the end my label is on invitation only… the reason why is simple… I get lots and lots of requests from musicians who think to know what I am doing with my label and what my focus is… and they are 99,9% of the time completely wrong…

Secondly I like to see or feel somebody understands what I do on another level… I do my best to find musicians who understand and value my way of working… of course I have been disappointed several times… but that is part of the game I guess…

What I do not like are musicians who see my label as a first step and who think they can become bigger and “popstars”… and in the end most musicians have a phase like this…

Through the years I worked with many musicians… and at this point I work with a selected group of people I trust… maybe they have some different ideas as I have but in the end there is a basis of common views on the “music world”… and I am always open for new collaborations… but as said… attitude is as important as sound…