This year we have started our #NetLabelDay event with some discussion before the concerts. We believe this was a very nice peek into the subject of 'commons' netlabels and also a foregrounding of issues that matter on a day such as this (and for the rest of the year, of course!).
Thanks for participating @knrd and @setto !!
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thanks for the great discussion! it seems to me that the biggest role of the netlabel today is to be a symbol of bottom up instead of top down.
instead of letting big tech and major labels dictate how everything should be, we can create our own way.
individuals/very small groups have websites, these can be grouped into webrings, small networks, fedi instances etc. and then it can even build from there.
netlabel is more like a little one-man-band publishing and promotion house - usually. like a small press. but can also be a collective of friends, or a community center/hub. it quite depends.
indeed, human curation.
it's more about the fact that certain things are on a checklist (prepping the files, webcovers, press releases, uploading...) and a press contact list... it also depends on the way netlabel operates. it has a function more than being a symbol.
ah yes i didn't mean to reduce it to a symbolic thing.
i ment it more in a way that it presents an alternative to trying playing by the major labels rules etc. and shows that it is possible to build something from the bottom.
and then the rest was more loose thoughts i was left with after hearing you talk.
should probably have been more clear, sorry!
quite possible my response was a bit reductive.
i quite agree, in symbolic way this is indeed a concept that is in essence DIY and exuding autonomy. but, it can also function as very basic exploitative enterprise too - replicating the classic record label idea. i don't know if there's any recent research that would serve some numbers in that respect and reveal the trends.
so at this point, it's more what we make of it with writing and being loud about values and mission statements and manifestos and vision what it does mean to us. a clear articulation is what i miss about netlabelday.org tbh.
Kamizdat
Kristoffer Lislegaard
Luka Prin/ce Lucija