Welcome to the first installment of my e-mail interview series. The aim is to present the founders of new and emerging netlabels. Readers will also find out how to create their own netlabel or to join one of the existing communities.

First interview features K. Paul and Josh, founders of the based out of Tampa (Florida) netlabel Meatronic. Find out why they decided to set up their own netlabel, and what means the term Devaluation of Music as Commodity (DMC).

1. Could you tell me a few words about yourselves. Who are you? Where do you come from?

Paul Boyev: I am K. Paul Boyev, originally from the Chicagoland Area. I record and perform under the name OTOLATHE. These recordings and performances range from ambient, to breakcore, to noise, acousmatic, solo bass, etc. I believe each individual performance needs to be a radical departure from the previous improvisation. This can mean the assembled equipment cannot be repeated (or at least not in the same combinations, since nobody has an infinite amount of musical gear). This also means sometimes my performances suck ass. My fans have been very patient with this inconsistency. Perhaps that is why I have so few fans.

Josh and I played in a Tampa original indie rock band called Tailspin Recovery after I answered an ad on Craigslist. Because of the rehearsal schedules and time commitments, I found my profession interfering with how much energy I could devote to TSR, and therefore I quit the band. The nature of my current musical efforts has cut down on the time needed for rehearsals (since it is all improv!) therefore I can again perform.

I have been recording music since age 4. I do some type of recording nearly every day. It was natural to attempt to distribute these recordings, and this led to my partnership with Josh and the foundation of MEATRONIC.

Josh Sherman: I am Josh Sherman, born and raised in the Tampa Bay area. I play bass in a local grunge band, and also perform noise under the moniker “Insecticide Lobotomy”. Most notably with Meatronic, I’m a co-founder as well as the geek behind the website. See K.Paul’s answer for our previous experience with each other.

2. Why did you decide to open your own netlabel?

Paul Boyev: We founded Meatronic after assessing the Central Florida scene and noting that there was a lot of great music being made here. Because of the unusual social dynamic of the Tampa Bay area, a lot of the truly great musicians here don’t have an audience. Since I am a transplant here and have the experience of living in various types of large cities with vibrant music scenes (Chicago, Boston, Baltimore) I could appreciate the fact that audiences in other places could perhaps enjoy the music more than the hometown audience. Josh and I want to connect these artists to these listeners. Everybody wins.

Josh Sherman: A lot of my own motivation for the netlabel was because it was something new that I had not done before. It’s great to make music, and distribute it yourself, but there’s always a bit of satisfaction in helping someone else do it. Interestingly enough, before we started Meatronic, I noticed an over abundance of netlabels out there with the “quantity over quality” mentality. Numerous releases per week, and no real defined purpose. I personally wanted to break away from that mentality and start something that was more quality driven. Not only for the sake of the netlabel, but also for the artist.

Before we started Meatronic, I noticed an over abundance of netlabels out there with the “quantity over quality” mentality. Numerous releases per week, and no real defined purpose.

3. What kind of music genres do you accept and distribute?

Paul Boyev: The artists we want to work with are involved in the broad categories “experimental” and “noise”. I am not comfortable with the words used to denote these genres. I am not even particularly comfortable with the idea of genres. “Experimental” music to me is on the fringes of what is acceptable on audible media. The set of techniques used to arrive at the sound is not important to me in the definition, and can include electro-acoustic approaches, aleatoria, algorithmic composition, free improvisation, tape cut-ups, etc. The main characteristic of this music is that it seeks to escape conventions.

“Noise” as a genre is somewhat more definable because of the prominence of artists such as Merzbow who perhaps have had this label bestowed upon them. It is fairly easy to discern who is imitating or appropriating his approach, and so, if you are someone who wants to classify music, have at it: label this “noise”. Still, I believe there is no absolute dichotomy between noise and music, and there can be noisy music and musical noise. Artists we’re looking for can transcend the conventions of this nomenclature as well; there needs to be some undefinable groove there, not just a kid operating stompboxes, shoving a SM58 into the maw of a cheap practice amp and then running the result through a Kaoss Pad.

4. How do you distribute music? Is it available exclusively in the form of MP3/OGG/FLAC downloads? Are there “the real-world” (i mean CD/vinyl) releases also available?

Josh Sherman: The bulk of our distribution is done via the web in the form of 192kbps constant bit rate MP3s. We are working towards more tangible releases on CD-R and eventually vinyl. We do have one album already released on CD-R called Robot Ears. It is a compilation of Florida experimental and noise artists.

Paul Boyev: See Josh’s answer. We have one CD-R release, the Robot Ears compilation, and we plan vinyl and other format releases for the future.

5. Money… Is your netlabel a not-for-profit entity? Or do you think that the netlabels should earn some money for artists?

Paul Boyev: We think netlabels should earn money for their artists. However, there are some iron-clad rules relating to how this works. Basically, unless you are a hobbyist, any label has to remain financially viable. This is the same as saying it has to be a sustainable effort and you can’t just throw money away (unless you have a lot of disposable cash). It costs money for a server, it costs money to produce a CD-R, it costs money to stuff CD’s into envelopes and send them to reviewers and distributors, etc. Many, many labels have gone out of business because of the lack of business sense or just plain bad luck. We love the music too much, and we love what we do too much to allow this to happen to Meatronic.

Once the bills are paid, however, how do we pay the artist? What is the dollar value we assign to an artist’s effort? This question has been rendered enormously problematic by what I call the Devaluation of Music as Commodity (DMC). Digital distribution systems have, plain and simple, devalued the economic viability of music. Fans share part of the blame for this, because they feel they’re entitled to an artist’s output for free. The most notorious example of this concept in action is, of course, Radiohead’s recent efforts. We can’t do anything about these feelings of entitlement on the part of the fans.

We do find, however, that not every artist has a deep awareness of DMC. There are two famous articles, one written by Steve Albini and one written by Courtney Love, and these are pre-DMC essays which go into great detail about how musicians get ripped off routinely. The situation now is degrees of magnitude worse.

Digital distribution systems have, plain and simple, devalued the economic viability of music. Fans share part of the blame for this, because they feel they’re entitled to an artist’s output for free.

There is widespread agreement that artists now make most of their money from performances/touring and sale of merchandise such as t-shirts. We can probably add to this the fact that artists in vinyl-based genres can sell products because it is relatively harder to digitize their music. It is much easier to “rip” a CD than it is to hook up a turntable to a soundcard and then edit down to MP3. Long-term, Meatronic plans to move into these areas.

Josh Sherman: K.Paul’s correct on the economic realities of running a netlabel. Other than that, the hardest thing thus far has been getting our name out there. There’s a very fine line between advertising and spamming people, and I’d like to think we have yet to cross that line. Shy of getting our name out there, it’s been fairly hard to find artists that are willing to mail a CD-R to us. We don’t accept web downloads or anything like that since they always prove to be far more trouble than they are worth.

6. Did you encounter any particular difficulties in starting the netlabel?

Paul Boyev: Difficulties? Well, we have no opposition other than economic realities (we intend to surmount these). We will crush our opposition.

7. How do you promote your netlabel?

Josh Sherman: As cheesy as it may be, MySpace is our largest promotion network for the most part. Other avenues include posting to forums, maintaining a profile on Netlabels.org and simply by word of mouth at shows.

8. How do you encourage artists to become involved in your project?

Paul Boyev: Sometimes artists get in touch with us, and sometimes we approach artists. In our scene there is very active exchange of home-made CD-R’s and if one really grabs us (like Kristin Calvarese) we will see if they have considered a net release. Other times we have people who submit stuff to us in our post office box, and we drive around with the CD listening to it. If it is particularly compelling, we might want to work with the artist.

We will constantly create solutions to problems of distribution and exposure for our artists.

Josh Sherman: See K.Paul’s answer. One thing he didn’t mention is that we offer services like mixing and mastering. Many netlabels seem to take what the artist gives them and simply releases it. That is fine, and under most circumstances that will work, but there is the time that the artist needs some assistance (low volume recordings, normalizing all the tracks on an album, things like that), that’s where we come in. I’d like to think we can open an artists work up to it’s full potential in that regard. As of late we’ve also been getting a bit more into booking shows, which I hope will eventually become a viable part of the Meatronic package.

9. Do you accept demo tapes? Where demos and/or links to music should be send to?

Josh Sherman: Absolutely. We accept demos in CD-R format mailed to our P.O. Box or passed off in person. See Meatronic Demo Policy.

10. Do you have any specific plans for the future?

Paul Boyev: We are in the phase of gathering experience. Neither Josh nor I have ever done anything like this before, but we have confidence in our prehensile brains. We will constantly create solutions to problems of distribution and exposure for our artists. And we will forge an identity so that fans of unusual and transcendant music can rely on us to bring them the elusive spark of genius we all listen for.

Info:

Meatronic is a netlabel based out of Tampa, Florida that focuses primarily on experimental and noise artists. They distribute music that is available exclusively in the form free MP3 downloads (192kbps CBR) with special releases on tangible media such as CD, DVD and vinyl.

All of Meatronic net releases are backed by a Creative Commons license, which means you are free to download and distribute as you wish as long as you are not profiting from it.

First release (Self-replicating Pain Fibers… by Insecticide Lobotomy and Otolathe) appeared in July. Currently there are five EPs available.

Meatronic is currently only releasing material that is of the experimental nature. Netlabel accepts demos that are on tangible media, preferably CD-R.

Visit Meatronic homepage.