Forget the music industry. Net Labels are bringing
music back to the people--for free

By Greg Benedicto, '08 |Staff Reporter

“It’s one of the few ‘scenes’ where music is not a commodity and people are not afraid to check out new, unsigned artists without having to read about them in a magazine or see them at their local club. It’s like a small, local music scene on an international scale.”

Can you hear it?

The age of big corporate record labels, “illegal” file sharing, engineered pop stardom and proprietary music formats is coming to an abrupt close.

The signs are everywhere: Declining record sales, preposterous legal action from a panicked RIAA, state-of-the-art music software that can transform a laptop into a production studio...

Even MySpace, now owned by uber-capitalist Rupert Murdoch, can take some credit for the record industry’s declining status among the Internet-savvy. Where else can independent artists find such a perfect platform for self-promotion and not pay a dime? Thanks, Rupert.

But the most impressive development of all is taking place left of the corporate sphere. It’s a movement that was forecasted by the MP3.com of yore. You remember, the URL that become home to tens of thousands of bedroom musicians.

A place where artists could offer up their music for free, where donations were purely optional.
MP3.com’s legacy is a creature known as the “net label,” a Web site (and there are thousands) that offers a catalog of original music by indie artists— all of it readily available for immediate download—and at no cost to you, the consumer.

That’s right, it’s all for free. No subscriptions, no compulsory adware, no gimmicks.

How is this possible?  “Usually, these things are put together by people who have a real passion for just releasing good music by good people, and so often it becomes a ‘labor of love’ kinda situation,” says Brian Grainger. Grainger is perhaps better known for his nom de plume, Milieu, an electronic music project that spans over 30 releases.

His latest album, simply titled Milieu, is available now from Experimedia. “If you’re an artist yourself, there is nothing stopping you from getting yourself out there anymore,” he says. “You can live at home with your parents while going to school or being unemployed, and you can still be a successful artist with great albums out there.”

And success is possible for net label artists. Brian is one of a growing number of net musicians who have made the transition to “hard copy” labels.

Luke Hazard is the proprietor of Earstroke, a popular net label that hosts over two dozen mp3 releases and has just begun to delve into the hard copy arena.

Where does the capital for his business come from? “Earstroke comes straight outta my pocket, dawg. I’m pretty broke, but it usually works out,” he says. “I’m no good with the business end of things. I keep all my receipts in my wallet for the tax man, but I lose them all the time.”

Net labels are enterprises built on the appreciation of music, rather than its commercialization. The cooperative, friendly atmosphere of the scene often compels fans to volunteer their time and money to support the labels they love.

“In some cases... the people who follow the label will make donations and offer hosting, as well as help out with moderation, demos, PR or Web design,” adds Grainger. In a situation where artists are offering up their music for free, one might have the impression that quality control would suffer.

Not so, according to Brian. “Pretty much every net label I’m involved with prefers to be called a ‘label’ without the word ‘net’ in front of it, simply because they produce music that is as good as, if not better than, what a hard copy label produces. They simply don’t charge for their releases.

A lot of net labels do produce a lot of crap, simply because it’s so easy to have one these days, but a lot of net labels pride themselves on releasing quality work.”
“I shut the door for demos recently because for the past few years I hadn’t received anything I liked,” admits Hazard. “Quality control is huge for me.”

Chris Oldaker is a San Francisco musician who records as Cats On Earth. His most recent full-length release is La Fin Triste, available from German net label Binkcrsh.

“For the last few years I’ve noticed a steady decline in the quality of electronic music being released by [record] labels and an increase of quality being released online. I think in the electronic music scene in particular, the online producers are the new wave of musicians,” he says.

“It’s one of the few ‘scenes’ where music is not a commodity and people are not afraid to check out new, unsigned artists without having to read about them in a magazine or see them at their local club. It’s like a small, local music scene on an international scale.”

While it may have encouraged the growth of the net label scene, Grainger makes it clear that electronic music is just one among many flavors available to the listener.
“I’d like to encourage people who read or hear this to get out on the Internet and just see what there is out there in the way of free music,” he says.

“I think no matter what your tastes are, be they electronic, rock, jazz, noise, orchestral music, whatever, you will be able to find things that have the potential to be the best records you’ve never heard.”