Friday, May 21, 2004

First Tracks


I have recently created a record label called Motile which is due to issue its first release, 'Inlets', very soon. One of the things this Blog will do is document the process of creating this record label.

Ever since I was a young child I've been in love with the gramophone record and it has long been my ambition to own a record label that released 'new' music in fresh formats. Finally, nearing the resonant age of 45, I've been able to bring together all the strands of my experiences, coupled with the development of new technologies, to take me to where I've wanted to be for a long time.

Since adolecscence I've been conceiving the world in terms of albums. 'The album' is my favourite creative unit (even better than 'the book'): a musical, and sometimes visual, statement of a way of describing the world.

To have a record label is therefore to have a means of publication for all those creative units. There are many problems and dilemmas naturally enough: problems of solipsism, copyright, distribution, saleability and so on. There are even problems of 'shape' - with the advent of digital downloads from iTunes and Napster et al, ideas of the album and ideas of the record label are changing through the use of new technologies.

But my overriding view is that it's worth it just to live an idea first formed so many years ago. If there's the opportunity to give something a shape, and a new one at that, let's take it before the music ends forever.
Add to Technorati Favorites