Chapter Music is one of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's longest-running independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

s. It was founded by Guy Blackman in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 in June 1992, after a few issues of a Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...

 inspired fanzine

Fanzine

A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...

 called Chapter 24, that Blackman started in October 1990, when he was seventeen. Initially Blackman released compilation cassettes of local Perth underground bands, the first of which was Bright Lights, Small City in July 1992. This was followed by a Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

 tribute tape, Kill Yr Idols!, he then put out a new fanzine called Salty & Delicious. The label continued to put out a further eight cassettes (mostly compilations), one CD, and four issues of the fanzine.

Blackman relocated to Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in mid 1995, where Chapter Music had its first seven inch vinyl single pressed at Corduroy Records, a new pressing plant in Australia. The single, a Molasses/Minimum Chips

Minimum Chips

Minimum Chips are an Australian band formed in Brisbane in the mid-1990s. During their Brisbane years they supported many international acts including Stereolab, Bikini Kill and Pavement...

 split single, was released in September 1995. This was followed by a seven inch single by Perth band, Sulk, with a third release, a split single for Sleepy Township

Sleepy Township

Sleepy Township was an indie pop band which was formed in Perth in 1994 as a side project by Guy Blackman , Mia Schoen , and Paul Williams . The band moved the following year to Melbourne, Australia, with Gorman replacing Williams. Alison Bolger joined the group on bass in 1998...

/Cannanes released in October 1996.

Chapter Music is considered to be one of Melbourne's more established and well respected independent labels. Throughout its existence, Chapter released some 45 titles, including albums, 7" split singles and a zine

Zine

A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

 named Salty and Delicious. Chapter Music briefly shut down in 2002 when Guy Blackman relocated to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, though has since resumed operations, releasing new titles including a compilation of Japanese psych-pop.

Artists on Chapter Music

Chapter Music has played host to a broad range of artists from all over Australia, in genres including rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

, indie pop

Indie pop

Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

, post punk, country and western and folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

. Some artists who have released material on Chapter were:

• Above Ground Pool
• Always
• Guy Blackman
• Kath Bloom
  Kath Bloom
  Katherine Bloom is an American singer-songwriter based in Litchfield, Connecticut, whose sad voice often accompanies simple folk melodies.The daughter of oboist Robert Bloom, Kath grew up in New Haven, where she studied the cello as a child and started playing the guitar when she was a teenager...
  
  
• The Cannanes
  The Cannanes
  The Cannanes are a longstanding Australian indie pop band formed in Sydney in late 1984.-History:The original line-up of the band was Stephen O'Neil , Annabel Bleach , Michelle Cannane , Frances Gibson , and David Nichols...
  
  
• Clag
• The Crayon Fields
  The Crayon Fields
  Crayon Fields are a four-piece Melbourne based band signed to the labels Chapter Music and Rallye. They have been described as having an artful naïve-pop aesthetic and as lo-fi....
  
  
• Jeremy Dower
• Driving Past
• Essendon Airport
  Essendon Airport (band)
  Essendon Airport was an Australian post-punk group from 1978-83 who explored experimental minimalist, electronic and funk music. They reformed in the original duo lineup for occasional performances in 2003 following the re issue of Sonic Investigations of the Trivial...
  
  
• Frida Hyvönen
  Frida Hyvönen
  Frida Hyvönen is a Swedish singer-songwriter. She grew up in Robertsfors, a small place just outside Umeå in the north of Sweden , and is currently based in Paris, France....
  
  
• Sachiko Kanenobu
• Lakes
• Letraset
• Maher Shalal Hash Baz
  Maher Shalal Hash Baz
  Maher Shalal Hash Baz is the artistic alter ego of Tori Kudo, a Japanese naivist composer and musician. The name is taken from Maher-shalal-hash-baz in the Book of Isaiah verses 8:1 and 8:3, and translates roughly as "Hurrying to the spoil, he has made haste to the plunder." Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz...
  
  
• Minimum Chips
  Minimum Chips
  Minimum Chips are an Australian band formed in Brisbane in the mid-1990s. During their Brisbane years they supported many international acts including Stereolab, Bikini Kill and Pavement...
  
  
• Molasses
  Molasses
  Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
  
  
• Clare Moore
  Clare Moore
  Clare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player...
  
  
• Ninetynine
  Ninetynine
  Ninetynine is an indie band based in Melbourne, Australia. The band was founded by Laura Macfarlane, who played drums in Sleater-Kinney, in 1996 as a solo project. The first album, 99, was recorded with her playing all the instruments. Not long after she assembled a band with Cameron Potts and...
  
  
• Origami
• Panel Of Judges
  Panel of Judges
  Panel of Judges is an indie rock band from Melbourne, Australia. Dion Nania began the group in 1997 as a solo project, then added Alison Bolger, Michael Nichols and Paul Williams soon afterwards....
  
  
• Pikelet
• Primitive Calculators
  Primitive Calculators
  The Primitive Calculators are an Australian post punk band formed in the late 1970s, known for their use of a screeching Mosrite Ventures model guitar, primitive synthesizers along with an electronic organ played through effects pedals, and an extra fast drum machine keeping time...
  
  
• Tracey Read
• Sea Scouts
  Sea Scouts (band)
  Sea Scouts were a noise rock band, based in Hobart, Tasmania.-First formation:Following the split of his former band Mouth in 1994, Tim Evans began jamming with U.F.O. frontman Zach von Bamburger...
  
  
• Sleepy Township
  Sleepy Township
  Sleepy Township was an indie pop band which was formed in Perth in 1994 as a side project by Guy Blackman , Mia Schoen , and Paul Williams . The band moved the following year to Melbourne, Australia, with Gorman replacing Williams. Alison Bolger joined the group on bass in 1998...
  
  
• Steward
• Tenniscoats
  Tenniscoats
  Tenniscoats is a Japanese band with two members, Saya & Takashi Ueno, but they often have guest musicians playing and performing with them...
  
  
• Wagons

Chapter Music has also released several compilation albums, including Can't Stop It! Australian Post-Punk 1978-82.