Soulseek Records
Encyclopedia
Soulseek Records is a community-oriented netlabel
founded in 2002
by users of the peer-to-peer file sharing
network Soulseek
. Like many netlabels, Soulseek Records' operation is not-for-profit and advocates the ideals of the Creative Commons
by allowing listeners to freely distribute releases for non-commercial purposes. All of Soulseek Records' releases are compilations collaborated on by members within the community. In 2003, Soulseek Records created a sub-label, SUAL, for the purposes of releasing single-artist albums.
drew a large userbase of independent electronic musicians, with a large number of them coming from the IDM
Mailing List. In 2001, a handful of users began conversing about the idea of starting a non-profit record label as an offshoot of Soulseek. A user named Seedy brought up the idea of creating a compilation, and together the many Soulseek musicians were able to raise enough user-donated funds to print and sell their first CD - "The Soulseek Compilation". This was a basic compilation that consisted of songs that were chosen into selection by the user base in a client-wide vote. Along with the music was the artwork, created by Numbr - also a Soulseek user.
After the success of the first release came the second, known as "The One Minute Massacre - Volume 1". This was a concept album, written in a game of telephone sort of way. One person would create 1-2 minutes of music and pass it to the next person, who picked up where the first left off, and so on. The result was a continuous flow of music involving 40 different musicians.
Since then, the label has released numerous net-only albums.
. The site also serves as the portal for downloading the many net releases that have come from the label.
Some of the project ideas include creating songs that are of a certain BPM
, creating songs that relate to a certain idea or feeling, remixing remixes of remixes
, and different spinoffs of The One Minute Massacre.
, such as IDM
, glitch
, Ambient
, Noise
, and Breakcore
SoulSeek publishes music which is atypical. While a majority of the userbase focuses on the creation of new and unheard sounds, sequenced through trackers, this collective includes other more fundamental or archaic forms of music. Some of the most active artists that release with Soulseek Records are: Kernel32, Bogsnarth, New Delhi FM, KiloWatts, Disasemble, DoF, kdp, UndaCova, One Lonely Guy, Auan, mirdog, Psy-sci, Cube, Rochie, Ears Akimbo (Laze), ACP, TWISTOR, Orphax, ToyzRme, Seedy, Sine Weaver, and Temp Sound Solutions.
called Lab30 (30 being the street number of the Abraxas Theater) is held in Augsburg, Germany by longtime Soulseek user Manfred Genther and other Augsburg locals. This festival focuses on showcasing digital musicians, digital artists, and netlabel
s from all over the world. Many Soulseek artists have performed at the festival, and a large number of them have performed live for the very first time there. Lab30 has steadily grown in size since the first event, and continues to be a meeting place for the musicians and users of Soulseek. Attendees usually come from all over Europe and the United States. Lab30 is a well known event in Augsburg, and widely supported and cherished by the Augsburg music and art scene.
, with widespread physical releases, artists, and possible profit. SLSK Records's first release features the longtime Soulseek artist Saskia, and has already been accompanied with a remix
competition for the first single (The One EP) from the upcoming album (Deep CD). The remix contest was announced to every user of the p2p client, and resulted in over 900 submitted remixes. SLSK Records is the commercial label, while Soulseek Records remains a free community-run nonprofit label.
Netlabel
A netlabel is a record label that distributes its music through digital audio formats over the Internet...
founded in 2002
2002 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2002.-Events:*February 3 – U2 perform during the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVI...
by users of the peer-to-peer file sharing
Peer-to-peer file sharing
P2P or Peer-to-peer file sharing allows users to download files such as music, movies, and games using a P2P software client that searches for other connected computers. The "peers" are computer systems connected to each other through internet. Thus, the only requirements for a computer to join...
network Soulseek
Soulseek
Soulseek is a peer-to-peer file-sharing network and application. The term Soulseek might refer to one of the two networks, or one of the three official user client interfaces. Soulseek is used mostly to exchange music, although users are able to share a variety of files...
. Like many netlabels, Soulseek Records' operation is not-for-profit and advocates the ideals of the Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
by allowing listeners to freely distribute releases for non-commercial purposes. All of Soulseek Records' releases are compilations collaborated on by members within the community. In 2003, Soulseek Records created a sub-label, SUAL, for the purposes of releasing single-artist albums.
History
Upon its creation, SoulseekSoulseek
Soulseek is a peer-to-peer file-sharing network and application. The term Soulseek might refer to one of the two networks, or one of the three official user client interfaces. Soulseek is used mostly to exchange music, although users are able to share a variety of files...
drew a large userbase of independent electronic musicians, with a large number of them coming from the IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
Mailing List. In 2001, a handful of users began conversing about the idea of starting a non-profit record label as an offshoot of Soulseek. A user named Seedy brought up the idea of creating a compilation, and together the many Soulseek musicians were able to raise enough user-donated funds to print and sell their first CD - "The Soulseek Compilation". This was a basic compilation that consisted of songs that were chosen into selection by the user base in a client-wide vote. Along with the music was the artwork, created by Numbr - also a Soulseek user.
After the success of the first release came the second, known as "The One Minute Massacre - Volume 1". This was a concept album, written in a game of telephone sort of way. One person would create 1-2 minutes of music and pass it to the next person, who picked up where the first left off, and so on. The result was a continuous flow of music involving 40 different musicians.
Since then, the label has released numerous net-only albums.
Democracy
Most of the decisions regarding the actions of the label are determined by the users through voting. Whether or not a project is released as an 'official' Soulseek Records release is determined by a vote - otherwise it remains in the pool. There is a monthly contest called The SLSK in which users submit any song they've recently completed in order to showcase new things they're into. The submissions are then voted on by the entire user base, choosing a top 3.Massacres
A popular project of Soulseek Records is the Massacre, which is sort of like a musical game of telephone. An artist creates a bit of music limited to a specific time and passes it to another artist who picks up where the previous song ended. After the release of The One Minute Massacre Volume 1, the label created 3 more Volumes, all in the same fashion. It was a popular concept, especially being that it was a free-for-all project in which many musicians could participate. Spinoffs of the original idea include the 24 Hour Massacre (same concept, except the entire album is created in a timespan of 24 hours, resulting in an intense time-based challenge) and the One Second Massacre (same concept, except each artist creates one second and passes it on. As of January 2006, this project has reached nearly 10 minutes of material.) Several other releases not associated with Soulseek Records have picked up on similar ideas.SUAL releases
In addition to the regular Soulseek Records releases, the label has a sub-section known as Shut Up And Listen (or SUAL), created specifically to showcase solo artist releases. Releases which are the work of one artist have an 'a' at the end of the catalog number, while 'c' denotes a community project, such as "Soulseek Allstars Volume 1" from 2004. These releases distinguish themselves from the regular releases in that they are not necessarily voted on and usually allow each artist more duration. Featured artists ('a') in order of appearance: New Delhi FM, St. Thomas, Daigoro, Bubzigohn, Rick Strom, Cube (3), Kernel32, Hucky O'Bare, halluciphile, Humanite, Ruinae, Sine Weaver, Nik Jade, EatMe, Laskurg, Oculairus, and Megaheadphoneboy.The Web site
The label's Web site serves as an interactive breeding ground for group-related musical projects. Users can submit ideas for projects, gain participants, submit their tracks, and even chat about the specific projects in an embedded shoutboxShoutbox
A shoutbox, saybox, tagboard, or chatterbox is a chat-like feature of some websites that allows people to quickly leave messages on the website, generally without any form of user registration....
. The site also serves as the portal for downloading the many net releases that have come from the label.
Some of the project ideas include creating songs that are of a certain BPM
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
, creating songs that relate to a certain idea or feeling, remixing remixes of remixes
RemixeS
RemixeS is a compilation of French singer Mylène Farmer's singles by various famous DJ's, including JXL, Felix Da Housecat and Paul Oakenfold.-Brackground, writing and release:...
, and different spinoffs of The One Minute Massacre.
The Music
The music created by Soulseek Records musicians is centered around unhindered individual expression. Therefore each style is more unique than to be able to fit into one or two established genres. Mostly forms of electronic musicElectronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, such as IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
, glitch
Glitch
A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot...
, Ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, Noise
Noise
In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise...
, and Breakcore
Breakcore
Breakcore is a style of electronic music largely influenced by hardcore techno, drum and bass and Intelligent dance music. Its sound is largely characterized by a high-tempo, well-timed mingling of distorted kick drums , break beats arranged from samples of the Amen break, and audio samples from a...
SoulSeek publishes music which is atypical. While a majority of the userbase focuses on the creation of new and unheard sounds, sequenced through trackers, this collective includes other more fundamental or archaic forms of music. Some of the most active artists that release with Soulseek Records are: Kernel32, Bogsnarth, New Delhi FM, KiloWatts, Disasemble, DoF, kdp, UndaCova, One Lonely Guy, Auan, mirdog, Psy-sci, Cube, Rochie, Ears Akimbo (Laze), ACP, TWISTOR, Orphax, ToyzRme, Seedy, Sine Weaver, and Temp Sound Solutions.
Philosophy
Soulseek Records sprung from a filesharing application around 2001, a time when the RIAA first began cracking down on mp3 trading and proclaiming it as being destructive to the music industry. Soulseek Records helped show that filesharing programs could be used for a much more noble cause than simply downloading copyrighted mp3s. Soulseek has remained a program that is colored with a flourishing, active musician base, and this seems to set it apart from other conventional filesharing communities. As a result, many of the artists who release with Soulseek Records do so in order to promote free exchange of music, and most even share their commercially released albums as a 'tip of the hat' to the philosophy that music should remain free to anyone who seeks it out.Lab30
An annual digital arts festivalFestival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
called Lab30 (30 being the street number of the Abraxas Theater) is held in Augsburg, Germany by longtime Soulseek user Manfred Genther and other Augsburg locals. This festival focuses on showcasing digital musicians, digital artists, and netlabel
Netlabel
A netlabel is a record label that distributes its music through digital audio formats over the Internet...
s from all over the world. Many Soulseek artists have performed at the festival, and a large number of them have performed live for the very first time there. Lab30 has steadily grown in size since the first event, and continues to be a meeting place for the musicians and users of Soulseek. Attendees usually come from all over Europe and the United States. Lab30 is a well known event in Augsburg, and widely supported and cherished by the Augsburg music and art scene.
SLSK Records
A few years after the conception of Soulseek Records came the endeavor to create a commercial label, run by Rosalind Arbel and a few other Soulseek users, known as SLSK Records. SLSK Records (which stands apart from the original Soulseek Records) is intended to function just like a standard record labelRecord label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, with widespread physical releases, artists, and possible profit. SLSK Records's first release features the longtime Soulseek artist Saskia, and has already been accompanied with a remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
competition for the first single (The One EP) from the upcoming album (Deep CD). The remix contest was announced to every user of the p2p client, and resulted in over 900 submitted remixes. SLSK Records is the commercial label, while Soulseek Records remains a free community-run nonprofit label.
External links
Artist Websites