hardcore

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LET IT BURN – The end of an era…

30. Dezember 2009 in Agency Biz, Brain Damage, General Music, Label Biz | No comments

no worries, LET IT BURN is neither gonna stop, nor slow down. I just have the feeling that the end of the year also marks the end of the way this label used to work over the past 9 years. Let me explain…

LET IT BURN RECORDS always used to be some crazy mixture of diy and professionality. I never had the feeling that one excludes the other. We traded records with small labels from the Czech Republic and at the same time we bought ad-space in big magazines. We set up contracts for bands and at the same time helped them out quick and dirty when they were in trouble. We sold albums for 12,00 Euro and we sold them for 5,00 Euro. All in all a pretty ambivalent label management.

Especially during the past 2 years the label was forced to make a decision. Basically, there were three options:
1.) Call it a day like so many other record labels did
2.) Narrow all label activity down to straight up hobby-level with 1 or 2 friendship releases per year
3.) Become even more professional and try to stay alive

which_way_to_goSince the label is still around and our release-schedule still is packed, it’s not hard to guess what choice we made. However the sole fact of working professional is not gonna save anyone’s ass. As a record label owner you also have to be extremely flexible and innovative. A tough call in an industry that is desperately trying to sell a worn-out product which has passed it’s boom years ago.

Don’t get me wrong, we still LOVE to put out records, work with bands, press people and other partners… It’s just so annoying that noone really knows how to effectively run a label-business on an independent-level these days. A straight up blindflight…

Anyway, 2010 is coming and we’ve already scheduled a lot of cool stuff for the new year. We really appreciate everyone’s support, no matter if you buy cds, go to our bands’ shows, buy their merch or spread the word. We don’t take any of this for granted, never will. Thanks!

Have a good start in 2010!

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Hardcore Empowerment

21. Oktober 2009 in Agency Biz, Brain Damage, General Music | No comments

EmpowermentHardcore tends to spit out a band every once in a while that seems to be somewhat different. Some call it “hype”, some call it “a band that hardcore’s been waiting and asking for”. I won’t join this dicussion, but it was EMPOWERMENT who brought the word authenticity back to my mind. Something you cannot force, reproduce or claim without a reason. You either have it or you don’t. It’s a question of personality, scene-authority, integrity and extrinsic respect. Hard earned values. Most people in hardcore are not willing to pay the price, leave the scenery before they even get close to it or simply give a fuck.

Bottom line? I talk to bands a lot, trying to answer their questions and help them sorting out their issues. But this can only get them so far.

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Image Damage

4. August 2009 in Agency Biz, Brain Damage | 2 comments

How to reestablish an image

geek2I recently talked to a band who’s working on getting rid off an image damage they’ve been coping with since day one. I tried to focus on the band’s amenities (and there are A LOT) but whatever scenario I pictured in my head, nothing really worked out.

It seems as if the underground-music scene is way more “sensitive” when it comes down to reputation, externity and image than other music genres.

  • GOOD because this fact encourages a kind of “natural selection” which is essential for any kind of subculgure.
  • BAD because this band obviously has been misunderstood and misinterpreted a lot

From what I have learned it is nearly impossible to reestablish an image that has been heavily damaged. Sad but true.

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Zero Mentality – Dildo Competition

24. Juli 2009 in Brain Damage, Label Biz | No comments

I just uploaded this ridiculous Zero Mentality competition to the Let it Burn Website and laughed my ass off! :-) I hope you kids out there have a similar humor as ZM and LIB…

Zero Mentality Shirt Competition

Zero Mentality Shirt Competition

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ZERO MENTALITY for lovers and haters

15. Juli 2009 in Brain Damage, Label Biz | No comments

As some of you might know, Let it Burn Records have signed ZERO MENTALITY. Of course this is a great thing for the label but also to me personally this signing (in addition with the signing of BLACK FRIDAY ‘29) means a lot.

I totally love their previous albums and always admired the band’s strength to go their own way. However I must admit that I was VERY suprised when I heard “Black Rock” (their upcoming album) for the first time. With most songs it took me a while to get into it but as for now I think it is their best record so far. The first song they put on myspace (”Black Rock“) and the new band CI has already caused some rumble. I hope there’s more to come!

ZERO MENTALITY

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So what’s all this?!

30. Juni 2009 in Brain Damage | No comments

the notorious web 2.0It feels kinda weird that my “real life job” finally made me dive into web 2.0. I attended an internet-congress in Berlin this week, basically all about web 2.0, social communities, etc. I had to face the fact that the internet is not what is used to be a couple of years ago (not even months…), a lot of things had changed and I felt quite outdated on a lot of things. This news blended perfectly with my desire to share some of the millions of thoughts on music I spend every day. Things with the music biz are pretty weird right now and the internet seems to be the perfect place to meet people who are equally affected from this.

So here I am, typing the first article for the LET IT BURN BLOG. I really hope this generates a certain value and in the end of all is good reading. I heavily encourage everyone to participate this project and make www.blog.letitburn.de an interesting and vivid platform for all kinds of underground music people. Let’s do it.

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