Around these parts, Otis Fodder is a much-admired individual... This Seattle-based DJ was the genius behind 365 Days, an online project which delivered one mp3 of interesting, obscure (and often out-of-print) music per day for the whole of 2003. (Some of the highlights of this project have been posted on this site already. Others will be featured in future postings.)
With 2003 over and the 365 Days Project retired to P2P land, Otis Fodder has joined that growing band of altruistic music producers who are setting up free online labels. Every recording that comes out on Otis' Comfort Stand label is released only as a set of mp3s (192k+ encoding). These are posted on the label's site along with professional jewel-box formatted artwork and liner notes - and it can all be downloaded for free. (Provided, of course, that its used for "private and personal" purposes. If you intend to use any works commercially, its expected that you'll do the right thing and get a licence from the artists.)
Comfort Stand debuted at the end of last year with an excellent "double CD" of contemporary exotica called Two Zombies Later. Since then its churned out another 30 albums & singles which have included such diverse fare as found home recordings, the work of a music-sharing remix community, Argentinian psychedelia, reknowned SF busker The Space Lady, an imaginary metal band, and a compilation of "space music".
(If you applaud this approach to music distribution, but none of the afforementioned is your cup of tea, don't worry... There are another 80 plus free online labels out there for you to explore. You can find them on The Netlabel Catalogue.)
Posted by Warren at May 12, 2004 10:47 PM | Net Labels