#digibundles

The biggest revolutions in art have often come from non-artistic places. It is technical and cultural innovations which change the way we conceive and produce art. The phonograph, vinyl records, tape cassettes, CDs, the digital revolution, these weren't created by musicians but they are the inventions that changed not just the way music is listened to but more significantly the whole conception of how music is created by the artists. From the hour-long symphony to the 3-minute pop song to the 12-track concept album, it is technology which brings about these changes. The LP era can be considered something of a high point in the history of music. The LP era came about when the 12" vinyl melded with the artistic vision of ambitious musicians. We went from tin pan alley, individual disposable popular songs, to Dark Side of the Moon, over 40 minutes of music, side A and side B, with big, striking cover art and interrelated musical and lyrical themes. The LP era was not just one of the most exciting musical eras, bringing significantly more substance to popular music, it was also a time when the recording industry became bigger than Hollywood.

The most recent technical innovation in music is the digital revolution. It happened more than 10 years ago but to this date it has failed to be grasped on the whole by both the music industry and artists themselves. The potential for digital releases to expand and enhance the way we conceive and create music is exponentially greater than LPs. A digital release can contain not only an ordered, interrelated collection of songs, but also the nature of the supporting artwork, which was so essential in creating the substance and allure that made the LP so great, is vastly expanded. Supporting artwork can include videos, apps, images, text, links, anything that can be digitised. Yet I have seen very few artists truly take advantage of it. Instead we see many artists harking back to days gone by, to a time even before CDs, glorifying vinyl and cassette. While I love these physical forms and I hope they never disappear, there is a tendency to set these forms off against digital and that is one of the things that has impeded the progress of the digital revolution. But make no mistake about it, digital is here and it's not going anywhere. And it's not just the artists that are failing to realise the enormous potential of the digital form, the industry too has dropped the ball. They too have gone backwards, selling music as individual mp3s, taking us back to a time when music was detached and alienated, largely lacking the substance and cultural significance it gains from context. And part of the reason the big industry has failed to grasp the digital revolution is because it's not for them. Revolutions are for the people. The digital revolution favours individual artists and small indie labels, allowing anyone to create and distribute music, ushering in a more myriad culture, creating greater diversity of music and a music industry, dare I say it, for the many not the few.

Off with their Records was founded with the intention of advancing these concepts. I sometimes adopt a combative stance, deriding physical releases, it's right there in the label name and logo, but this is actually tongue-in-cheek posturing, making a point. In practice I actually produce a fair amount of CDs. 'Off with their Records' is here to innovate and advance a particular set of ideas. My buzz terms are 'digital revolution' and 'DIY industry'. These concepts rely on a plethora of labels, not just one. I want to sow seeds, inspire others, to innovate and share my ideas and experiences so that we can all do it ourselves, work together, make art, be fairly remunerated for it, without shelling out thousands of pounds on production, manufacturing and distribution. Any musicians, producers, aspiring label owners, artists of all kinds or anyone interested in what I'm doing at all is welcome to get in contact. But above all keep an open mind and keep an eye out for our digital releases, we have some big ones coming up.

It was in 2013 that I began to develop the idea of the Digibundle. This was not so much an invention as a prescient intuition. It was and still is clear to me that the Digibundle will be integral to, if not the dominant mode of media production and distribution in the digital age.