ENEMIES LIST HOME RECORDINGS is a record label and guerilla art corporation. What does that mean? We don’t really know. Here is how it breaks down in everyday life, however:
We do whatever we want.
Most of the time, that means putting out music.
We put out music that we make.
We also put out music that we like.
We do everything ourselves, because we love doing it.
We keep our costs very, very low.
Because of this, we are able to put out music at a time when the music industry is collapsing in slow-motion.
That’s fine with us.
We believe in all of the following: complete self-autonomy, cooperation towards shared goals, contradictions, home recording, home distrbution, idealistic capitalism, creating art as if no one else existed, the necessity of doing Awesome and Intense things with your life, being prolific, and not letting anyone ignore us, no matter what.
(Written in about 5 minutes and published on the original ENEMIES LIST site, the “manifesto” has become a big part of who we are, and how we do what we do. Was it hastily typed? Yes. Do we still believe in it? Definitely. Expect an expanded version sometime soon. Until then, here is the original.)
People like to talk about the “new age” in art. Studio quality recording equipment is now available, and affordable, to the amateur. Not only the means of production, but also the means of mass distribution, are now cheaply, and sometimes freely, available. Interconnectivity provided by the internet allows artists from diverse locations and milieus to influence and collaborate with one another. What should result is nothing less than a complete restructuring of the way we create, and consume, music.
But that hasn’t happened. Instead, bands use the internet to desperately call out for established, major label attention. Artists race to see how many “friends” they can acquire online, only to use those friends as a mailing list to advertise the same old shows, and nothing more. Kids everywhere burn CD-Rs of their music to use as demo, but beg labels for money to record their “real” albums. Wider audiences online mean a better chance to strike it big catering to lowest common denominator, not a chance to develop a unique sound.
The internet revolution is bullshit. We wasted it.
ENEMIES LIST HOME RECORDINGS was created to explore something else; the inherent promise in the availability of the means of production. One person in a bedroom can write, record, burn and sell a record on par in quality with the best any label can offer, and for a tiny fraction of the cost. What does that actually mean?
It means that the Market Forces that have always acted as a restraint upon art are dead. Not dying. Not on the way out. Dead.
Each individual artist is now capable of producing whatever they want, without the need to conform to anyone else’s expectations. Unique visions can now be communicated directly to the people that enjoy them, without the need for expensive advertising or the costs of massive pre-production; if an audience exists, anywhere, it can be found and connected with. Recording time is now free; songs can be recorded over minutes or years. Compositions can be endlessly tweaked and perfected over time; it is no longer even necessary to have musicians present to play multiple instruments.
The Age of Reliance is over. Beyond an investment in cheap equipment, the only requirement left for the production of art is the will to pursue it.
What that means for music in general is up for debate. Personally, we feel there will be an explosion of genres and micro-genres; a surge of solo artists producing increasingly unique music; finally, the raising of the bar in the quality of recording and packaging in home-recordings and CD-R releases.
But you have to fucking go and do it. Otherwise, it’s a waste of technology.
ENEMIES LIST HOME RECORDINGS
The following is contact and web information for members of the ENEMIES LIST.
Dan Barrett
web: www.enemieslist.net/nyr
email: dan [at] enemieslist.net
twitter: www.twitter.com/enemieslist
facebook: www.facebook.com/danbarrett
last.fm: www.last.fm/user/danbarrett
Tim macuga
Tim lives in the woods.
M. Kestigian
web: www.americaaddio.com
twitter: www.twitter.com/cody2k
last.fm: www.last.fm/user/mkestigian
William Barrett
web: www.myspace.com/afterlivesmusic
twitter: twitter.com/WillBarrett
last.fm: www.last.fm/music/Afterlives
ENEMIES LIST LOGISTICS TEAM
Erdan
The man that packs the stuff. Total boss.
erdan@enemieslist.net
Thao
tumblr: http://thaohau.tumblr.com/
flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/thaohau/
Keith #1
Keith lives in the woods.
Keith #2
Keith lives in the woods.
Kim V.
Kim V. lives in the woods.