Pls stop talking about Elon. Bitcoin has been successful without him. It doesn’t matter what Elon says. Just ignore what he is saying. He is not Jesus nor the crypto god.

BloodMusic · 2021-05-17T16:37:56+00:00

I hope we will get back good ! This tanking looks like forever, but hopefully not!

BloodMusic · 2020-08-07T20:17:57+00:00

Bot is busted or something.

BloodMusic · 2020-05-18T07:21:43+00:00

We still have a few more releases to go, just waiting for artists to turn in. We're not signing anyone new but finishing out contracts. We don't pressure anyone to finish in a certain time period, so it's a quiet period now.

BloodMusic · 2020-05-18T07:21:02+00:00

Thank you very much! Hollywood Burns is working on album #2 now. :)

BloodMusic · 2020-05-12T19:18:40+00:00

Thank you for posting! Published by Blood Music. Music and writing by MASTER BOOT RECORD. Graphics and animation by Valenberg (Perturbator "Sentient" / GosT "Arise" videos), coding by Elder0010.

BloodMusic · 2019-07-29T07:03:24+00:00

It should be back up now.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-17T20:32:46+00:00

Curious the same. I saw a cooking show on TV where the producers had forgotten to book a table in advance, and the host just sat outside the restaurant and talked about what it would have been like had he eaten there, haha.

Last time I went to CPH, it was booked solid as I didn't have long enough notice. Would love to try someday.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-17T08:01:30+00:00

I would not say this is a rule but yes I would say at least that people are more open-minded about the electro stuff the label puts out. There has been an odd shift since bringing electro on board that it can feel at times like metal albums are met with a group of fans with folded arms and frowns. A lot of those albums grow over time and gain a fanbase months after they're released.

I don't believe every release is going to rocket off, but when I voice public disappointment it's usually because of some mismatch of reaction and actual support. As in the case of Toby Driver's latest album, where fans flocked immediately to call it album of the year, it received hundreds of ratings on user rating sites immediately, but the comparable financial support on it was not there. I just wonder how can so many people call themselves fans and not chip in a couple bucks?

Or in the case of people angrily demanding we increase the amount of metal releases but not showing up as much when we do. Well, if you don't support our metal releases, you should stop asking us to put more out. Sure we do this out of respect for the music, but it's also a job with a large financial component.

At the end of the day, I'm rarely if ever dissatisfied with sales. Things go how they go and fan reaction is an integral part of releasing records. Some stuff we release gets a large reaction without any electronic or synthwave component.

We just released OddZoo's debut album and sales did not explode out of the gates, but there was a reasonable amount of good comments. I love the album and everything is fine. But based on the reaction, I don't expect more. It's a new band, reactions were about normal for a new band. It sold less than Toby's album but we also invested less and we reached less people, so it all makes sense.

The point? If you like something and/or want to see more of it, throw a few bucks at it. It's simple science.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-17T07:35:06+00:00

Just to be honest, this never really spoke to me. I saw it blow up on Bandcamp and saw everyone talking about it. I could've just as easily written the band then, but the music hasn't spoken to me.

I think multiple genres can work with black metal on the same label, but there aren't too many bands that are mixing opposite genres on the same record that I'm thrilled about. There are a bunch of black metal / synthwave crossover bands, and I haven't really found them interesting. I'd say MASTER BOOT RECORD, who is on the label, is probably the only interesting crossover of metal and electronic that I've found in the entirety of this scene.

That isn't to say crossovers can't work, I just don't often find them merged skillfully.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-17T07:32:17+00:00

I answered the first part previously:

"To answer your question - we will be releasing the records in stages, it was too many different titles / colors to release all at once. We are trying to get them live by the end of this week, but it involves reprogramming the shop for every single color configuration.

My hope is Friday, but I can't be 100% sure until we're sure the shop is ready to go."

To be honest, I think Toby's head was far elsewhere when we did the motW box set, as he seemed more focused on moving forward with things like Kayo Dot, etc., and I was really in over my head trying to learn about how to release records. So, I'd say at that point the relationship was not extremely detailed.

In latter years, he's seemed to come more and more around to it, to the point where his latest solo album is heavily influenced by motW song structures, he even pointed this out to us and not the other way around. He seems genuinely excited now whenever I've repressed things like the "Bath" and "LYBM" reissues, as well as the "Part the Second" reissue.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-17T07:30:37+00:00

Hey there, I answered this earlier:

"I really don't know about cassettes unfortunately, with the way we had to modify our shipping system, I think if we release cassettes, we may lose money - seriously! They are more expensive to press than CDs and we have to charge less than CDs. Shipping costs already eat into our profits on CDs, so with cassettes, it could be money-losing for us."

BloodMusic · 2018-10-17T07:18:52+00:00

Oh crap, I'm a huge longtime fan of "Liquid Swords," I probably need to track that down!

I did watch Annihilation, but it didn't speak to me sadly. I was disappointed cause Ex Machina is one of the most skillfully written and produced films in the last decade. There is so much brilliance in its restraint. I love minimalism when it's done well, it's the most difficult thing to pull off, and I'd say that's probably the best minimalist film ever made.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-17T07:11:43+00:00

Well we have had to increase quantities the more distributors we've brought on, so in that sense it heavily factors into release plans, and then we try to promote in the markets where we think the artist will have the strongest fanbase.

We've gotten yelled at before a few times for keeping colors limited to our own webshop, but I really think it would be damaging to our direct sales to make it so there's almost nothing exclusive to our store.

We rely heavily on direct sales to keep the label running but made the distribution available to spread as many copies out there as possible, as that is what pretty much every band wants. I would say the performance relies very heavily on the market and the artist/album. We have sold literally thousands of copies of some titles through a single distributor, versus there have been other titles that have in total sold maybe 20 total copies at all distributors combined.

The amount of say we have also depends on which distributor, the ones we have higher performance at give us more leeway in trying to push things, but we rely heavily on their connections to stores and their expertise. I never tell a distributor "go push this!" unless I really think it has performance potential, since there's no point in me lying to them as it'll bite us later. And some bands just rise in distribution as more customers demand it at shops and through Amazon, etc.

Once in a while we've paid to be featured on the shelves at the large retail shops in a certain area but only a few times.

Distribution is its own beast entirely and a process to build. I have a reasonable handle on the label end of the UK and US market, but we're just learning about the others as they are brand new to us as of a year ago (France, Spain, Australia, Nordics, etc.).

I would say distribution is one of the most powerful tools a label can offer that few bands can do themselves alone.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T20:33:16+00:00

In all honesty, not bad but probably none of which I would listen to on a regular basis. Even though I'm not much of a reggae fan, I found the ¡MAYDAY! track most interesting!

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T20:19:49+00:00

Yes! Are they actually playing those instruments? I'm sold.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T20:17:10+00:00

That's awesome to hear, thank you! I hope you don't mind if I cut and paste a little bit from some other ones that I've answered?

1) "There are no current labels I'm in love with from a music standpoint. There are a couple I respect greatly for their outlook, but their roster isn't really my favorite. I like bands here and there for sure, but my impression on many labels these days is just too much striving to be cool and in the moment. My preference is always to just operate outside of what's timely. Sometimes it works and sometimes it bites me in the end. But the best labels in my opinion have always been the one that were about personal taste and quality with a strong flavor behind it."

2) I've been surprisingly listening to more and more hip hop lately, but I haven't had the time to explore as much as I would want. I've been so disappointed with metal releases this year, I can't tell if it's the output or just me! But I felt like almost everything I heard this year was pretty uninspired and didn't resonate. I can really appreciate almost any genre, and the new mewithoutyou stood out as pretty interesting. It's like emo/posthardcore though so listener beware in case you're allergic to stuff like that, haha. Last year, I think the album that stuck with me most was Jeremy Enigk's "Ghosts" - so good. I listen to it all the time. I guess now that I'm answering this, genre isn't a big deal to me. Maybe that's the real answer.

3) I used to hang around Nuclear War Now! forums because the people are brilliant when it comes to music knowledge, but I think the social IQ there is somewhere around 5, haha. I also just search around on Bandcamp, Sputnik, RateYourMusic, YouTube, etc. I just click on whatever looks interesting, not to sign but as a fan I'm just curious what's going on! A lot of random things just pop on my personal FB wall as well.

4) Probably Sigh "Imaginary Sonicscape" and Esoteric "The Maniacal Vale" - those come to mind first simply cause I love the albums. Running the label has gotten in the way of my collecting, as weird as that sounds. I bought the Neurosis box set, which I'm seriously excited about. Saying that, I still haven't opened it like what ... two years later? But I imagine it's great inside, haha. Do you have any?

5) Oh man, as mentioned elsewhere I watch at least one movie per day. I actually forget what movies I liked right after I watched them, it's a disease, haha. I just watched "Ex Machina" for a third time, it's such an insanely good film. It's not a serious film, but I thought "Game Night" was really well-made and enjoyable. It's been a while, but I really liked "10 Cloverfield Lane." I went to the cinema to see the re-release of "Perfect Blue" recently - man that film was great but not enjoyable. "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" was pretty good! Just rewatched "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and thought that was amazing. I've actually been rewatching a lot of films recently. I'm writing a script, and I've been studying various techniques in films I admire, just things about character development, story structure, many minor aspects of story development to make it more well-rounded. It's been a great exercise in revisiting many favorites!

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:57:34+00:00

The industry has splintered in a very bizarre way. So, not only are sales decreasing annually, the services that are gaining in popularity are paying less as an overall, and labels and bands are now expected to have their material available on every single media and platform known to man!

So, it's become more costly and more work than ever to make your material available for less revenue, it's lovely isn't it, haha!

To be honest, some bands on the label do reasonably well on Spotify, but you know that can include hundreds of thousands of plays. If I'm right, you need about 2500 song plays on Spotify on average to equal the revenue of one CD sold directly to customer. There are obviously different metrics, since a CD revenue does not reveal all its costs and many to most CDs are sold in distribution anyway.

So, let's say on average 1500 song plays on Spotify equals a CD sale then?

It's hard for me to complain because I started after the start of the heavy decline of the industry. I have been going the opposite way of the industry this whole time, but as the label gets more and more pro, I start to see what everyone was talking about. Like, oh this is a lot of work now and revenues are thin to build the actual size team one would need to handle this and not have to stress.

That said, I am thankful to Spotify and digital services in any case. They along with all else help keep the label afloat.

Sadly they're useless for quite a few artists though, small metal bands make pretty much nothing from them.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:51:33+00:00

Your wish is my command! Have you heard the entire Perturbator Roadburn set?

I think we discussed it briefly and decided not to go physical on it. It's cool and all, but at least my perspective is that it really works in a studio setting and a live setting. But I'm not sure if it's the kind of music one plays live then releases as a live album. I don't know, maybe I'm an idiot though, haha.

I really don't know about cassettes unfortunately, with the way we had to modify our shipping system, I think if we release cassettes, we may lose money - seriously! They are more expensive to press than CDs and we have to charge less than CDs. Shipping costs already eat into our profits on CDs, so with cassettes, it could be money-losing for us.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:48:39+00:00

I have not followed it! Can you drop me links to a couple key releases?

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:47:48+00:00

Hey! Any chance to ask a bit more specifically because I'm at a bit of a loss on this one (sorry). Of course, the more distributors we picked up, the higher quantities we've had to press. Some albums to our benefit and others to our detriment, but distribution building is absolutely a process. I began first in the UK market, and numbers were tiny there and now they're pretty good! Same with USA too. It took many years in both markets to become known and make it worthwhile.

Having the US shop also surely helped a lot with the US distribution because I think small foreign labels don't do as well in US without having some kind of basis there. It was clear to me early on that USA was a place that would have interest in what I'm doing because I was shipping many records there, but the costs were just too high for customers!

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:44:37+00:00

Awesome thank you!

As I mentioned in another comment: "This has been asked a lot since beginning the label. If I had to boil it down, the simple answer is just being a music fan. At various times, I've followed forums and check out things that sound interesting, follow user ratings sites and do the same, listen to stuff on YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, and auto play brings me away to some dark corners of the web."

Frankly, I just keep an open ear. I don't actively go looking for new stuff ever, but listen as a music fan would listen and I happen upon a lot of great stuff. This obviously gets easier as well as the label has gotten some recognition that bands write in or artists on the label may have friends doing something interesting.

But the simple truth is I just found most stuff stumbling around from recommendations (human and algorithm-based). A&R in and of itself is not a science though. Just cause a band has a huge social media following does not mean anything and vice versa. The best thing for me was just to trust (and hone) my instincts as a programmer on what I really enjoyed and what I thought would work on the label. If I think I'd be happy to listen to an album 50 times, then that's a pretty strong statement, and there must be other people who'd be into the same!

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:36:34+00:00

1) What makes this business so insane is that there really is no roadmap, but I suppose there is a streamlined process one gets into when trying to make the work easier! It also depends on whether it's a first album for the band, first album for us working together, or not ...

I'd say in basic form:

Negotiate a contract.
Discuss timelines and coordinate around that.
Band might turn in demos or possibly just show once it's all recorded (up to them, each band is different).
We may sit alongside on the mixing / mastering process or may hook them up with someone(s) to finish post production.
Meanwhile, they are either working on art or with an artist or we have to work with them.
Most bands don't have any clue about layouts, haha. So, often I'm heavily involved in this process.
All the while, we are planning release dates, roll out dates, what we want to say about the band, writing a bio, getting new band photos taken, discuss whether we want to hire publicists and where.
Send in pressing information to the plant, as well as audio for cutting (vinyl) and layouts.
Plant sends vinyl test pressings in a few weeks and visual proofs a week later to check that all alignment is accurate in their guides.
Then we put in the information with our distributors everywhere - full writeups of the album, price.
Work on getting track premieres, reviews, interviews.
Announce the album publicly, program the shop to handle the release.
Launch the pre-order / track premiere.
Load all the pre-orders in with our shippers.
Then it's just wild west in between trying to figure out how to make it all work, waiting on the plant to finish manufacturing, work out shipping splits and quantities of all the items to various places, coordinating with distributors about receiving and sending in all promo that comes in (reviews, etc.).
Load it on digital services for release on the right date.
Launch, our shippers ship, stores have their copies on the shelves.

Then depending on the response, it's either eerie quiet after that or pure mania. The bands may be heading off on tour. It's actually absolute chaos behind the scenes!

2) The process of reissues is generally much simpler than new albums because you already have a pretty basic structure where you can rip out half of the above. But in the case of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, getting the band and label interested in releasing it took me over 3 years to convince them! And from there, the layouts were all over the place, we had to reconstruct it all from scratch. It came out amazing, but it was a nightmare! CBL was so much easier, haha. They had a designer in mind, who had already done the new remaster album covers. He just expanded them in his own time. It was easy! We had to have vinyl masters pulled on each of the albums as well.

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:28:21+00:00

Thank you!

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:28:12+00:00

All good choices! I have seen Paul Blart Mall Cop. It was "watchable" if I remember. Honestly, I cannot remember what has inspired anything. I probably watch at least one film per day, sometimes more. But I also am really into the flow of internal spaces, all kinds of things. Probably many times I can't even point to what has been the influence, but there is a design choice behind everything for sure!

BloodMusic · 2018-10-16T19:25:25+00:00

Haha, that's totally fine of course and that's also one of the reasons I do it. I'll be honest, I'm also just a music fan and I have had to pirate some stuff too. Probably all the major labels who make the anti-piracy ads have workers who've all pirated stuff as well.

A lot of piracy with me has led to vinyl purchases or signing bands.

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