Some Basic Guidelines For Our Group
01.) The focus of this group is to share music, and have a good time doing so. So please, let’s play nice. Lively conversation and discussion is welcome; you should be able to comment on these pages, there’s the e-mail list for writing to the group, and as new releases come out, feel free to discuss / comment on / share other links, when it makes sense to do so. Please don’t feel inhibited from interacting with each other; we are sharing art, and it’s supposed to spark discussion and commentary. But please, be cordial. If there’s a problem, contact Austin.
02.) There will be a cost involved with this group. Postage isn’t free, and then there’s the materials that you use to make your release. And you do need to make copies of your release, and duplication can be costly. And there’s further costs I’m forgetting, certainly. I say this by way of transparency. There are costs, and they aren’t insignificant. But they aren’t extravagant, either. If the cost and the postal commitment is too much, this group might not be for you.
03.) Please don’t harp on anyone for being late. Life happens. If someone is late one month, so be it. It’ll all work out in the end, and considering how wild the world is right now, it seems worth it to give each other a little leeway. Again, don’t stress; we’re here to have fun. So far, while sometimes late, everyone has eventually turned in something, and when folks have dropped out, other group members have stepped up to ship out a “replacement” item for that month, so everyone gets at least something. So please, be patient. The music will arrive, eventually.
04.) Throughout the year (before it is your month), you should record / work on your release for the group. The idea is to use this as a motivator to help us work on new material, and in the spirit of that, you should make something new for our group. You can use members of this group to ask questions, or get feedback, or even collaborate with. Or, you can be completely anonymous, and we’ll get your release in the mail one day mysteriously. It’s your call; it’s your release. It would be nice to know a little about your projects, and get a little introduction about you, but you are not at all required. However you present your work is what we’re interested in, here. You get to make all those decisions.
05.) During your month, assemble / ship out your release to the other members of the group. You have until the end of your month to ship out your release. (Contact Austin if you think you’ll be late; see above; life happens.) Since people move and things change, Austin will send the most current list to you when you are ready to start shipping out your discs. If you’re ready sooner, you can contact Austin as you are preparing. Please use the addresses responsibly.
06.) This is a “Format-Agnostic” exchange. You can send out tapes, CDs, micocassettes, records if you’d like. CDs are the easiest to make and the cheapest to send these days, but really, anything that you want to send out to everyone is absolutely welcome. Have fun with it, and make it work for you. I’m curious if anyone can make something that we can’t play. We only ask that you don’t send digital downloads; we would like you to send a thing in the mail, please. (Yes, the music can be available digitally too, but for this group, please mail out something.)
07.) The release can be only for this group, or can be for others, too. You can decide what happens to the release afterwards. Essentially, our group gets an advance preview; after that, have fun with what you made! (Or, keep it hidden from others and never share it again. You get to choose.)
08.) If group members are interested, we can assemble a collection of all the releases, and make them available to others – either digitally or physically. We can cross that bridge after the exchange is over. Every year, people have agreed to the idea of a compilation, and we now have a few, covering the work we’ve made. There’s a lot of good stuff in there; I would love to keep up the tradition.
09.) If you have any questions, just ask? Thanks.
Austin Rich 