I was watching a TV show last week about the evolution of the human race.  Some scientists are now theorizing that what enabled our evolution beyond that of other animals was language; our ability to share ideas and information with one another accelerated our advancement as a species exponentially.

I believe what those scientists are saying.  I believe that when our language - our ability to communicate ourthoughts and feelings among one another - is limited, the advancement of our entire civilization is constrained. 

Moreover, some things can’t be communicated with simple speech.  That’s why human beings created music, art, literature, drama, satire, and all forms of communication that transcend naked words.

It’s not my original thought that this is what Orwell was getting at in 1984.  When our vocabulary is constrained, our power to unite and transcend the barriers that separate us is compromised.  This is what has happened in the age of obfuscation and duplicity, when we live with terms like “collateral damage” and “free speech zone.”

The converse is also true: when limits that have constrained our communication for as long as time remembers are removed, a revolution occurs and we adapt.  We mutate.  We evolve.

One limitation we face in our time is displacement of the motives of communication, which, for almost all of human history, have been myriad and innumerable.  Now the motive for the vast majority of communication has become consolidated into a single impetus.  The mass media communicates most of the messages an individual human being absorbs; it communicates what it is motivated to communicate, and by the essence of the corporate entity, what motivates it is profit.

With corporate dominance of the recording industry, profit has become the one and only motive for producing music.  The sharing of thoughts, feelings, and ideas with our fellow human beings is not on the radar of mega-corporations. 

Music has become a product, rather than a critical form of communication.  That’s why we at AntiCorp Records strive to give musicians a chance to share their love and labor with the world absolutely unfiltered. 

Human beings, as we are prone to do, have invented new tools with which to transcend the limitations of our circumstances.  With these new tools, we are rediscovering our ability as individuals to surmount the spaces between us.  AntiCorp Records is born from the intersection of modern technology with the ancient certainty that each of us are driven to advance humankind through communication with one another.

AntiCorp artists will have complete and total control over the production of their music, and maintain absolute ownership of publishing rights.  Music, and the ideas it transmits, are the property of human beings, not corporations.  AntiCorp will market music, but will not “produce” it.  That is the purview of artists, not profiteers.

We hope you will listen along and be a part of our mission: to advance the cause of human expression and the progress that goes along with it, and to share what we value most with one another.

Thanks for listening!

All AntiCorp artists will make at least some of their songs available for free listening on the internet. They will be strongly encouraged to allow some of their music to be downloaded for free as well (with accompanying artwork of course, so folks can make their own CD covers).

The majority of AntiCorp artist’s songs and albums will be available for download for (tentatively) a dollar per song.

All AntiCorp music will also be available for order at AntiCorpRecords.com in the form of a standard audio CD just like you’d get at the record store (if you can find one).

AntiCorp artists will get 85% of the net profit from their music. The other 15% will go back into AntiCorp to continue and advance its operations. The same deal goes for every artist, no exceptions. There are no stars here.

AntiCorp artists will maintain total ownership of their own music, granting AntiCorp license to publish, promote, and sell. Artists will share responsibility with AntiCorp for promotion and are encouraged to be innovative with their marketing methods.

Most of all, AntiCorp is designed to give equal footing to non-professional, semi-professional, and professional musicians alike. AntiCorp creates opportunity for musicians with jobs, families, and all the other things we all have to worry about. That opportunity is to share music with the world, despite limited time and resources.
AntiCorp has two criteria for its artists:

Firstly, we are only interested in music with an original sound - we don’t care if it’s rock, folk, hip hop, jazz, whatever - if your music can be described as a derivative of one or two other bands, AntiCorp is probably not the place for you. We’re very much focused on new ideas here.

Secondly, recording quality must be relatively decent. That doesn’t mean it has to be “professional” quality; it just has to sound good, whether it was recorded in a studio or just a microphone hooked up to a tape deck. What this really means is that you have to lay it down like you mean it.

So, if you have some music you want to share, or know someone who does . . .

Artists@AntiCorpRecords.com