Sucu Music Netlabel Interview

Introduction

Sucu Music is a netlabel founded in 2013 in Enna, Italy by four artists with rather diverse backgrounds.  In their short existence they have released a consistently excellent, while very diverse body of works.  The emphasis at Sucu Music is on the quality of the releases, rather than the quantity of releases.

For CerebralRift’s Sucu Music Netlabel Interview all four operators of Sucu Music took part in the process.  Below is a list of the operators with the initials used to identify them throughout the interview:

GF: Gaetano Fontanazza – project coordinator, graphics
LS: Luca Sproviero – text, images
TC: Tony Colina – text, graphics
VS: Vincenzo Scuderi – web master, photos

Part One: General Questions

Introduce yourself.

GF: Let me quote a phrase written in the About us section of our website:

Sucumusic’s aim is to produce and promote stimulating music entities, both local and otherwise.

Looks short but says it all.

How did you get into netaudio?

GF: For an artist, promoting independent and original music can be frustrating sometime. One has so many online resources, a countless audience and yet a lot of good music remains hidden.

As an artist I had some positive experiences with netlabels. How can I say I believed in the spirit of sharing music for free. I think this completely frees ones creativity.

When and why did you found your netlabel?

GF: We’re four friends, coming from different musical backgrounds who decided to share the experience of managing a netlabel, about one year ago. We started from zero, aware that Creative Commons philosophy and free sharing through a netlabel could be a rewarding chance, both for our music projects both for everyone interested in promoting their music through us. We’re wide open to anyone, and we take particular attention to creative local projects too.

Do you focus on specific styles of music?

TC: Yes, mainly ambient, electronic, experimental, improvisation styles in all their possible incarnations, manifestation, and hybridization.

Who inspires you?

TC: Not who, but what, and the answer is good music

What drives you to do what you do?

TC: We do think there are lots of talented people all over the world who can’t have their works released for several reasons. we just want to give’m a hand.

What is your philosophy for releasing new material?

LS: We try to be as regular as we can with a release every 45-60 days. We receive a number of requests by groups and solo artists that allow us to concentrate more on the quality of the releases than on the quantity. Every member of the label is directly involved in the selection process of the release that will come next, and when every single one of us, people with different musical backgrounds, agrees that an album or an EP needs to be released under Sucu Music, the choice is made.

We are very open minded. We do not ask for exclusive releases nor lock artists to our netlabel. Also, we tend not to interfere in the artists’ process of composing and recording music, so when someone sends us his material we release it absolutely as it is (needless to say, it has to meet a certain quality standard.

What value(s) do you wish Sucu Music to express?

LS: One above all: freedom. Music is neither a race nor a goal, it is the means by which “you can be anything you want to be”, quoting Mr. Badguy’s words.

What role does community play in what you do?

GF: It has the main role, if you mean netaudio community. More than social channels do. It’s a matter of culture spreading. Bloggers, reviewers, listeners with creative ideas and projects have many followers. We spend much of our time searching for beautiful smart spaces for promotion such as yours. [Ed: Okay, now I’m blushing…]

Part Two: Creative Commons

Why do you release Creative Commons music?

VS: We think that Creative Commons license is the best way to protect an artist work when it is free shared, redistributed, remixed, adapted or involved in other Creative Commons projects online. Publishing under Creative Commons license could be a starting point.

Any negative experiences from releasing under a Creative Commons license?

VS: Not yet. But receiving artists’ releases requests, we realized that many people don’t know much about Creative Commons license. They don’t know well how it works.

It also happened that some artist refused our “yes to release” because we publish under Creative Commons license! They didn’t trust even if we provided infos and links stating that property and rights belong to the artist.

Have you had any neat experiences because Sucu Music uses a Creative Commons license?

GF: Nothing to say. They all went great!

It happened that my works were redistributed, remixed and used in several Creative Commons videos, received donations or requests for a commercial re-use. But this happened sometime ago, outside of Sucu Music.

Part Three: Business Questions

Do you accept donations or charge for your releases?

LS: Artists and listeners already gives us the greatest things we can receive: their time and their trust. What more can we ask from them?

What about the artists? Do they get a cut of the donations / money?

LS: One year ago we chose to join the bright side of music, wanting to give a widespread audience to artists who have the same vision that we have. We do what we do for the same exact reason they do what they do: for passion, not for money.

Part Four: The Future

What are you working on at the moment?

GF: We have about four releases in queue, different genres, from ambient to psychedelic. Some of them are well known artists to the netlabel scene, so… stay tuned! We’re about to finalize different music
projects of ours.

Many of them will be released on Sucu Music, of course.

What is next for Sucu Music?

GF: Traditional discography is almost dead, and despite piracy, listeners are deeply changing their way to enjoy their music experience. The web in the last decade, and mobile devices in this decade are most responsible. Changing is not bad. I think that netlabels exist to satisfy artists’ new needs and listeners hunger for music, out of the main discography, in a cyberpunk way.

In these recent years I think that free and pay-per-streaming services at a low cost are changing things again. The concept of the “album” or even “EP” are almost loosing their meaning. The content, out of the
container now is completely free, out of every right or wrong chain. In other words, playlists are becoming much important than albums.

Now the listener, not the artist, is the one who chooses his own emotional path. Well I think that not only the artists but netlabels too might be aware of this changing in progress and make suitable choices. Though we are all album lovers at Sucu Music, for example, we could start adding a playlists’ composer to our service, who knows…

Do you have any upcoming events or release you wish to mention?

The day of our first anniveersary is approaching (September 21st). We’re about to plan an event in our town to promote the netaudio culture, our netlabel and releases with showcases and sets of some of our local artists, discussion, meetings, etc.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Nothing else but: a big big thank you!

In Closing

When I originally set up this interview, I thought it would be Gaetano answering the questions, and I was surprised when all four operators of Sucu Music decided to participate.  I think this has added another dimension to this interview: bringing the work and thoughts of each contributor into the foreground.  Like the interview with Archaic Horizon, it’s nice to get to see the collaborative work that goes into operating a label like Sucu Music.

Personally, I found Gaetano’s thoughts about the demise of the album, and the rise of the playlist interesting.  It is something that I think there will be some debate over for many years to come.