What is Digital Vomit?
Digital Vomit is a record label, of sorts. We put CDs out - compilations and individual artist CDs - put on gigs (occasionally), and all the rest. But unlike other record labels, we're a true collective - there's no one person behind any of it, no central office, no leadership or hierarchy. Funding for releases is either down to individual artists, or, in the case of our flagship CD series Can Buy Me Love (1-4), funding was split between all the artists involved.
What sort of music does Digital Vomit release?
Well, all sorts. But to generalise, it's largely electronic, often extreme, sometimes funny, sometimes horrible, but always fun.
AKA: electronica/IDM, breakcore, noise, post-rock, mash-ups, odd pop, folk, ambient, extreme metal, punk rock, etc
How can I be a part of Digital Vomit?
If you want to be a part of Digital Vomit, it's really simple - just come talk to us in the forum, or submit a track for a compilation. In order to talk in the forum (and edit pages on this site), you need to do two things:
1) Register as a user on wikidot (the wiki site we use for our site)
2) Once you are a wikidot member, click "Join this site" above to join us here
How can I have my music released on Digital Vomit?
Well, you've got two choices. If you want to submit something to a compilation, just find out the conditions for entry and submit a track. If it's a physical release, you may also need to chip in some cash (for which you can expect to receive some CDs), depending on how the release is being funded.
If on the other hand, you want to release your own album under the Digital Vomit umbrella, then the way it generally works is to hang around here a bit, announce your intentions in the forum, and then just go for it. Pick an unused Digital Vomit catalogue number, and add details of your release to the releases page. In some rare instances, a consensus may be reached that your release isn't appropriate for Digital Vomit, in which case it will be removed from the catalogue and the catalogue number reassigned.
Of course, you can also propose your own compilation, but in order to have some confidence in your ability to make it happen, particularly if you're asking for people's music and money, you really need to be known and trusted. Generally our experiences with compilation organisers have been 95% great, but there's one example of it going badly wrong, something which we're keen to avoid happening again.
What's the preferred format - MP3, CD or other?
The preferred format would probably be CD and MP3, but since we know that cash is an issue for a lot of people, we've moved more towards MP3 releases. That said, we don't see ourselves as a netlabel primarily, so would always encourage a physical release wherever possible, even if it's just a limited run of CD-Rs (providing some care has gone into the packaging etc).
What's the ideology behind Digital Vomit?
You see, the thing is, Digital Vomit is really nothing more than the activities of the people involved. There isn't a mission statement, just the desire to unleash music on the world. If there is something we all believe in, it's that if you want to get your music out there, for people to listen to, then the best way to do that these days is to do it yourself. And by coming together, we can achieve more than if we all did the DIY thing on our own. Beyond that, we've tried to make sure there are as few rules as possible, both around the sort of music Digital Vomit is about, and around how to do things.
Isn't it cheating to release your own music? Aren't you lacking quality control?
Well no. To both. What do you think is better - waiting for your demo tape to be accepted by Warp, Ninja Tune, Planet Mu, Tigerbeat (who all have their own cliques to be maintained)? Or just getting on with it and getting your music out there?
As for the question of quality control, Digital Vomit is probably the best filter you can imagine. Because you have to select the one tune you think is good enough for a compilation, the one that will stand up against everyone elses, and (if it's a split-funded physical release) the one you're prepared to pay for. This isn't like bunging a tune on MySpace, this is being part of a real music releasing process.
Collective? Yeah right! One Mr Big is behind it all, right?
Nope. I know it seems unlikely, but the way that Digital Vomit has been set up and run means that there really isn't one person behind it. OK, so perhaps there isn't one person, but there must a clique or something? An inner circle? Well, perhaps you could say that, but even amongst these people there are a few things to note:
1) Nothing's done in secret
2) The inner circle is easily joined (just get involved)
3) Power is distributed between many many people
If you still believe that there's some secret leader, take a look at who does what (as of October 2008), and tell me who you think is in charge (apologies to DigiVom people if I've forgotten anyone):
The initial idea behind Digital Vomit was by Solypsis. Split funded physical releases have been organised by Solypsis and Mixomatosis. Solo funded physical releases have been organised by Junkshop Coyote & 7u?, Keith Hic and Uncivilized. MP3 compilations have been organised by Solypsis, Mixomatosis, Batuta, Lisbent, Andy N, Junkshop Coyote, Keith Hic, Uncivilized and Big In Albania. Solo releases (CD and MP3) have been put out by Solypsis, I Could Do Better Than That, 7u?, Mixomatosis, Teterom, Big In Albania, Thee Crumb, Subsonika, Uncivilized and ANE. Artwork (for compilations and other's solo releases) has been created by Scott Wolf (our logo and CBML4), 7u?, Xian, Uncivilized, Beytah and UKDragon. Live events have been organised by Mixomatosis and ROBOstud. Badges have been produced and funded by Hooray and Staff. T-shirts have been made by Scott Wolf. This website was started by iivix. The domain name is owned by Hooray. Site admins are iivix, Subsonika, Hardoff and Datarapist. The site was styled by Datarapist. Website content is written by iivix (writing this) and EVERYONE! (it's a wiki!). The MySpace page is maintained by Solypsis, Big In Albania and ROBOstud. Hosting for tracks is provided by Junkshop Coyote, Hardoff, Datarapist and Hicc Org.
