LRRecords have just set-up a T-shirt and merch shop with Spread-Shirt…
Some great stuff here!

T-shirt printing has never been easier: with Spreadshirt you can make your shirt online, have it printed and shipped directly to your home. You decide how your custom shirt will look – simply use our Designer to create your own t-shirt and order it. We will print your personalised item to the highest quality and have it ready to ship within 24-48 business hours. We are more than just a shirt company – we also offer custom hoodies, baby clothing, hats, bags and aprons. Those are just some of the more than 100 articles in our apparel assortment.

Check out one of our great products we have designed:

Check out the LRRecords Spread Shirt Shop

Get started and design your own t-shirt.

Green Music Group, a coalition of musicians, industry leaders, and fans working to inspire widespread environmental action. We want you to be a part of this exciting new initiative.

Sign up with Green Music Group now and get a free song download from a special all-band jam featuring members of Maroon 5, The Roots, Dave Matthews Band, and Guster. You will also be entered to win an autographed eco-friendly guitar: a Gibson Les Paul Smartwood, a Martin Sustainable Wood acoustic, or a First Act Bambusa.

Join now at www.greenmusicgroup.org.

introducing The Space Hijackers…

The Space Hijackers are a group of Anarchitects which was set up at the beginning of 1999.

Our group is dedicated to battling the constant oppressive encroachment onto public spaces of institutions, corporations and urban planners. We oppose the way that public space is being eroded and replaced by corporate profit making space.

We oppose the way that users of space are being put under increasing scrutiny and control by those who own or run it. Be this via CCTV installed to monitor us, or architectural elements designed to control our moods.

We oppose the blanding out and destruction of local culture in the name of global economic progress. Newer and Bigger is not always better, it is usually both impersonal and imposing.

Through our various actions we attempt to raise awareness of issues within spaces and change how these spaces are used and percieved in the future. We intend to destroy heirarchies within spaces and claim back public ownership. Our projects act as another voice within space, and become engrained upon the places we Hijack.

Our aim is to change the way that ownership and usage of space is percieved, to put users of space in a more level position. We want to have a say in how we all exist within public space, on where and how we meet. We are fed up with being treated like criminal cattle by the institutions and corporations that decide on the shape and content of our environment.

The Space Hijackers in no way want to become leaders of some kind of resistance movement, our actions detailed on this site should act as a catalyst for others. If we can, you can. However we want to expand our membership in order to create a forum for discussion and development of these ideas. Our agents area is a space where interested parties can meet in a non heriarchical manner and help each other in their quests.

Our first major event was the hijacking of a Circle line carriage on London Underground . Since then we have expanded our operations to include everything from building miniature “City farms” all over the square mile through to producing “Experimental Pedestrian Schemes” in Brixton, and the production and design of Hijacker Equipment.

Yep - the boss, his missuss and his dog have finally come home to WA!!!
Things can only blossum from here! A bigger pond for the label to play in! And a city that loves its dub, dubstep and dnb!! Plus a whole lot more music goodness..the city is PERTH.

LRRecords studio will be based in Rockingham but our presence will be felt city-wide and our releases will continue to be global! Check the contact_us page for our updated contact details…

Looking forward to dubbing in Perth…

Hey kids… this was too interesting not to post…

Davos, Switzerland
February 8, 1996

Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.

Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.

You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.

You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. Many of these problems don’t exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different.

Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.

We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.

We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.

Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are based on matter, There is no matter here.

Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge . Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.

In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These dreams must now be born anew in us.

You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.

In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media.

Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.

These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.

We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.

Declaration of Cooperation

Because of the course of human events, it has become necessary to declare the unity of Earth and all living things. We join together to save Earth and ourselves from our excessive self-interest. We will use our creativity to develop a world where all living things are free to enjoy the resources and beauty of Earth, while at the same time assuring the healthy continuation of Earth.

We hold these truths to be self evident; that all living things are created with the right to enjoy Earth and receive sustenance; all are endowed with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the realization of Happiness; that to secure these rights we recognize that the denial of the rights of any living thing affects the rights of all.

Nations are legitimized by their ability to promote these rights for all life now and in the future. Nations should exist for the purpose of recognizing and serving the unity of life. To the extent that they promote primarily their own identity, they inhibit the recognition and implementation of this unity. Extreme identification with any part of the whole, be it nation, religion, race, color, or Earth is detrimental to individual and collective peace.

We have changed life on Earth. We have converted valuable resources into waste products. We have threatened the very existence of life with our weapons of mass destruction and with our mass pollution. We have let our desire for independence interfere with our innate qualities of goodness and love. We have been lured into the belief that our individual lives are more important than the lives of others.

We now choose to change our approach to each other and to all of life. We vow to eliminate our over-identification with the particular national, social, political, religious, and economic structures we have created. We vow to create a new sense of cooperation that values the life force within everything. We pledge our lives to creating a world where all beings can more easily remember our natural freedom, unity, and goodness.

Dr. Thomas Hansen, 1580 Reynovia Drive, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Thansen103@aol.com

Greetings Tribe of Light!

I am thrilled to announce that we just updated our LIVING PROPHECY page on our
13moon.com website! It was created to offer a holistic, accurate and inspiring take
on the upcoming 2012 synchronization, end of the Maya Long Count Calendar Cycle.

Please check it out and share the link with others:
http://www.13moon.com/prophecy%20page.htm

This update has been a long time coming, and was definitely inspired by the recent
2012 disaster movie that was just released this November, Friday the 13th, on White
Planetary Wizard day.

The 2012 movie is alerting hundreds of millions of people around the world about the
Closing of the Cycle in 2012, but as can be expected, it is associating it with
global cataclysm, fear, and the end of the world.

This is unfortunate, and as you will read on our new webpage, the Maya in Guatemala
are very upset with all this distortion of the message of their ancient prophecy.
They want the world to know the completion of their calendar cycle DOES NOT POINT TO
THE END OF THE WORLD, and they wish for people to NOT BE AFRAID. You can find links
to Shift of the Ages off of our site, which has recent videos from Maya Grandfather
Don Alejandro explaining this in his own words.

The essence of the 2012 prophecy is not about doom and gloom, it is about
transformation, renewal and re-birth. It is about us waking up to our true human
potential; it is about us coming into our power as planetary citizens, conscious of
our interdependence, working together in respect for all of life. It is about us
changing paradigms so that our global culture can find a way to live in Harmony,
with ourselves, each other and all of Nature. It is about us living from our Hearts.
It is a calling for us to expand our perceptions, sense of reality, and context we
place ourselves in and awaken to ourselves as galactic beings…I could say so much
more, but truly its all on the website!

http://www.13moon.com/prophecy%20page.htm

We are excited about our new webpage because it gives us the opportunity to promote
other websites, messengers, and organizations that we feel are also providing
accurate and inspiring 2012 information. So on our new page, you’ll find lots of
links to sites we feel are worthwhile to explore and support. We will continue
adding to these resources as time unfolds.

AN INVITATION TO SUPPORT OUR 2012 MESSAGE

The 2012 Hollywood movie is just the beginning. As we get closer to 2012, there will
be more and more mis-information and distortion of the essence of the Mayan
Prophecy, and you can expect more and more fear-based websites. We truly care about
the collective consciousness and we want to continue to help be part of the
solution. On that note, WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Essentially, because our website has been around since 2002, and since we are a
content-rich site, we have had a really high Google ranking. For example, before the
movie came out, if you did a search on 2012, our Living Prophecy webpage came up
#13. However, since the 2012 disaster movie has come out, we are getting bumped down
by all the movie promotion and also the “fake” websites which they’ve designed to
promote their movie and the whole fear-based doomsday enchilada… As of today, on
Google our site now comes up #20 which is the last slot on the 2nd page.

We want people doing 2012 searches to find our site because we feel it provides an
accurate, thorough, positive take on 2012. We feel strongly that it is important
that people can read for themselves what the Maya Elders are saying, and can hear
from someone like myself who has been studying this material for 15 years.

So, if you check out our page and feel aligned with helping us in this mission,
there are 2 things you can do:

A) Please send this link to your networks:
http://www.13moon.com/prophecy%20page.htm

ALSO,

B) If you have a website (or a blog or facebook, etc)
PLEASE POST A LINK TO OUR NEW PAGE! This will DIRECTLY help our google numbers.

The BEST way to help is for the link to read:
“THE MAYAN PROPHECY OF 2012

and to have those words linked to the url:
http://www.13moon.com/prophecy page.htm

Or maybe you have friends who run websites that you feel they might like to include
a link to our Prophecy page. EVERY EXTERNAL LINK HELPS!!!

Thank you for reading this, and for being part of this important movement to
influence our collective consciousness; to antidote the doom and panic with higher
vision and inspiration. We know we are all related and that we directly influence
each other with our thoughts, feelings, intentions, actions - our vibrations. The
more we can help emanate positive energies, the more it helps uplift the whole!

This message is also posted on my blog at
http://galacticculture.wordpress.com/
Please feel free to go there and post comments and share your feedback of our new
2012 update, as it is always a delight to hear from YOU!

Sending Blessings to you from my humble, ancient Heart
Eden Sky, Red Self-Existing Skywalker
http://www.13moon.com
TIME IS ART

heya folks - just found this in my documents. It is a bit old (2005 - i think?), but still has lots of relevant and useful information in it..
____________________
Dave Cina Interview

1. How did LR Records get started ?
? LRRecords was founded in June 2002 by Brett Caporn to facilitate 2 album releases; they are, ‘Welcome to the Spiral Soundsystem’ by Spiral Soundsystem, which was an experimental hybrid of rock and electronic sounds formed into 10 melancholic songs often featuring lyrics and vocals by Melbourne singer Melody King, and ‘Metabolic Molecules’ by DNA Generator. Which was a psychedelic vibe of trance and acid. These were both small scale releases of 100 units each. Both artists thought it would be better to learn the way to do music business with there ‘underground’ style releases rather than to get someone else to do it for us, which would leave us uninformed, unskilled and dis empowered.
 
2. Did you have any previous experience in the music industry?
This all pretty much started about 10 years ago when i was in my first band called ‘SnottyGobble’, which with a name like that and about the late 90’s you can imagine the post grunge , pre-Y2K, tribal fun-punk we were playing! Our name was after a tree from the forest in the South West of Western Australia which we were saving from being clear-felled (chopped down), we were all tripped out kids in those days, real punk asses on the edge of society. We toured and made it to Byron Bay on the East Coast of Australia, but we then could not find the drummer and that was the end of that but a beginning to a ongoing musical adventure!
Some of the first projects were interesting and a good introduction to being the ‘recording guy’ with a record label. A friend, Steve Perin was working with LRR and together we produced a live percussion recording called ‘Drums for Fire’ for Flameable Fire Tribe. We also produced, well actually remixed and mastered recordings from some fine old school musicians jamming in Cairns and made an instrumental album called Exyzm, which is like jazz and blues fusion. Also around the same time we did a ambient ‘new age’ style musical piece, 51 and half minutes long in collaboration with a didge playing healer friend. That was huge, so many tracks. LRRecords has also recorded demos for a few young punk and metal bands plus a few other acoustic singer songwriter musicians. LRRecords has also had the pleasure to work with the crew from Cairns indigenous hip hop crew Blek Affiliation and former Brisbane female, indigenous hip hop/rnb duo Miz. This long distance music relationship has carried on in the form of DJ and MC called BlitZ & S, whom is myself as DJ and amazing and beautiful Sarah Patrick on the mic. We recently performed on the Murri Stage at the internationally acclaimed Woodford Folk Festival, which is one of the worlds biggest, we also did DJ workshops at Woodford. The workshops are nothing technical, we just give people from the crowd a go on the DJ system, we mostly get kids and have heaps of fun. Sarah is a hard working creative professional and artist and a role model to her peoples’ youth. We had a great time and are keen to release our debut album later in the year, it has been so far 3 years in the making. I also recently produced an EP by young punk band Radio Riot, these guys are naughty, drunk and loud with some fine punk and ska riffs and a strong high school fan base. I feel there is a bubble full of zitty young and rebellious punk and rock kids ready to burst there hardcore sounds over this tropical city, Cairns. I’m also working on the dub and drum n bass stuff with Jerry Mane and Symonard with the Dub Rascals concept all the time plus crazy electronic music by Spiral Soundsystem.

 
3. What skills and Knowledge do you think are required to maximise the sucess of an indie label?
People skills are very important, as you have to deal with all sorts of people from fans and groupies to record shop owners, artists, sound technicians, other business owners - the list goes on and on. You have to have good communication skills to get your point across to people and to have enough of an impact on people for them to take interest in your band, music, label, proposal, event or whatever..This means to be a good listener as well. Your not going to get to far if people feel that you are not listening to them or taking them seriously.
You have to be an expert at time management, especially if you are also a practicing musician/producer. There are so many jobs always to do, you have to be able juggle the business jobs with your own time to be musically creative and time for relaxing, leisure and family. Doesn’t leave much room for sleep - but you’ve got to look after yourself, otherwise you will not be in the best shape to do business or make music. No sleep may give quantity but it doesn’t mean quality.
Initially you have to be a bit of a ‘Jack of all Trades - expert of none’. That is: web design, graphic design, promotion and marketing, database, producer, musician, DJ, sound and lighting, networker, event promoter….Eventually you will find what areas you like best and what things you are good at. You will realise your strengths and weaknesses and adjust your work efforts and record label accordingly. It is a skill to find other people that you can delegate jobs to (that will do them passionately) and keep them.
It is good to have an open mind and appreciation towards all music and a skill to be able to define your labels ‘vibe’ with what music genres you release. Its important to be ‘on the pulse’ and up to date with industry and technological trends and developments.
 
4. Have new technologies such as filesharing and myspace affected your business?
Filesharing was already in full swing when LRRecords was born. We see filesharing as a positive. You can now download much music that you would never have had access to back in the days before the internet, we believe this has contributed to a much more educated and open minded music listening public more likely to give our ‘underground’ music the time of day. Free music is a great way to get people to listen to your music and sometimes also a way of attracting buying customers, eg: you offer 2 free mp3s taken from your latest release on your website, myspace and/or blog, a person downloads them because they are free, listens, likes, then comes back to your website to check out the rest of the album and may just buy some of the other tracks or the whole album! Alternatively or as well as, they may show your free mp3s to someone else, whom falls in love with your music, then comes and visits your website only to find more music and artists that they love, checks out your events page and finds out that their new found favourate artist is playing a gig that they would like to attend, they come to the gig, pay the cover charge, be exposed to more of your music, banners, merch and decide to buy a CD at the end of the show. - This all would not of happened if that one person did not download your ‘free mp3s’
Ah - myspace.com - LRRecords manages 4 different accounts: lrrecords, jerrymane, spiral soundsystem and dubinthapub. Myspace is a great networking tool, promotion tool and a great way to gain new contacts easily. Myspace complements the label website nicely, but the website should always remain the main portal for your music business and have all the exclusive juicey content that your myspace does not. We basically treat our myspace pages as very flash business cards that all refer and point back to the main website. You can rely on your own domain, but not on myspace, I have heard some pretty horrorific stories of people losing their accounts, people invading their accounts, mass spam attacks and more..! We are presently negotiating a record contract with a Swedish heavy rock band discovered on myspace…
 
5. Are there any lifestyle issues (long hours, drugs, etc) that you think can have a negative affect on you and your business?
There is not enough hours in the day to do all the things you want to do. Initially i thought i could stay up to 2-3am every day mostly staring into the computer working hard. This soon catches up with you and eventually has the opposite outcome to why your doing it in the first place. I still stay up late alot, but have learnt to pace myself so i do not wear myself out. There is no rush do get things done, best to take your time and get things done properly and at good quality.
Drugs - yep plenty around. If you don’t have control of any drug use/misuse before you get heavy into label business, then drugs will be your downfall and will lead to your failure - no doubt about it. If your in this business to get ‘high’ or get the chicks then don’t expect to get too far without coming accross some serious problems. Its a highly competitive industry, those that are clear, focused and healthy are going to get the opportunities and breaks more often than those too busy getting wasted.
Don’t get too drunk at your own gigs. It sucks having to roll cables and pack up a soundsystem at the end of the night when your ‘half cut’. Save the big nights for times when your not involved in the event and you can just kick back relax and have a good time just like the rest of the ‘punters’.
 
6. Who are some other people in the music industry who you deal with on a regular basis ?
Firstly our own crew and label artists and DJs. Other local artists, DJs and promoters. Certain other label bosses that we are affiliated with: Balcony Records, Plum Industries, straightup.com.au. Other websites: last.fm, sounclick.com, isound.com, northernbeats.com, etc.. our digital distributor, IODA, myspace.com friends, CD manufacturers - thats the regulars…
 
The next couple of questions are more specific to the running and operation of a label.
 
7. How do you find bands to sign?
No set way. Sometimes they find you. The best way is to find them by being totally blown away by their live performance! Myspace.com is proving to be a great way to find new unsigned artists amongst our friends list!
 
8. What is the process for signing a band?
Initially there is alot of discussion about what the artist wants from being on the label and what the label can offer the artist if they are signed to the label. This helps the label develop the right kind of business relationship with the artist. A record contract is drawn up and sent to the artist to read, understand, sign and send back to the label to sign. This is a legally binding document explaining all the terms and conditions such as copyright, royalties and length of term to name a few. Once this contract is signed (with witnesses) and returned to the label, then the artist is ’signed’ to the label..!
 
9. What type of distribution/recording deals do you offer to your clients?
Recording and Distribution: this is probably the least common. We will do this if your music really impresses us and we are really keen to have you on the label. The label will either have you record at the label studio or pay for you to record at a pro studio, The label will then pay for your record to be manufactured and released. The record will be released, promoted and distributed exclusively on the label(when LRRecords states exclusive, we mean just Australia and New Zealand for the physical distribution and worldwide for the digital rights as we have major digital distribution with IODA. We would be cool with artist gaining a record contract for label representation in other regions). There will still be an artist website and artist myspace. The label will reimburse all the recording, manufacture, release and advertising costs for the record from income derived from the record. The record profits will then be split 30%-70% in favour of the artist. The label will provide the artist with distribution/finacial statements bi-annually.
Distribution Deal Exclusive: this is the most common contract. This is for artists that have already recorded and manufactured their record or intend to produce their record independent of the record label and can deliver stock of a quality record to the label whom takes on the exclusive distribution and promotion of the record. Or the master discs may be ready and the record label pays for manufacturing costs. The record profits will then be split 30%-70% in favour of the artist. The label will provide the artist with distribution/finacial statements bi-annually. Any costs incurred by the label for the promotion and distribution of the record will be reimbursed from income derived from sales of the record.
Distribution Deal Non-Exclusive: basically the same as above but the label does not have exclusive rights over the record, therefore allowing the artist to be able to enter other record deals with other labels. The label will provide the artist with distribution/finacial statements bi-annually. The record profits will then be split 30%-70% in favour of the artist. Any costs incurred by the label for the promotion and distribution of the record will be reimbursed from income derived from sales of the record. Digital Distribution may be limited as digital distribution can only be an exclusive deal under the terms between IODA and LRRecords.
Digital Distribution Deal: This is an exclusive only deal worldwide where the artist will only use the label for its global digital distribution machine. The record profits will then be split 30%-70% in favour of the artist.The label will provide the artist with distribution/finacial statements bi-annually. Any costs incurred by the label for the promotion and distribution of the record will be reimbursed from income derived from sales of the record.
Promotion Only Deal: This is when an artist would like to have their record available in the LRRecords online store only. This will link to the place the artist designates (usually artist website, itunes or similar). LRRecords will charge an annual fee for this service. This deal is non-exclusive.
 
10. In regards to album sales, how is money divided between you and the artist?
30%-70% in favour of the artist.
Typical break down of a CD sale, where the artist has provided a finished album to the record label and the label manufactures, distributes and promotes the record.
CD manufacture cost = $3.00 - (label)
Promotion and distribution costs = $2.00 (label)
Wholesale price to record shop = $15.00
Retail Price = $25.00 (record shop gets = $10)
Profits = retail price minus manufacture cost and promotion and distribution costs
= $10.00
30%-70% split = $3.00 for label, $7.00 for artist.

11. Is Little Rascal Records your primary source of income?
No, i also work part time as a youth worker at a youth centre in Cairns called YETI. I also do a casual shift at a homeless boys shelter. At YETI i run a Music Program for ‘disadvantaged youth’ where i teach them all the ins and outs of being an independent musician in the music industry. This is my primary and ’stable’ income. Sure the label makes an income as well but it is not very stable or predictable (some months it could be $2000, some months it could be $200). The main sources of income for the label are: merchandise and record sales income (digital and physical), studio hire ($50 per hour or package deals) and gigging.
 
12. Are there any organisations out there that provide support for independent labels.
Yep, in Australia it is AIR (Association Of Independent Record Labels). You pay bout $200 per year to be a member with these folks and they in return offer services such as: grant brokering, barcodes, cheap CD manufacture, label info sheets, opportunities and more. They are basically like the industry body for indie labels in Australia. In QLD there is also Qmusic, which is much the same as AIR. They do extra things like Broadcast Magazine and Big Sound Music Industry Week. there would be simaler organizations in each state.
 
and finally,
 
13. Is there any advice you can give to someone starting up a label?
Be passionate, be open minded, resiliant, take risks, be true to your roots, honest, brazen and cut throat, understanding, shit be superman.!
Have a good long hard think about it, there are pros and cons. It all depends on your motivation and goals with music. An indie label can be quite a large operation with lots of staff and departments, or you can keep it very small and simple, which is the most common.
Do your research first. Do you want to just make great music and play great gigs? If so, then just stick to that is probably the best advice, indie music is stronger now than it ever was. An independent artist pretty much has to do all the things that a record label does anyway, but keeps all the income, has total creative control and doesn’t have to manage a dozen other artists, sacrificing time, money and energy that would be otherwise used for making awesome music and on your own career. If it is a label to manage administration of your own music, then thats fine, its not to big a task. If your keen to create a label with a great roster of artists regually releasing great records, then a record label may be just for you. If so ask yourself these questions: What do you have to offer artists, that they can’t do just as well themselves? Why would they want to be on your label? How are you going to find and proposition those artists? Who are the artists? Do you have the time and money to create and run a label? Are you willing to sacrifice alot of time into building and promoting your label? What are your music career goals? What are your personal dreams?
If so - then running a label can be very rewarding if u love music!!
It can be long arduous work, but the rewards can be well worth it! I certainly have no regrets!
Cheers…

Brett Caporn
Little Rascal Records

Please click on the link below to sign the following Petition to the United Nations.

The Petition
UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF CONTACT
We the Undersigned request that the UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY adopt, fund and implement the UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF CONTACT:

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION

TITLE : “UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF CONTACT RESOLUTION”

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
Prevention of an arms race in outer space
United Nations DECADE OF CONTACT Resolution

The General Assembly,

Reaffirming United Nations General Assembly decision 33/426, 1978, approved 18 December 1978, provides: “2. The General Assembly invites interested Member States to take appropriate steps to coordinate on a national level scientific research and investigation into extraterrestrial life, including unidentified flying objects, and to inform the Secretary-General of the observations, research and evaluation of such activities.”

Recognizing that From 1963-1967, Hon. Paul Hellyer was Minister of National Defence of Canada in the cabinet of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who won a Nobel Peace Prize. On September 25, 2005, at the Toronto Exopolitics Symposium held at Convocation Hall, University of Toronto, former Minister of National Defence Hellyer stated: “UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head,” and “I’m so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something.”

Recognizing that Mr. Hellyer stated the people of Earth may be threatened with the consequences of war in outer space: “The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning.” Former Minister of Defence Hellyer went on to state: “The time has come to lift the veil of secrecy, and let the truth emerge, so there can be a real and informed debate, about one of the most important problems facing our planet today.”

Recognizing that the Hon. Paul Hellyer stated at University of Toronto: “To turn us in the direction of re-unification with the rest of creation Alfred Lambremont Webre is proposing a ‘Decade of Contact’ - an ‘era of openess, public hearings, public funded research, and education about extraterrestrial reality.’ That could just be the antidotge the world needs to end its greed-driven, power-centered madness.”

Recognizing the common interest of all mankind in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,

Reaffirming the will of all States that the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall be for peaceful purposes and shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development,

Reaffirming also the provisions of articles III and IV of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, (1)

Recalling the obligation of all States to observe the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations regarding the use or threat of use of force in their international relations, including in their space activities,

Reaffirming paragraph 80 of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly,(2) in which it is stated that in order to prevent an arms race in outer space, further measures should be taken and appropriate international negotiations held in accordance with the spirit of the Treaty,

Recalling its previous resolutions on this issue, and taking note of the proposals submitted to the General Assembly at its tenth special session and at its regular sessions, and of the recommendations made to the competent organs of the United Nations and to the Conference on Disarmament,

Recognizing that prevention of an arms race in outer space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security,

Emphasizing the paramount importance of strict compliance with existing arms limitation and disarmament agreements relevant to outer space, including bilateral agreements, and with the existing legal regime concerning the use of outer space,

Considering that wide participation in the legal regime applicable to outer space could contribute to enhancing its effectiveness,

Noting that the Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, taking into account its previous efforts since its establishment in 1985 and seeking to enhance its functioning in qualitative terms, continued the examination and identification of various issues, existing agreements and existing proposals, as well as future initiatives relevant to the prevention of an arms race in outer space,(3) and that this contributed to a better understanding of a number of problems and to a clearer perception of the various positions,

Noting also that there were no objections in principle in the Conference on Disarmament to the re-establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee, subject to reexamination of the mandate contained in the decision of the Conference on
Disarmament of 13 February 1992,(4)

Emphasizing the mutually complementary nature of bilateral and multilateral efforts in the field of preventing an arms race in outer space, and hoping that concrete results will emerge from those efforts as soon as possible,

Convinced that further measures should be examined in the search for effective and verifiable bilateral and multilateral agreements in order to prevent an arms race in outer space, including the weaponization of outer space,

Stressing that the growing use of outer space increases the need for greater transparency and better information on the part of the international community,

Recalling, in this context, its previous resolutions, in particular resolutions 45/55 B of 4 December 1990, 47/51 of 9 December 1992 and 48/74 A of
16 December 1993, in which, inter alia, it reaffirmed the importance of confidencebuilding measures as a means conducive to ensuring the attainment of the objective of the prevention of an arms race in outer space,

Conscious of the benefits of confidence- and security-building measures in the military field, Recognizing that negotiations for the conclusion of an international agreement or agreements to prevent an arms race in outer space remain a priority task of the Ad Hoc Committee and that the concrete proposals on confidence-building measures could form an integral part of such agreements,

Reaffirming the importance and urgency of preventing an arms race in outer space and the readiness of all States to contribute to that common objective, in conformity with the provisions of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies;1

Reaffirming its recognition, as stated in the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, that the legal regime applicable to outer space does not in and of itself guarantee the prevention of an arms race in outer space, that the regime plays a significant role in the prevention of an arms race in that environment, that there is a need to consolidate and reinforce that regime and enhance its effectiveness and that it is important to comply strictly with existing agreements, both bilateral and multilateral;

Emphasizing the necessity of further measures with appropriate and effective provisions for verification to prevent an arms race in outer space;

Calling upon all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space and to refrain from actions contrary to that objective and to the relevant existing treaties in the interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation;

Reiterating the provisions of A/RES/58/36, adopted December 8, 2003 by a vote of 174/ 0 with four abstentions (including the United States of America and Israel), including the invitation to the Conference on Disarmament “to establish an ad hoc committee as early as possible during its 2004 session.”

Acknowledging the General Assembly’s decision to “Prevention of an arms race in outer space” in its Agenda.

1. UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF CONTACT. The United Nations General assembly establishes a DECADE OF CONTACT with the following four Objectives:

DISCLOSURE - Open, transparent, official governmental disclosure and declassification of all past and present programs related to Extraterrestrial Presence.

DECADE OF CONTACT - Public funding by U.N. Member Nations and by the UNITED NATIONS of a 10 year process of formal public education, scientific research, educational curricula development, strategic planning, community activity, and public outreach about the Extraterrestrial Presence and our future in a populated Universe.

DISARMAMENT - A permanent ban on all space-based weapons and warfare in space through a Space Preservation Treaty Conference.

DIPLOMACY - Public Interest UNITED NATIONS Diplomacy with ethical Off-Planet Cultures now visiting Earth.

You may be aware that the QLD Government is proposing to increase Vehicle Registration by 20%. In simple terms this would mean that we will pay about $800 a year for car rego when Victoria only pays about $200! Click on the below link which takes you to the QLD Government E-petitions website. Petition now to stop increase of Car Rego in QLD.

Please forward this onto every Queenslander you know and get voting….

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_qld/CurrentEPetition.aspx?PetNum=1211

In 2004 The Upholstery in collaboration with Tastey and The Inbox Café (now closed) held Far North Queensland’s first graffiti and street art event/exhibition entitled ‘Da Graff Show’.
The event was designed to showcase the regions talented aerosol artists and create a legal, safe, public domain for which artists and the public could interact.
The initial event/exhibition was a massive success, involving over 15 local and 2 international artists, attracting over 450 attendees in a 5 hr period and creating Cairns first official legal graffiti wall.

In 2009, Tastey, The Upholstery and the soon to be opened Caffiend (*see attached Press Release) are bringing it back in a bigger better way, with the creation of Cairns’ largest public art work and the grand opening of Cairns’s newest and coolest Coffee Bar, as part of the inaugural Alley Project.

Tastey and Caffiend have recently secured permission for the use of the 75m long, privately owned alley and its walls, situated next to both stores on Grafton St, for the use as a permanent legal graffiti wall.

The Upholstery Contemporary Arts were invited to bring their arts and event-management experience and become involved in this massive project, taking on an associate management role and assisting Tastey and Caffiend in the development of the project from concept to creation and help co-ordinate 20 regional North Queensland and several nationally respected artists.

Not only will the Alley and its striking artwork become an integral part of Caffiends décor and visual identity, but will also become a well-known visual draw card for tourists, locals and commercial photographers alike, enhancing the ever evolving hive of fashion and food on Cairns’s trendy Grafton St, and creating a stunning visual landmark in the heart of Cairns for years to come.

“Melbourne is known as one of the world’s great street art capitals for its unique expressions of art displayed on approved outdoor locations throughout the city”
http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Placestogo/PublicArt/Pages/StreetArt.aspx

Project Brief: Tastey in association with The Upholstery Contemporary Arts and Caffiend will be managing and presenting the project, with local and national sponsors/supporters.
15 – 20 regional North Queensland Artists and several nationally respected artists will be collaborating to complete Cairns’ Largest Public Artwork and legal graffiti wall.

The Alley is privately owned by Koppens Investments Pty Ld and is situated at 78 – 82 Grafton St
It is approximately 75m long and will be split into 2 painted sections.
A co-coordinated, themed mural involving 12 local and national artists
A freeform collaborative mural, involving 10 – 12 artists

Section 1: Tastey ‘tropical, beats n treats’ Themed Production.
This will be a permanent, full production wall, with a planned mural background.
This will be involve 8 – 12 local and national guest writers.

Section 2: The Upholstery Freeform Production and Exhibition.
This will be a less structured wall and will allow participating artists the chance to collaborate and work with other local writers and develop their skills.
This will involve 8-12 local and national artists

Exhibition: Upholstery Exhibition of Canvases, Black Book art (sketch book art) and Photography will be set up as part of the event.

Timeline:
Sun 26th April, 11am – 4pm (background painting / aerosol painting)
Sun 3rd May, 11am – 4pm (aerosol mural painting)
Wed 13th – Sat 16th (finish painting, set up lights/exhibition)
Sat 16th of May 2009, 4pm – Midnight (opening night)

As many of you will already be aware, one of the main themes of the Communities in Control Conference 2009, to be held in Melbourne on June 15 & 16, will be how to meet the many challenges that are currently being faced by community organisations across Australia. As we all reel from the shock of calamities from bushfires to floods to droughts to global economic turmoil, community organisations are becoming more important than ever, providing a safety net, giving people a place to heal, providing help, support, hope, empathy and light relief.

The volunteers that sustain these great community groups need support.

With this in mind, Our Community would like to make you aware of a great initiative by BP Australia, “Vouchers for Volunteers” - which will open on Monday, April 27. Through this scheme BP will be providing $250,000 in fuel vouchers to volunteers assisting not-for-profit organisations.

For further information on this offer, please go to www.talkstoppedlongago.com.au/v4v_home.html

Please feel free to circulate this announcement.

For further information on the Communities in Control Conference, please go to www.ourcommunity.com.au/cic2009.

Best wishes,

The Our Community Team

P.S. Could your community group be the next Westpac Community Idol? You could win more than $6000 in cash and prizes, including free tickets to Communities in Control 2009! Nominate now at www.ourcommunity.com.au/idol2009.