Well, as we've known for a few months now Merck records (http://www.m3rck.net) will end it's 5 year run sometime later this year once they top 100 releases and now, to my sadness, Neo Ouija has announced it's demise.

http://www.neoouija.co.uk/neo/home


Also, V/vm recordings is closing its doors at the end of the year (I believe), but will have a free mp3 song/release most days the coming year.

http://brainwashed.com/vvm/micro/vvmt365/index.htm

Also Component records and Piehead records gone....

really? I didn't realize Component quit too. It's sad about Piehead, but they were mostly a subscription label that didn't have much PR to begin with...

...and from what I've heard, U-Cover may be ending soon as well.

Jesus...

to elaborate on the discension of U-Cover, I've read that Koen is going to focus more on the cd-r limited instead of the actual label itself. Perhaps, he will keep it going, but only with the cd-r limited series.

He seems to be putting out brilliant releases via his cd-r label, although I do feel (as put by someone else) that the artists are getting ripped off pretty badly. They seem to only get between 6-8 percent of what the actual disc sells for.

I know in the big world of 'music' that this may be the case with a lot of artists, but comparitively speaking, when it comes to an electronic label that only produces 100 copies of said product compared to 1,000,000+ or your normal Pop type label, I think you can understand the difference.

...in a short synopsis: If you're creating electronic music to make a career, you might as well quit and work at mcdonalds, cause you'll make more money flipping burgers than you will as an artist.

yes, but this is the beauty of this work. artists know they will not make a living doing this, but they truly want to express themselves. there are pros and cons to this, but it makes for some quality music!

where did you hear that u-cover will be closing?
focusing on the cdr-division doesn't necessarily
mean closure for u-cover records, am i wrong?
i'll be pretty sad if u-cover closes... this would be
yet another huge blow to the exp.electronic scene.

@_@

p.

ahhhh.....

http://www.u-cover.com/u-cover/template.php?data=about

@_@

yeah, I heard this about a month ago and then I hear he wants to this 'transparent' series. It happens, I suppose

well, here's an update almost a year later:

U-cover has not shut down, but is making more minimal releases (packaging wise) and have been doing quite well.

...and looky here fellas:

www.neoouija.com

looks like Lee decided to start the label back up after all. I'm excited.


...but on a sad note, Merck has closed its doors as of late. No more material will (supposedly) be released, but you can still shop at their website.

www.m3rck.net



...and with Component. They're still closed down, but Xyn has started his own weblabel at:

www.xynthetic.com

looks very promising.