alan neilson                 polymath

elementary recordings is a failed experiment.

 

It is a record label; a real record label, in that it actually did make music available to a global audience, however, it did so with a sense of naivety and never really understood the market it had entered.

elementary recordings believed that the artists involved in the label were of such high quality, that the market would turn its attention to them.  The music business does not work like that.  As we shall see.

So, yes, the label is an experiment that proved there is no place in the mainstream world any more for independent music.  This may have always been true, and we may have used examples of alternative artists succeeding in the past as an example of how it actually is possible, when really these examples succeeded in spite of the music business, and were later used and controlled by the business to suck every last penny out of them.

 

But I am getting ahead of myself.

 

Here’s where the story starts...

 

alan neilson made an ep.  The Birthday ep.  He wanted to release it as a way of feeling bona fide.  So elementary recordings released it as a CD single and also as a download.  We still have a few boxes of the single in the attic if anyone wants one (incidentally, prior to the CD being pressed we asked advice from another failed local label and they said they too had boxes of unsold singles in their attic: we are not alone in our endeavours or failures).

 

Now, just to be clear about one thing, when I say we, or elementary recordings, I mean alan neilson.  elementary recordings and alan neilson are the same thing.  Remember that.

So now we feel bona fide.  We have an official barcode and pressing number.  The fact that no one buys it or listens is of no consequence (however, saying that, I have actually sold CDs at gigs, so those who listened did want to keep listening afterwards).

 

Anyway, I was lonely, I wanted the label to feel more real - not just the musical equivalent of vanity publishing.  So I asked people I already knew who had made music, and then later bands I met through the Midlands music scene, if they wanted to release their music for the label.  Then I would really feel bona fide.

The roster of artists grew.  From The Mekano Set, Jo Staples and Abstinence & Sensibility, to Boat To Row, j j brierley and caps.  The band Miss Halliwell (who I was making a film with at the time to promote their forthcoming album ‘Die Son!  Die!’), also agreed for the label to release their first two eps and distribute digitally.  Later, The Mallory Heart, Barry’s Attic and Is I Cinema, would also release debut eps on elementary recordings.

 

At the last count (May 2014), the label has officially released 22 eps and albums:  143 separate songs.  Quite an achievement for one person, with little or no support.  During the 5 years we have been releasing music (through the digital distribution service Routenote), we have made very little money, and achieved only a handful of downloads across the releases.  This is in the most part due to having no money to market our products and zero interest generally from the media.  I cannot stress how important this part of the business really is:  having your product available is clearly an important starting point, however, almost more important is ensuring there is an awaiting audience or customer base.   You really can’t expect an appreciative audience just to suddenly appear.

I really feel that I threw 143 bottles into the expansive ocean that is the internet and expected a hundred-million castaways to find our messages, only to find a small minority, who by luck or judgement actually found us.  What we all should have concentrated on first was asking the question, Who cares?  I really do not know who my customer base is, and that is a number one failure dealing in this business.

I did say all along that my business was not about business, it was about music.  I did expect and demand the artists involved take some responsibility for their own releases and try to advertise their presence, but they, like me, believed that things would just happen... you know, the way things happen to successful artists.  The problem is things equally do not happen to thousands of others who never become successful.  Part of this business, is drawing attention to you, and more importantly keeping the focus their.  Being good helps, but it never guarantees success.

 

So in five years, Boat To Row released records through a number of different distributors and are touring often (they also requested a take down of their first official release, which we did as we always said the artists own their own material); The Mallory Heart broke up and became a part of Miss Halliwell, who likewise split up and became Perhower, before again reforming into Miss Halliwell again, before again changing the line up.  Miss Halliwell are still looking for a deal.  Barry’s Attic no longer perform; Caps, neilson and jj brierley have families that take priority;  Jo Staples and Abstinence & Sensibility, moved into visual art, leaving only Is I Cinema, who still perform sporadically and The Mekano Set, who are officially no longer releasing music through elementary recordings, but remain the best of friends.  alan neilson, that’s me of course, is still here and I can’t stop doing this, regardless of whether anyone else is here, or whether anyone listens.  I said all along to everyone involved in this, that each release was a point in time that can be plotted, and when you can see the journey you have already taken, it can help shape what you do next.  I never promised any of the artists anything except that they always owned their own work - the record label owns nothing (thank you Tony Wilson).

 

So, I guess the truth is that elementary recordings does not exist any more.  I am happy with the little we have achieved and I thank everyone involved with the label, or anyone who downloaded one of our songs.  That is a small success at least.  Hopefully this website will stick around long enough to be the next plotted point of our history, and who knows what will happen next.

 

Here’s where the story ends...

 

... but we did produce and release all this music.  Click on the images above for more information: