Updated: February 17, 2009 — Until further notice, Webbed Hand is not accepting album submissions from artists new to the label. There may be compilation opportunities soon (watch for calls for entry), but the label is otherwise booked up through the next few months.
****Advice for submitters having trouble finding a netlabel: Did you know that you can set up your own netlabel absolutely free? All you need is a regular blog (blogger is free) and free hosting of your music files at Internet Archive. Just post releases to your blog, link to the archive files, and bingo, you’re a netlabel. That’s it, no magic or mystery.
Revised: Mar 22, 2008 — If you are a recording artist interested in contacting us about releasing your work, please read this carefully.
If you are familiar with our catalog, you’ll notice that it has a lot of stylistic diversity. In the first years of the label, our submission criteria were much looser, encompassing a wider variety of styles of electronic, experimental and avant-garde musical styles.
Presently Webbed Hand has slowed down on accepting new submissions, as we try to evolve the label in a new direction, reflecting changes in our own musical tastes as well as shifts in the music scene at large. The priority is still for Webbed Hand to release projects by the label’s owners, but we are (conditionally) open to work from new artists as well as artists we’ve worked with before.
If, as an artist, you are approaching this netlabel for the first time, please read the paragraph below to find out what we’re presently looking for*. Then if your work is compatible with our current criteria, use the contact form to tell us about your recordings. Do not e-mail files or pictures. If we’re interested we will tell you how to get your tracks to us.
*What kind of artists are we seeking now? Right now, Webbed Hand would like to recruit artists who are creating ambient-influenced music in which “conventional” musical instruments play a significant role. Strings (acoustic & electric guitars, violins, etc), woodwinds, reeds, piano/organ, acoustic percussion, voice, and so forth. Styles we like: electroacoustic, ambient-drone, spacey psychedelic, neo-folk, New Weird America, meditative & ritual music, … and I think you get the idea. We do not need laptop electronica, glitch, IDM, industrial noize, DnB, or that sort of thing. There are other labels better suited for these genres.
Work submitted should be release-ready, and of high quality. We don’t do your production or mastering. We just package the stuff and upload it. Netlabel releases are licensed Creative Commons by-nc-nd, and are stored at Internet Archive and promoted in places such as last.fm. Artists are encouraged to help promote their releases as well as spread the word about our label.
In recent years the netlabel scene has blossomed, and there are hundreds of terrific netlabels on the scene. Please explore and compare the many options available to you. That way you’ll know for sure that this is the best fit for your recordings.
One more thing, in conclusion. It is bad etiquette to submit your album to multiple labels at the same time. If you contact us about releasing your recordings, wait until you hear from us before deciding to try another label.
–C.P. McDill
