What's a netlabel?

Well, you are looking at one right now. A netlabel offers music, mostly in formats like mp3 or ogg - just like a traditional recordlabel, only in digital format. And there`s another difference to a "normal" record label: Most netlabels don't charge anything for what they offer. We don't, either. Basically, this means that the music from this site is free. Often people confuse "free" with "now I can do anything I want with what I downloaded" - that is not the case. A lot of artists that publish music on netlabels use a "Creative Commons" license. Music that is published under a Creative Commons license is free for you to share with your friends - but not, if you are putting it to commercial use. The copyright remains with the artists.
So, why would anyone want to publish their efforts for free? Well, for most netlabels what they do is a labor of love - and not aimed at commercial success. Which means that artistic expression and the ability to experiment are what it's all about. And by giving your music away for free over the internet you reach a worldwide audience. If you are an artist, a netlabel is a powerful promotion tool. And if you are a listener, a netlabel can be a wonderful source for new and exciting music.

History

:: from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ::

Online music groups date back almost as far as the history of personal computers, and share close ties with video games and the demoscene. Early music groups released music in MOD formats, typically as part of a music disk, which often included a MOD player, visual effects, and textual information.
Netlabels began to branch out from the tracker scene when the mp3 file format became popular in the late 1990s. Most are still dedicated to electronic music and related genres, though this is rapidly changing.
Early netlabel pioneers include the Kosmic Free Music Foundation (1991–1999), Five Musicians (1995–2000), Monotonik (1996–present), Tokyo Dawn Records (1997–2005) and Thinner (1998-present).
Today there is a wide range and fast increasing number of netlabels all over the world. Though netaudio music is still a niche within music business the easy way of distributing the music via download/ stream from the internet and the modern license system are the strongest arguments for the growing importance of netlabels and netaudio.

The netlabel catalogue