Interview with Vizion

By Trente Trois (33)

<_33> hello viz

<viz_> hi

<_33> As we have talked about this is for an article for HUGI about Netlabels. It's basically the first article about Netlabels published on a scene magazine like HUGI so it's quite exciting for Adok and the rest of the scene I suppose

<viz_> and i'm really happy its gonna be published on hugi and not the... uhm competition :D

<_33> Well at first I would like to thank you for this interview and will state that this is really exciting for me as I have never done an interview before in such manner. So here I'll start with my first question: How did you get in touch with your first netlabel?

<viz_> well, uhm... i'll have to say from the netlabel ''roots '' as in the demoscene, way back in 1996, on a local bbs. Martyr was the group and they did all kinda crazy rockemulating mods and some poetry. If it werent for them, well i wouldnt be making music and/or be involved in the netaudio culture

<_33> So you got involved on the netlabel scene for personnal reasons as an artist at first, right?

<viz_> yeah totally, i just thought the idea was so great.

<_33> So how did you get to see from your perspective the evolution of the netlabel scene from that standpoint being one of a local bbs one and getting to see that spread on the internet and getting to have more exposure?

<viz_> Well, to me, it really was a beautiful thing, to see this local scene of amateur artists, all based around this one format experiment and gain experience year after year. I used to login everyday just to see if there was a new pack. When i got the internet, its then i discovered the legends, the lizardkings, the purple motions, the skavens and the rest. Really gave all of us in this scene a sense of purpose, to one day be able to be as good as the first ''netlabel'' which was in my opinion Noisemusic and Kfmf, who were one the first to release mp3s way back in 1996-1997. At that point the population in the scene really started to boom in every direction. Trax in space was born and now we all had a hub for us '' scene artists ''. With that boom came the newbies and with the newbies came the '' eliteness '' and thats what i think really seperated the modscene in 2 ; those who wanted to continue

<_33> So you think the scene from TiS times started to get this segregation level where you had the elites and the newbies?

<viz_> So at that point i saw the death of the nice modgroups like the future crews and the like and the birth of the more distinctive netlabels of the new millenium like hellven, tokyo dawn ( who had survived themodgroup disbanding ), newly reconstructed monotonik, etc etc etc.

<viz_> year 0 of the netlabel for me is the first monotonik mp3 release.

<viz_> ( tis question ) : yeah of course, and i mean, it couldnt be avoided. You got these people on the right who have been doing this for 7 years, taking this format pretty seriously and all wanting to do something professionally in the world of music, and on the left, a thousand kids who wanted to make music just like what they heard on the radio.

<_33> I see, would you say that somehow the music scene always needed to define itself or would you say that large pools of artists like TIS / homemusic and the likes were really a question of accessibility?

<viz_> yeah, at some point some people had to define themselves as professional, or at least they needed to maybe draw a line between the waves of newbies and themselves. I had to anyway.

<_33> You have mentionned Hellven earlier, what is your tie to them? Are they a netlabel per see or are they a music group?

<viz_> well i know they always wanted to maintain their affiliation to the modscene, and i remember them really not wanting to be a netlabel per say, as they felt it meant that having a netlabel was : having a owner and the owner decides what's released and whats not, filtering everything, and hellven felt they needed to show they were not only a netlabel but a group of friends that released music together, not individually. But yeah, as you can see on apegenine, i tried to befriend most of hellven :) they were something like my musical heroes

<_33> Well get into apegenine further along the interview, but now, explain to us how the netlabel ownership started with you vizion the artist but also the netlabel founder?

<viz_> Uhm, i'd guess its something i've always wanted to do; to be able to create and environement where you can create as an artist, but can also give the chance to other artists. For me it has always been that, and only that. So i started mini groups a while back, and never really worked, until i started ronin collective with artists i've met over the years in the now dead neptune.xvi.com community. Ronin was my '' group '' where i didnt filter anything.

<_33> ok, and when did Ronin get decided?

<viz_> hmm, it was in 2001, august 30. right when i felt i was doing stand- still and had all these talented friends. Something had to be done ;)

<_33> Talk to us about the creation of Camomille, is there a link with hellven there?

<viz_> camomille wasnt really related to hellven, only in the sense i was started to get influenced by ambient/emotional music, much like what was on at hellven. people felt it was basically the same as ronin, but as you can see today, it really evolved into its own entity.

<_33> Yes, what made you start with shiftless as release #001 for Camomille? Was it just a question of moving along the ambient lane?

<viz_> it was just really a new world for me, i was used to drum&bass and breakbeat and more dancefloor sounds, and shiftless came up with these fucked up beats and melodies, well for me at that time, people were calling IDM. So it was blastoff for that ;)

<_33> So we have an overview of Ronin, Camomille, a bunch of great artists came to you and had great success again with the netlabel and for the future of your empire, can you explain to us the overall image of your projects?

<viz_> Well ronin has always been my '' social activist '' kinda place. Its never really evolved into that, but its really a place where you dont only download music, but you get to know the individuals behind it. I always wanted it to be really a collective of ronin ( masterless samurai : socially inadept people with a strong view and strong character ). Camomille is really just a place for great music. It really just evolved on its own, its got its own mind ya know. All of it is tied to my multimedia company Genshi Media in a way. They serve as a good portfolio example and i really wanna push genshi has a company that likes to create new projects for the wholesome fun of it.

<_33> Now you have your own projects, but you also participate as an artist on a bunch of other netlabel projects also. Would you say that every netlabel has their own style and ideals just as what you get on the genshi media labels?

<viz_> yeah of course, to be on monotonik, was for me, a really really grand honor, as they are the original in my opinion. Kikapu's got all these crazy up and coming artists that always seem to find a way to the professional world, yomi are like the brothers of ronin collective, the same kind of objectives, which i love. Ogredung have been strongly tied to camomille for a long time, as we seem to release the same artists one after the other, and i'm also good friends with purusha. I could go on and on about most of all of the netlabels and how they are great and different ;)

<_33> In which sense would you cathegorize a netlabel popularity ? I have heard about release queues, can you detail us about the use of this?

<viz_> hmm, it depends on the audience really. You can say these days that thinner is the most popular of all, because they really take care in their releases and filter them and arrange them as if they were a professional label. But you see kahvi is really popular also, but they have been immensily criticized of over releasing. But we all see where they are now.

<_33> Some might wonder what are release queues, could you explain?

<viz_> well some labels make the error of releasing something as fast as they have it, some of us do release queues to create a demand, it enhanced the netlabel's seriousness and overall hype

<_33> So for example, a release queue could stabilize the netlabel for their future release schedules, would that be a use for the release queue?

<viz_> dead on ;)

<_33> That's a lot of worries for my poor head! Well, would you add anything else about your labels and how they might evolve?

<viz_> Just that in my labels, the overall goal is to provide good music, without any large egos and '' eliteness '' and to make you discover very very talented artists ! oh and we love feedback :)

<_33> sweetness! Thank you vizion for your insights, let's meet again in the future!

<_33> LOL

<viz_> haha ! yeah :P

For more info:

www.genshimedia.com
apegenine.genshimedia.com
camomille.genshimedia.com
www.ronincollective.com

Trente Trois