----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Erdem Helvacioglu <erdemhel@tnn.net>
To: George Ludwig <sfmissionman@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 4:22:09 AM
Subject: Re: Erdem, could you comment on your experience with Aucourant Records?
dear george,
let me put it this way. by the way, if you want you can forward my email to loopers delight.
until now i have released 3 solo albums in USA. The labels I have worked with are Locustmusic, New Albion and lastly Aucourant. So first of all you might ask 2 questions. Why did you work with record labels in the first place? And why did you work labels in USA rather than releasing the albums in Turkey?
The answers to these questions are not that easy. Nearly all of the loopers on this mail list mostly live in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia or South America. Do not think there are many contemporary loopers-electronic artists from Middle East!
Although I travel quite often to USA ( mostly NY, Boston, San Francisco and LA ) and Europe, at the moment I live in Istanbul. ( Although this will change in 2010 :) The musical scene in Istanbul and in Turkey generally do not have many contemporary composers, experimental electronic artists etc. You would not even be able to find mainstream jazz musicians and clubs outside of 3 big cities. The scene is mosly based on mainstream turkish pop, turkish folk, arabesk etc. The electracoustic music scene only tries to live within university environment which is pretty hard as you might imagine.
Also there are no goverment support for contemporary music. No founding support or commission support. No labels to release your music or support you in a way. On top of that, the international music scene/ press/ media does not care about the innovative musicians coming from Turkey. They only want to see-hear traditional music, a very exotic and orientalist way of looking at things as expected from Europeans!
Under these circumstances, I made a clear decision to continue doing what i want to do and try working with labels outside of Turkey. Without the pr, media etc support of these labels, it would be very hard for me as a composer coming from Istanbul to make it into the international scene. Also I have received very important commissions ( Bang on a Can, new opera commission, electroacoustic commission from france etc ) thanks to the help of these releases.
About my deal with Aucourant. I keep all the master, copyrights and publishing rights. And also we share all the income coming from sales ( much better than 12% deal with major labels ) Also they are good with pr, radio etc. At this point, I think it is a great deal especially considering the circumstances I have described above.
Thanks and best regards. Happy new year to all!
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 4:09 AM
Subject: Erdem, could you comment on your experience with Aucourant Records?
Erdem,
I started this tread on loopers-delight about "What does it mean to release a record?", and Bruce Gilman supplied the response that I am forwarding. I was hoping that you would consider discussing your experience with Aucourant Records?
I ask because anyone can put their music out there on CD Baby and get digital and physical distribution and do a little advertising, and I'm wondering what a digital-age label does for an artist beyond this? What have they done for you that would have been very difficult for an indepedent artist to do?
If you are uncomfortable discussing this in public, I understand. But any insight you can provide would be most welcome!
-George
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Bruce Gilman <cuica@interworld.net>
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 7:27:46 AM
Subject: Re: What does it mean to you, to "release a record"?
Hello all,
Below is some possibly helpful information copied from the Aucourant Records site (see Erdem Helvacioglu's post):
"Artists and Repertoire (A&R) - and - Distribution Enquiries:
If you are an established or emerging recording artist and/or publisher and you wish to have your recordings featured as a part of our expanding catalog, please send a CD(s) of your work(s) for evaluation, together with full contact information. If we can feature your music we will contact you. Please do not contact us concerning unsolicited materials. For information on how to become affiliated with Aucourant Records please send an email to: aandr [at] aucourantrecords.com. Please note that
unsolicited materials will not be returned.
It is essential to know the kind of music we are interested in working with. We specialize in electroacoustic music, ambient music, experimental music, avant-garde contemporary music, electronica and innovative popular music that is both adventurous and cutting-edge. If you think your work fits with our vision you are strongly encouraged to submit materials for review..
PLEASE NOTE: We DO NOT accept unsolicited materials as digital files via email, such as mp3 files. We are able to work only with products professionally packaged and fully retail ready."
B.G.
On Dec 29, 2008, at 3:41 AM, Erdem Helvacioglu wrote:
Hi to all,
I am very happy to tell you that my new album "Wounded Breath" has been released in USA by Aucourant Records!
Here is the link for the album page :
Here you can listen to mp3s of all the tracks on the album.
The album includes 5 of my prizewinning electroacoustic pieces which I have performed at prestigious contemporary festivals all around the world along with composers such as Paul Lansky, Morton Subotnick etc.
The album will be on amazon, itunes, emusic in a few weeks. If you are interested, it is cheaper to buy directly from the label by the way.
Thanks a lot and best regards. Hope you will enjoy the music!