Archive for the ‘Blog from Sam’ Category

Jun 14
Jeffrey Fayman & Robert Fripp (Free download!) Projekt Flashback
Name-your-price on this Projekt classic
CD at the Projekt webstore | Name-your-price download at Bandcamp.
Over the years Projekt released many stunning albums; but there’s always a rush for the new, and things slip-slip-slip into the past. It’s been seventeen years since we released A Temple in the Clouds, an amazing collaboration between film composer Jeffrey Fayman and (a man needs no introduction, but you know him from King Crimson) Robert Fripp.
This is one of those stunning releases that’s almost forgotten; it doesn’t get many new sales or listens these days. And that’s just a shame, because it’s a great album for fans of the No Pussyfooting-school of Fripp’s creativity. I decided I didn’t want this music sitting around, collecting digital dust. I’d love for you to hear this work! I put the CD on sale and the Bandcamp download is name-your-price for a week. Any donation you chip in when you download is split between Projekt and Fayman & Fripp. Your generosity is most appreciated, and it goes to a good cause (us!)
From 2000: A stunning album of looped Frippertronics and electronics, in the vein of the classic Fripp & Eno No Pussyfooting collaboration.
AmbientVisions: “A Temple in the Clouds is a spiritual and euphoric soundscape… a glorious album of Frippertronics and contemplative sound sculptures. The sheer spirituality of their experiences shines in this ethereal ambience and insightful minimalism. Piercing rays of bright and unfettered emotion overshadow the dark undertones.”
Read the full, mostly-factual album description

May 19
Roach/Logan free download weekend
Last year’s innovative collaborations between Steve Roach and Robert Logan — Biosonic and Second Nature — ventured into new and exciting territory. Robert flew into Tucson from London today and will be resonating in the desert atmosphere at the Timehouse for several days, as the duo carve on a few new projects. More on these soon!
Meanwhile for those who missed these albums… We are offering both at name-your-price downloads at Bandcamp: projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/biosonic projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/second-nature
CDs on sale for $10 each or get the 2-pack for $20.
(this weekend only)
Projekt Webstore, Top-5 for May#1 Robert Rich: Live at the Gatherings 2015 (2CD) (Pre Order, Released June 2nd) #2 Chuck van Zyl: Celestial Mechanics (CD) (Pre Order, Released June 2nd) #3 Robert Rich & Markus Reuter: Lift A Feather To The Flood (CD) #4 Erik Wollo: Different Spaces (2-CD) #5 Slowdive: Slowdive (CD)

Apr 19
10 for $25 clearance box
This offer is limited to 50 copies, order your box today!
• 10 CDs in the box. Approx 6 of the titles are darkwave / 4 of the CDs are ambient-electronic. • Mostly Projekt releases, but some are other labels we’ve distributed in the webstore. • These boxes are pre-made from overstock CDs. We cannot put specific titles in for you. We pick the albums you receive. • Barcodes are struck. • About half of the CDs are in digipaks or ecoWallets. CDs will be removed from jewel boxes where applicable (this saves you postage). • If you purchase two boxes, you will receive the same titles twice. • These are different from the last sale box (in 2016). • No refunds or replacements except if you receive a defective title. Then you will be issued a $2.50 refund.
Instructions:
USA CUSTOMERS
Paypal $25 to paypalpayment@projekt.com Include “$25 Clearance Box,” your email, and your mailing address in the comment area You will receive a confirmation from me when your package ships Shipping is free (a $3.12 value + 61¢ for the box) Shipping is via Media Mail (6 – 12 business days for delivery is typical)FOREIGN CUSTOMERS
Email sr.projekt@gmail.com with your mailing address. My shipping software requires that your address fit onto 5 lines (with the country alone on the final line). Use “Clearance Box $25” as your subject. I will email your total. $25 + shipping cost. Paypal your payment to paypalpayment@projekt.com.To give you an estimate, this box cost $21.38 to send to France! I know, I know! Postage is expensive Shipping is via cheapest airmail rate possible (surface mail is not available). Your package will be declared as samples, with a $5 value. Certain countries (such as Mexico) require Priority Mail International shipping, which is expensive (approx. $37). Because of past troubles with theft, Priority Mail is necessary to make sure your box arrives.
If you have questions, email sr.projekt@gmail.com BEFORE you paypal.
There are only 50 copies of this box available. Don’t delay!
If you want to share this sale on Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook, use this link: https://www.projekt.com/store/10-for-25-clearance-box
F.A.Q. Q: Can I use my credit card? A: Sort of. I don’t have a way to directly process your credit card. BUT, paypal takes credit cards without you having to open a paypal account. Email sr.projekt@gmail.com and I will send you an invoice. Here is a page we created with instructions for how to pay paypal with your credit card. The page is 1/2 a year old, so things might be somewhat different today, but it gives you an idea.

Apr 10
New video from Erik Wollo
Erik Wollo: Different Spaces (2-CD $17) Lorenzo Montanà: phase IX (CD $14) Steve Roach: The Passing (CD $15) Forrest Fang: Following the ether sun (CD $15) Peter Bjargo: Animus Retinentia (CD $14)
Erik Wøllo: Different SpacesPurchase the 2-CD for $17 at Projekt – Bandcamp download code included with order Stream & download at Bandcamp High Res Studio Master at Spotted Peccary
Click here to watch the “Motion Blue” video, edited by Erik.This vast release takes the listener to different places and spaces on 22 uniquely compelling auditory episodes. Erik’s 2-CD studio album reveals wide-ranging and wide-angled electronic compositions. This monumental statement explores and expands upon the Norwegian musician’s 35 years of musical experience in the electronic and ambient realms.
Please write a customer review of Different Spaces at Amazon or iTunes. Your reviews are very helpful, as they encourage potential customers to make the plunge and purchase Erik’s fantastic new album. Thanks for doing this for us. – Sam

Mar 12
InsideProjekt: EXPOSURE
I asked my friends on Facebook what they’d like to see more of on the Projekt email list. One of their suggestions was behind the scenes of running a label. What it takes, what I do, what I’ve learned. So today’s email is about EXPOSURE. If you’d like to reply, please visit this blog on the Projekt site and post your comments.
In 2011, you regularly read this type of exchange: Artist: Spotify doesn’t pay enough Spotify: You get exposure Artist: You can die from exposure
Yes. We all loved repeating that witty retort when Spotify launched and Daniel Ek was trying to convince us that getting paid micropennies was OK because we got exposure. “Exposure? I’ve been doing music for twenty-five years, I’m established. I don’t need exposure. I need to get paid for sales!”
Now, six years later, I’d like to backtrack and kind of agree. We need exposure. All of the artists on Projekt need more people listening to our music. Sure, YOU are aware of Projekt bands, YOU like listening to our music. But in the wide world, we’re unheard of, we’re mostly unknown, and we don’t sell very many records. We need more people listening to our music, so hopefully more of them will purchase something.
When I launch an artist’s album, there’s a spike of attention in the first month. Then interest quickly fades away. Unless the band is touring, or making new videos regularly, or doing something else to keep their name out there, an album is generally forgotten within a few months. In the old days, there was longevity, and albums were still selling half a year later. Now? Not so much.
What’s there to do?
Streaming gives artists ongoing exposure because it’s frictionless. Casual listeners don’t have to pay. They check out music they might not otherwise bother with or get around to.
I believe that “free” should be under the artist/label’s control. We should make the decisions about this. I know we cannot control the amount we get paid by streaming sites, but we can control what is available on streaming.
In that regards, I also begrudgingly agree with Ek: streaming has cut back dramatically on Projekt music pirated and available at illegal locker site. Compared to 2011, I only find 10% as much music on those sites. Why? Because streaming is easy for listeners. Why bother illegally obtaining an album, when there are legal methods to hear the music at no cost?
[Back to the subject of “free” being under the artist’s control.] Have you noticed that Projekt gives away name-your-price downloads at our Bandcamp store? It’s not because I’m crazy (well, not exactly), and partially because I’m feeling generous. The main reason is because people will listen to free music. There were over 800 downloads on Mercury’s Antennae A waking ghost inside when I put it up at name-your-price last month. That’s about 797 more people than would have paid to download the album in the same period. You were probably one of the people who grabbed it. Thanks! I hope you enjoy their music. Mercury’s Antennae have a recent album (Beneath the Serene) that you might enjoy as well.
This is why I give music away, to expose you to great artists on the Projekt label.< I’ll give you an album with the hope that you'll come back and make a purchase of their other albums. Does it work? Meh, hard to say. We sold 5 copies of Beneath the Serene while we were giving away the debut. I would think those purchases were from people who discovered the band via free.
Exposure. Does it work?
Well, it makes more people aware of the music. Does it lead to sales? Maybe. Does anyone get rich off it? Definitely not. It’s part of a building process. It’s promotion / publicity. Back in 1994, I’d buy half page ads in Alternative Press. Did that $500 or $750 (or whatever it cost) pay off with sales? It’s hard to say. Probably a few sales( 50?); but I don’t think any ad did better than breaking even. The more important point was exposure.
Hey, wait! Back two decades ago we paid for exposure. Now we get paid (in micropennies at streaming, or donations at Bandcamp). This is a point I make to artists. Projekt used to pay a lot of money to get artist’s name out, we had to buy ads and give away hundreds and hundreds of promo CDs (that all ended up in the used bins). Now we get paid in micropennies.
Unfortunately, it’s harder than ever to make a living in the music industry, and seeing those miniscule trickles of cash is frustrating when comparable-sized artists used to sell thousands of albums.
These are new (and insane) times.
It took five years, but I see the logic behind things we were once opposed to. I’m not stuck in a 1997 or 2007 perspective, I’m looking at now and seeing what works for Projekt. The label has to do what we can, to be heard.
We have to try new ideas.
Funny, because that was the argument I used to have with people (from San Francisco) about eight years ago. They said I was a dinosaur who didn’t understand the new economy. I said, “Give me examples of how this is suppose to be profitable.” Well, I don’t know if we’ve proven it to be profitable, but we have seen that it is part of the way a band gets heard in 2017.
Strange days.
Sam
Projekt’s two new releases for March 17th:
Lorenzo Montana: phase IX Purchase the CD (limited edition of 300) for $14 at Projekt. Bandcamp download code included in the package with your order. Stream & download at Bandcamp. Italian soundcomposer Lorenzo Montana’s first American solo-release; these electronic, ambient mindscapes form nine phases of a trip of the psyche focusing on the floating / experimental side of his work. He’s collaborated with Alio Die on Holographic Codex (Projekt, 2015), and released 15 albums to date, including the 5-CD Labyrinth collaboration series with Pete Namlook (founder of Germany’s Fax label).
Erik Wøllo: Different Spaces Purchase the 2-CD for $17 at Projekt. Bandcamp download code included in the package with your order. Stream & download at Bandcamp. High Res Studio Master at Spotted Peccary.A diverse and sweeping tapestry revealing wide-ranging and wide-angled electronic compositions. The music traverses the different spaces that occupy an artist’s creative thoughts across mesmerizing landscapes of distinctive panoramas, rhythmic realms, and engaging, engulfing atmospheres.

Feb 18
From around the web
F R O M A R O U N D T H E W E B :
Forrest Fang “…conjures an idealized world of sound – where Spacemusic, World Music, New Age and the Avant-Garde all share a common spirit, and sound connects everything.” – Star’s End introduction to an interview with Forrest Fang about Following the Ether Sun. Steve Roach Shadow of Time review in Italy’s Darkroom magazine (in Italian).
Steve Roach Spiral Revelation gets an amazing review at Italy’s Onda Rock (in Italian) and also at Prog Archives.
Black Tape For A Blue Girl Blood on the Snow review from The Noise Beneath The Snow. “The imagery presents itself herein as somewhat stark, yet still warm, perhaps in a dimly lit, intimate, privately held performance. Blood on the Snow is easily reminiscent of the days of Remnants of a Deeper Purity, perhaps mostly because of the presence of Oscar’s voice as well as the viola.”
Steve Roach’s Dreamtime Return included in this article, “32 Best Ambient Albums” at Optimistic Underground. “As a cohesive whole, the album folds in both electronic and natural sounds, from didgeridoos to huge synth pads to field recordings from the Australian outback. Steve Roach approaches the genre with spartan ideals, stripping the music down to its central essence and then amplifying that elemental spark into a massive conflagration.”
Purchase CD at Projekt: Dreamtime Return, Shadow of Time, Spiral Revelation, Following the Ether Sun
Name-your-price download at Bandcamp: Blood on the snow

Feb 14
Soriah West Coast Tour
Soriah (with Ashkelon Sain): enrapturing, neo-ancient, mystically ethereal; hypnotic tribal rhythms meld organic darkwave textures with Central Asian instruments and Tuvan overtone singing.
Two Projekt CDs on sale for $10 each: 2009’s Atlan and 2011’s Eztica. For a limited time, get a name-your-price download of their 2011 tour recording: The Eztica Live Collection, at Bandcamp.Projekt’s Soriah launched their West Coast tour with an amazing show here in Portland Sunday. They’re playing seven more cities, follow these links for full details:
2/22 – The Colfax Theater, Colfax CA | Facebook Event Page 2/23 – The Night Light, Oakland CA | Facebook Event Page 2/25 – Bar Sinister, Hollywood CA | Facebook Event Page 2/26 – The Box, Santa Cruz CA | Facebook Event Page 3/3 – Obsidian, Olympia WA | Facebook Event Page 3/4 – The Highline, Seattle WA | Facebook Event Page 3/11 – Old Nick’s Pub, Eugene OR | Facebook Event Page
Facebook Event Page for entire tour

Jan 27
Steve Roach Empetus back in print with a free download
The 30th anniversary edition of this electronic classic is back in print, reissued on CD in digipak with original artwork. To celebrate, the CD is on sale for just $10 through midnight on Monday January 30th! At Projekt’s Bandcamp page, you can grab the deluxe digital download for name-your-price, through midnight on Monday January 30th. It includes The Early Years rarities tracks.

Jan 25
Visiting Projekt’s new distributor: Burnside
Today I dropped by Burnside Distribution. They’re Projekt’s new American distributor, based here in Portland in the St. John’s area of town, right by Cathedral Park (and the lovely St Johns Bridge). Good people, looking forward to good things!

Jan 24
I need your help (at Amazon & iTunes)
Hi. As of today, Black tape for a blue girl’s These fleeting moments has 1 review at Amazon and 0 reviews at iTunes. I’m hoping more than one of you enjoyed the album! : ) I’d love to see more reviews at Amazon & iTunes, letting people who haven’t been following the band know the new music is loved and supported.
I’m sure you read Amazon reviews just like I do, and when there is one – or no – review, you think, “Must not be very good, if nobody bought it and reviewed it. Pass.”
You don’t have to write a novel, or even consider yourself a great writer. The idea is an honest comment from a real person, sharing a bit of your enjoyment of the music.
Thanks for helping out with this!
Sam