There is a concise explanation for the ideas behind the label on the front page, but it's always a good idea to go more in depth into the purpose, especially since the main goal of this is to circulate new ideas.
As it is in the recording industry, the level of quality has diminished vastly because of certain ideals that were taken too far. When one band used heavy compression really well as digital formats (CDs) came into being, other bands followed suit to match the volume level of the first one. This eventually lead to the extreme compression of most music, making it heavily distorted, and having no definition whatsoever. This is just one example of where musicians may have to make sacrifices to succeed in being heard.
Some would say that it is completely pointless to even make music at all then, since, if you don't become rich or famous, why do it at all? But of course music is an art, and as many artists would tell you, even having your art truely experienced and enjoyed by one person, is in many cases more satisfying than appealing to a larger group. And with that, if multiple artists come together and release music in one place, it will draw larger amounts of like minded people, while also avoiding the setbacks of having to live up to the expectations of the trends. This obviously doesn't mean that musicians who use a lot of compression and so on can't be on the label, but there is a noticeable difference between artistic preference and a big band attitude.
Another major point these days is the prevalence of highly compressed low quality digital audio files. Today, most of this is accepted, for example, the MySpace music player re-encodes all MP3s at 64kbps, which is terrible considering that compression artifacts are audible even at 128kbps. People are increasingly becoming completely content with music that has lost all the audio fidelity of the original recording. This can be easily related to the increase in compression in music, and in many ways a track with a lower dynamic range will sound better as a low quality MP3 file than one with high dynamic range. All releases on Run Records will be at least 192kbps, while final releases (full EPs and albums) will be released as high quality 320kbps MP3 files. Eventually there may even be possibilities to release at high quality lossless formats such as FLAC, but of course that would require more bandwidth.
Since the statement relies so heavily on communication, all ideas are welcomed and it would be amazing to receive feedback or any comments, please reach Run Records at
contact@runrecords.com. This will help us grow and change to help meet the demands of both the listeners, and any artists releasing on Run Records.
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