Over the last one and a half year I build up the website, shop, blog and gained a few follower. I was really happy that people cared for what I was doing and appreciated my vision of total animal liberation. I believed the music would help me gain a lot of attention for my actual project, helping and saving animals from human oppression. Releasing records or buying stuff for distro was never my main focus, it was just a means to an end, nothing more nothing less. To help spreading the word, I interviewed a few people/bands. Every item in my web shop was chosen because I like the bands. If I was not 100% confident I never put it to my website.
With the help from other labels, bands and people I was able to reach over 500 true followers on Instagram and over 300 on Facebook, mostly veganstraightedge, according to their profiles. For me personally, that is huge, especially as I never paid for any promotion or advertisement or something similar. I got orders from all over Europe, America, South America, Australia and Asia. Thats to all the people, with your orders you helped me donating money to those who are working full time for the animals.
You may have realized, that over the past months, I got quieter and quieter and when I posted something, it was more about animal liberation, than music. I announced, that I want to open my own sanctuary one day and that the label should help me saving enough money for that. I stressed myself, because I thought I need to release more and more stuff to stay active, up2date and attract new people. But I guess thats wrong. I don’t want to be someone who is just releasing as many records as possible and show everyone my catalogue and what I achieved with it. I want to be someone who has his focus on helping and saving animals.
I asked many different bands if they want to release their next record, recent record or past record on my label. I never really got messages where bands asked me if I could release their stuff. When bands then told me they are currently not interested in releasing their music on my label but like my vision, I always questioned myself, what is the reason they do not want their release under my label. Was it because for some people I am too hardline/militant in my views? Is my label to small? As I can’t pay the bands any money for the release, do they think I just want to “rip them off”? There are many potential reasons why someone “refuses” to work with me.
For that reason I am more than happy that some bands actually worked with me and I hope that they felt well. I for myself feel sad, when bands claim to believe 100% in animal liberation and their music is an option to spread their word, but then when a small label like mine which is 100% vegan straightedge friendly and non-profit on top is not enough and they rather prefer one of the bigger labels. It looks like they care more about the purview than the message, but that is just my feeling and no confirmed fact. I mean thats okay, if they can reach more people with other labels and convince people to go vegan, thats cool and for what we are fighting for. But it still has a negative connotation.
Don’t get me wrong, I also wanted to grow and get a big purview, but not for myself, as I never took a single dollar from any order, nor did I personally ever showed my face online to pose around. I did that to gain attention for some critical topics in my eyes. There was also some stuff going on in the background I never shared online and will never do, because I don’t want to profile myself. I did these things because I wanted to do them.
Nevertheless I think I still have an impact on the vegan straightedge scene, as since AxK was founded last year, I saw a few bands/labels donating a small amount of money to sanctuaries or a good cause. Not sure if that happened before also in that quantity, but it definitely helped many innocent victims of human greed to survive on this planet.
For that reason, I will no longer actively ask bands if they want to work with me. I will no longer stress myself with releasing a certain amount of albums within this or that timeframe. If a band really wants to work with me, cares for what I am doing and I can stay 100% behind their message, I will gladly work with them together. But getting denials from people who prefer getting “famous” with other labels than spreading their message on my label will no longer happen.
That means if a band truly stands for the same values as I do, feel free to get in touch. If you as a band are fighting for animals and want to get big and spread the message, go ahead convince as many people as possible, to finally stop all the torture on this planet. If you as a band claim to fight for animal liberation and represent yourself as a “non-profit” band but rather chose other labels for said reasons like purview and prominence, then fuck yourself.
PS: Thanks to those who are supporting me and my work. Those who are meant to know it!
for every life for liberation