This Berlin-based band-cum-label figures the best way to get people interested in its experimental, multidisciplinary approach to music is to give it out for free. Good, that’s what Jamendo’s here for.

Gruenanlage, the band, is three Berlin musicians playing some sort of electro-rock with many influences (Bauhaus, Radiohead, Einstürzende Neubauten, Joy Division, to name a few) and many guests (including actors, photographers and web designers). Gruenanlage.com, the website and indie label, was created around it in 2004, “when mainstream media couldn’t do anything with our work. The radios didn’t play our music because it was too strange, too complex and too sophisticated, explains Marcel Weller who, in addition to playing guitar and bass, programs the drum machines, records and does mixing and mastering. However, it’s nothing new to say that mainstream media does not leave much room for innovation and performance.”

Gruenanlage.com, a label striving to be “open to all possible forms of expression and to reach all people interested in the examination of society and the human condition”, not only features music by the band and its three members individually (Marcel Weller, Markus Wenninger and Jan Treuner), as well as Ewa Firsowicz (songwriting); it also offers other art forms, like visual performances, audio drama and even literature. Jan Treuner’s new novel will be available on the website next year.

Right now, the team is busy planning concerts in the next few months for Ewa Firsowicz and Gruenanlage at which they will sell CDs. On the web on the other hand, the music is all free: “the idea is to get more publicity, and that way there are no obstacles like Gema (the German ASCAP or MCPS-PRS) to overcome while using the web as an output.” Sounds appealing? Gruenanlage.com is open to “all artists with nuggets buried in their computers”...

Started as an initiative for and by independent musicians, this guide just went online (it’s still in beta). Its goal is to collect and share useful information for all musicians trying to get their music out there by any means, “to help [them] win fans globally by getting [their] music created, distributed and just plain noticed”.

From legal matters to playing live to manufacturing a CD, all issues concerning indie bands are addressed, with loads of links and info. The “Music hosting sites” tab lists Jamendo of course. Thanks guys!

After the Philippines, let us introduce the sole representative of Guatemala on Jamendo, young pop singer Pamela Garcia.

She took up the guitar eight years ago because she needed to accompany her singing. Then she rapidly “fell in love with writing” and understood that “this was what [she] wanted to do for the rest of [her] life.” Now Pamela Garcia is some kind of an underground celebrity in Guatemala City (she’s also a theater actress): radios don’t play her music “because it’s not commercial”, which makes her “an outsider”, but “from time to time, people say hi to me in the street. That makes me realize that people who have heard or seen me really like what I do.”

She also explains that making a living from your music in Guatemala is hard. Local musicians, receiving little support because the public is generally more interested in international artists, need to work on the side to support themselves. “But, she says, refusing to be discouraged, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some who manage.”

Pamela has only uploaded two songs on Jamendo. She regrets not having had much time to devote to her music lately, but that’s going to change; and she’s got plenty of plans to keep herself busy. “Right now, I’m writing again. I want to record my new material and share it with you. I also want to play concerts more often again, and in the future write music for theater.”

Every now and then you’ll stumble upon a hidden gem on Jamendo. That’s exactly what happened when we discovered Papa Dada, three Belgians kicking up a storm with only a piano, a bass and drums.

Their 6-track EP “prePOPsterous” is the kind that impresses with just one listen: the songs, the recording, the melodies, everything is so masterfully crafted you’d think these three musicians from Brussels have an entire professional career under their belt. But Papa Dada only exists since 2005, and John, Julien and Hubert are just three mostly self-taught thirtysomething musicians who have been playing in bands since they were teenagers. “One of the great strengths of Papa Dada is that we’re not trying to impress people with our technicality, yet we have enough mastery to reproduce what’s in our heads”, says Hubert (drums and backing vocals).

Surprisingly, the band doesn’t have much of an audience yet, they say. They have only played a few dozen gigs in Belgium, “but the name is starting to get around, and we’re beginning to see people sing and clap at concerts without being our friends, which is nice.” “prePOPsterous”, their only release, was recorded in 2007: they sell it at concerts and published it on Jamendo, appreciative of the fact that here they “get reviews from musicians instead of journalists, explains Hubert. We don’t have a problem with giving out our music for free, that’s the best way it can get around! We’re not looking to become millionaire rock stars, we just want to make music and get it heard.”

Inevitably, similarities are striking between Papa Dada, with its piano/distorted bass/drums formula, and the band that popularized it, Ben Folds Five, particularly on a track like the brilliant “Art Gallery”. But comparisons are cut short: “It’s a band we like, sure, but we’re not trying to imitate them, clarifies Hubert. It’s only a coincidence that our line-up is the same as theirs.”

So what’s next for Papa Dada? A few gigs in september, but mostly work on new songs in  order to record a new EP by the end of 2008. “We’ve been playing together for four years, so we’re starting to explore new sounds and technologies… We might even bring out some guitars!”

Ching Teoh is a Malaysian painter. When she needed music for a video presenting her technique, she naturally turned to Jamendo.

She’s 37 and runs a picture framing shop with her husband on the island of Penang, in northern Malaysia. On her blog, Ching Teoh posts regularly about “[her] new paintings, [her] thoughts, [her] findings on the internet and [her]  travels.” One day, she made a video showing off her particular technique of painting over plaster-like paste and needed music to go with it. People on a forum had introduced her to Jamendo some time earlier, so she logged in and looked for an suitable track (which ended up being “Old Portrait” by Madjan), to accompany her images, putting to good use the magic of Creative Commons freedom.

“I like jazz, solo guitar, mostly soft music”, she explains about her musical choice, hoping that the video can help bring some attention to her work. “I don’t live 100% from my art yet, but I’m aiming to be able to.” In the meantime, she’s been telling her music-loving friends about Jamendo, helping us in turn build our reputation in Malaysia. Thanks Ching!

Below is the video in question.

One of New York’s finest independent hip-hop collectives is on Jamendo, spearheaded by the tireless Mr.Tac a.k.a. “Chocolate”, who leads the group and founded a label around it.

In 1999, when he started Drop-Zone, a collective comprising a dozen hip-hop artists from New York City, and the label Zone Platinum Entertainment to go with it, Mr.Tac wanted “to create a music platform and a label home for all artists of all styles to release their music across the world”, himself being “a hip-hop artist with a huge following” (50,000 copies were sold of his first single with Drop-Zone). No room for small-time ambitions here: these guys are in for the big picture, with fans already calling them “the X-Men of music”.

Zone Platinum has a team of five producers creating tracks for its roster’s artists, Mr.Tac being the main one (producer as well as artist, that is). You can listen to their work on Drop-Zone’s two mixtapes published on Jamendo, or on the new album Mr.Tac published recently. But Zone Platinum does not limit its activities to hip-hop only: “It’s a place of our own where we create original style hip-hop, but also alternative, rock, r&b and pop tracks, with a fresh new sound, explains Mr.Tac. Most of the hip-hop artists on Zone Platinum are from New York (Nova, Cleva, Thomaz J. Edizon, Brianna, The TriBoro Order, etc.), other style artists are from elsewhere in the US.”

Regarding the American rap scene in general, Mr.Tac’s judgment is quite severe, and coupled with a strong bias towards his hometown. “Hip-hop right now in the US is going downhill. Too many artists, too many producers but not enough talent. As hip-hop started to expand from New York City to other parts of the US, it became spoiled and rotten.”

So it’s up to grass-roots activists like Drop-Zone and Zone Platinum Ent. to keep things real then? Quite possibly so. And of course, “Jamendo is the perfect place and idea for artists and labels to release new music to fans. It creates an opening slot for them to promote themselves on an international level.” And why not also meet fellow artists while they’re at it? Cartel, another NYC hip-hop favorite on Jamendo, will be interviewed here shortly. In the meantime, Mr.Tac “would love to network”. Gentlemen, introductions have been made…

Three musicians from three different countries making music together without ever having met: such a story could only happen on Jamendo. And it’s the story of Triplexity.

SaReGaMa and Nikila were two Jamendo users exchanging good reviews about their music. Not just out of politeness, but because each one really appreciated the other’s work. And then one day of 2007, after SaReGaMa asked Nikila to send him the separate tracks of a composition of hers he really liked so he could remix it, their first collaboration was born, “Morning”, followed by a full album, …Not Too Far. This would lay the foundation of what would become the sound of Triplexity: smooth, introspective and mostly instrumental electronica.

And when SaReGaMa wanted to do something “more world music-influenced, more organic”, he turned to another Jamendo musician, Hamel1, who plays sax, clarinet and guitar. From this new three-way collaboration came out the track Three 4 Ten. “This was a milestone for Triplexity”, says SaReGaMa.

The fact that SaReGaMa lives in the woods of Mount Carmel (Israel), that Nikila is a Belgian citizen currently based in France, that Hamelin lives near Narbonne (South of France), and that the three of them have so far never had an occasion to meet physically was no obstacle. “The way Triplexity works is radically different from the ‘rehearsal/concert’ model, and that’s a really interesting experience, explains Hamelin. I often compare it to studio work, only deferred.”

On the contrary, the geographical as well as musical differences (SaReGaMa comes from a trance/new age background, Nikila is into world music and cutting-edge electronica and Hamelin is a jazz buff) are an asset for the group. “Triplexity is all about this complementarity through our differences, with a multicultural component, an openness to other horizons that I like a lot, says Nikila. And then there’s this complicity between us that makes it a real pleasure to make music together!”

These last few months, the trio has been working on its second album, “Live In Triplex City”, which is now published. Even though they make music just for pleasure “without any schedules or obligations”, the three musicians have a healthy work rhythm going. “Usually it’s a matter of a couple of days to finish a track, if all the members have enough time to spare, explains SaReGaMa. We all have dayjobs, Triplexity is our leisure.”

So, will the members of Triplexity meet one day? Maybe even play a gig? There are no such plans so far, but who knows. “I hope to meet my fellow musicians one day, perhaps for a beer, says Hamelin. The idea of making Triplexity a live band is still far-fetched, but nothing is impossible!”

Triplexity from left to right: Nikila, SaReGaMa, Hamelin

It doesn’t happen every day that major Hollywood producers turn their attention to a Creative Commons-licensed artist. But it happened to Jamison Young. One of his songs was selected for the soundtrack of the movie “The X-Files : I Want To Believe”, which was released worldwide late July. Young publishes his folky, acoustic songs under Creative Commons licenses on Jamendo, but he has nevertheless found a very lucrative way to make money from them.
Originally from Australia, Jamison Young is now mostly based in Prague, Czech Republic. Though he has been writing, performing and recording songs for a while, he was only able to get his career going within the last five years.
You can go and check out Jamison’s work here. The song you can hear in the X-Files movie is “Memories Child”.

Read our interview of Jamison Young here.

From the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to the dancefloors of world capitals, Psydom Recordz is aiming high for Brazilian Djs, with a clear strategy – giving out free music - and one main vector: Jamendo.

With nearly 30 albums posted, Psydom Recordz has been very busy uploading its catalog on Jamendo these last few months. That’s because the Sao Paulo-based electronic music label has a specific philosophy as to how to go about getting its artists’ names out there. Its manager, Yuri, explains: « Psydom was an independent intiative of Brazilian producers. Our purpose is to propagate new artists by releasing promo recordings that are available for free download. The goal is to get positive feedback from the public. »

About 8 albums a year are released, and Psydom has worked with over 50 artists since it started, Djs who produce trance techno tracks ideal to dance to at Brazilian beach parties. It’s no wonder it was precisely at one such party that he had organized for New Year’s Eve 2005/2006 that Ramon Marques, a musician from Rio, first came up with the idea of creating Psydom Recordz. « He loves psychedelic trance and wanted to unite nature, music and spirit to start the new year with positive energy. That was the idea behind the party. »

Plenty of that positive energy fuels the team of four that runs Psydom Recordz, a not-for-profit operation that has gone from putting together rave parties to producing music, using Jamendo as its exclusive output. « Our mission is to get Brazilian artists known. Today Psydom has an important position in the Brazilian underground scene and our name is starting to be well known and respected in the whole world thanks to the success of our albums and videos on the internet. With each release, we reveal to the world more creative and innovative artists. »

Below is a video of a free party organized by Psydom at the beach of Paraty, in Rio, in 2006.