As an artist:
1) Do you see any inherent worth to releasing your music through a netlabel?
If they have a following with quality releases.

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?
Quality, consistency, and a presence in the real world (events, parties, etc not just online)

3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?
DIY a label and see what goes into it, then try to get to bigger platforms, really just whoever you want to be on so it's subjective.

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?
50% is fair if everyone is putting in equal efforts, but we're talking about chip music it's not going to be enough for it to matter.

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)
Money to pay for what's needed.

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?
Non-exclusive on everything UNLESS they are investing a significant amount of money in you or giving you dollars up front as an advance.

As a customer
1) What, if any, influence does a label has on your purchasing habits?
As a brand? Not all that much. For example, I know that Defected and Toolroom are going to always have quality releases, but I look at the artists first, then the label is like cred.

2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?
Don't care.

3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?
Mentioned above.

4) What would you consider a appropriate price range for chiptune albums?
Same as any other album. Depends on the release medium. iTunes .99. Band camp name your price. Vinyl $10-20, but $15 is a good place to be.

5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?
The ease of checking out on the shopping cart is the most important. I wanted to buy every song on a guy's label, which was about 20 releases. he used a free cart, and you could only buy one at a time. I didn't buy any. Then, I told him, make an item with all of your relases priced accordingly and I'll buy it (mentioned the cart problem). He didnt' fix it, I didn't buy anything. Shame...

6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)
Way more likely to actually sell physical items at shows. No one cares about digital products cause it's no secret that it's all duplicable for free...at least that's what I think.

7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)
Yes, if you play live shows.

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?
an IRC channel where people laugh at my jokes
people who actually know how to master and draw cover art
possibly hoping people on the label will have photos of their cat grooming against a pineapple or old copies of computer gaming magazines from around 1994

3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?
aanaaanaaanaaana
inpuj
ninja tune

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?
more than i give

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)
the first two
I know everyone dreams of releasing on EP but its impossible to make money on that unless you are already out of the closet and sort of rude to expect it

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?
imo i am very sensitive about exclusivity

As a customer
good luck I never spend money on anything but chocolate cake

There should be a third part, "As a label."

Not really. Unless its a HYPERFAMOUS label. But still, netreleasing is not "releasing".

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?

Fanbase, trustworthy, affinity of styles
3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?

Warp, Subpop, Sony. Ideology, ideology, money. None of them are netlabels.

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?

10% tops.

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)

Budget, budget, budget. Promo. Press presence. Artistic freedom

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?

Exclusivity thru a contract for X years while retaining your copyright is fine. It would suck to release a record to a nobody, he gets famous and then he cheats on you and signs with Sony.

As a customer
1) What, if any, influence does a label has on your purchasing habits?

Lots. There's labels id buy without hearing, because of their good taste.

2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?

artist.
3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?

Warp, subpop. Im not sure I ever had a three. Radiograffity and Datathrash are my fav chip ones, wish they'd do even more physical stuff.

4) What would you consider a appropriate price range for chiptune albums?

One buck or two. Theyre just 1's and 0's. If theyre physical, standard pricing. 5-8 for 7"'s, 10-12 for LP's

5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?

Of course. And design and presentation. Nowadays I wont buy a records if i dont like the cover. Put some effort on it, lazy fucks.

6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)

Thats the only way i consider something as released. If you have 10 digital ep's on bandcamp I'll assume ( and I KNOW) youre just calling your home demos a "finished" product. If i can not hold it, it doesnt exist.

7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)

I buy all of it, given the money and liking the band.

However, back in the day I was never too keen on artists releasing the same thing on multiple netlabels, especially as most of the time it would have been on two chip labels, which always seemed pointless to me. If it was a chip label, and something completely different, then maybe I would have felt differently. CDKr is all but dead nowadays - I message a few peeps every now and then, and if it works out, it works out.

However, a label that carefully selects their releases, issues them in a timely manner (not ALL THE RELEASES ALL THE TIME) and maybe has a consistent theme/idea/aesthetic with their choice of releases is always welcome. With some labels, when a new release comes out, you know it's worth a listen.

CDKr was always free releases, so money was never an issue. If all a label is doing is running a bandcamp page and posting social media updates, then why should they get a cut of the revenue? At the very least, it should be known to the buyer what the deal is. If a label is risking their money putting out physical releases, then obviously that's a whole different ball game.

I'm not too keen on being forced to pay for a release (obviously that's a personal opinion - demoscene/warez mentality?), but of course I understand why artists would do that, especially as some musicians are coming close to working on music full-time, which is fantastic. I'm a big fan of "pay what you want", I'm more likely to buy a digital release if I *can* download it for free, funnily enough.

My physical chip collection is p cool, and I'm always looking for MORE, so physical releases are king. I prefer tapes/records, or even home-made CDs. I'm not a fan of those single-press copy/paste sites for CDs, they seem a little too easy, if that makes sense. A little customised cheap-o CD-R is more fun than those "enter your jpeg, enter your wav files, job done" CDs.

Yes, because it can channel the idea of writing in a particular style. Sometimes you need a backdrop, theme or purpose to write effectively so a particular label's style would be a good one for that.

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?

Hahah errr... the artists I like
I guess a stylistic statement as a filter. Sure you could have a label that does anything and everything, but then it doesnt have an identity as such.
Also if one type of artist are in one place, it makes it easier to know where to find the stuff you like.

3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?

Personally I don't know.

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?

Depends how much work the label does with the release. If all it exists for is to publish it on their bandcamp website and that's *it*, then not a lot.

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)

Online presence, interviews, airspace... it's not necessary for it to be about the physical goods, because what if there isn't a market for it?

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?

From external sources? Then I think it's only fair to ask permission for song usage and see where it goes from there.

As a customer
1) What, if any, influence does a label has on your purchasing habits?

I follow some labels on social media so there would instances of never hearing about an artist if it were not for the label

2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?

Through whichever medium the artist chooses, out of respect for their choice.

3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?

I've never listened to something on inpuj that I haven't liked.
4) What would you consider a appropriate price range for chiptune albums?

I don't know. With a net label you get the chance to listen to it online a lot so it's likely that whatever the set price is, if you like it enough, you'll get it, it doesn't matter.

5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?

No.

6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)

You could have a whole lot to shift with noone to buy it, which could breed resentment for your music or the choice maker behind the merch. It has the potential to create losses for an artist. Test the market first, consider a crowdfunding option rather than just going all-out with creating the merch, as a safety net to see if people would actually commit to buy this stuff.

7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)

Same as above.

the chiptune equivalent of being famous

phrase of the day / week / month / year

As a customer
1) What, if any, influence does a label has on your purchasing habits?
If the label is well known and has a good reputation I will gladly buy the album (like Hyperwave and Basebit). Otherwise, I will be a bit more reluctant.
2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?
Artist for sure.
3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?
*same as artist thingy *
4) What would you consider an appropriate price range for chiptune albums?
Pay what you want - $8
5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?
I only buy through bandcamp. Anything else is a deal-breaker for me.
6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)
Eh.
7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)
Eh.

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?
Curation, great design, good web presence, linked to real world events.

3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?
Well I've had tracks on CDK and Kittenrock and would love to work with them again, but other than that:
Cheapbeats - seems pretty big, great design and curation.
Hyperwave - amazing UK artists that play live a lot. I want to be their friend. Please can I be your friend.
Ubiktune - have had some amazing releases.

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?
That totally depends on what service they're offering. To be honest nobody is making big bucks from purist chip like I make. If either party make any money I'd be shocked. I kinda have this ethos when working on non-chip stuff (I've done soundtrack work, sessions, that kinda shit) that if they're making money I want paying but if they're not making money, I'm just happy to go along for the beers and the laughs.

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)
Once again depends on the relationship. They should help the artist in any area they need. Some artists will need an engineer, some artists will need artwork, very few artists outside of the 1990s need CDs. ALL artists need promotion and marketing.

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?
I think if someone is putting work into releasing and promoting your music, a certain level of exclusivity isn't just respectful, it's also common sense. On copyright, there are enough people that don't respect "All Rights Reserved and who will upload your music to YouTube that it's kind of a moot point.

As a customer
1) What, if any, influence does a label has on your purchasing habits?
Pretty high - It's the main place I get new recommendations re: chipmusic.

2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?
Don't care, but I'm more likely to find a release through a label.

3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?
If we're talking Chip, then I suppose Pause, CDK and CheapBeats.
If we're talking all kinds of music I'd have to also include Ninjatune, Tru Thoughts and Warp.

4) What would you consider a appropriate price range for chiptune albums?
I like pay-what-you-want and generally tip £3 if that's an option. I'll pay vinyl prices for vinyl.

5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?
Yes. Bandcamp FTW.

6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)
I'm no longer interested in CDs - I don't find them engaging at any level.
Having done tapes, I can kinda tell why they went out of fashion - Quality is... changeable. that said, at gigs they're kinda fun.

7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)
Everyone should have stickers all the time everywhere. I rarely wear branded t-shirts/hoodies so I'm not particularly interested in them, but that's more to do with my personal taste. I love art prints check out The Leap label - they do limited edition prints with each release. I really like relatively unique merch too. I've seen caps, combs, rings, cut-and-glue minifigures...

1) Do you see any inherent worth to releasing your music through a netlabel?
yes. the bandcamp/twitter way of spreading music about doesn't really appeal to me much and netlabels are a good alternative imo

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?
good music, coolness of website, nice attitude

3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?
*shrug*

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?
money?? i dunno maybe it should all go to charity

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)
arousing interest and hosting the thing online in a place where it might be somewhat visible for quite a long time are the main thing that i think netlabels are good for. i don't care about art, mastering or physical CDs for sure

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?
fine whatever

As a customer

1) What, if any, influence does a label has on your purchasing habits?
i don't really buy music sorry

2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?
i don't really buy music sorry

3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?
so hard to answer but here is a random 3: kittenrock, chimera music, mp3death. they all have good functional websites and a distinct character and type of release that is not just "the least bad / most respected-in-the-detroit-metro-area lsdj musicians we could find" or whatever

4) What would you consider a appropriate price range for chiptune albums?
i don't think there is any particular reason why a chiptune album should cost less than any other album, but personally i won't pay money for them when there's so much good music available for free

5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?
i am not a fan of bandcamp, i don't think i much like netlabels that are just a bandcamp page or a page with links to bandcamp. also the harder it is to download the music the less likely i am to want to do it

6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)
ok but unless the music is really good i won't bother. i have a goto80 cd and a zanzan cd but that's it

7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)
no opinion really, i won't buy it though

customer:
1. Labels have definitely introduced me to artists I normally wouldn't find. I've perused through many discographies looking for new stuff. I guess that's an influence.
2. Depends. If it's a label I like, sure I'll support them.
3. Touch & Go, Deathwish, Have Fun Records. Touch & Go set the standard for indie labels, Deathwish has a good following and I think they run the label well, HFR because my friend who runs it is passionate about what he does and it's very inspiring to see him and his label growing.
4. I don't know. Free to $5? If it's just a download I really don't want to pay more than $5.
5. I like bandcamp so I guess so.
6. Yes, yes, yes, and yes. I think the world of physical releases has more creative opportunities than digial (though I really love all the audio/visual release stuff i've seen from people like maxo and hizmi).
7. T-Shirts and stickers are great. Especially if you're playing shows.

I will definitely be wanting to release through a net label, the amount of reach of a collective or netlabel is so much more than what I could do on my own by enough for me to consign a percentage.

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?

Noteworthiness (if I say Ubiktune or 8bitpeoples, people will go "oh yes, them.") stability (not likely to shut down soon and has a contingency or exit clause if they start heading in that direction.) and Friendliness (if you're not a dick, we good)

3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?

Basebit would be radical since I tend to entirely stray from anything resembling VGM influence, Ubiktune has a good reach and a great variety, but I don't have a #3

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?

I would be willing to consign for up to 30% based on what the label is able to do for me in terms of advertising/promotion and collaboration with other artists as a compilation or clab release.

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)

Preferably mastering. I often tend to do my own art and I don't care about physical media, but things like merch deals would be a great draw for me since I absolutely love designing things that people may want to put on their bodies or their laptops.

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?

I am fine with exclusivity with exception to live performance (not recorded) in that I don't want to worry that I'm playing something from an album before I get clearance months after release. Copyright I would only extend to people trying to either re-sell or use in commercial product without explicit permission from myself AND the label.

As a customer
7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)

If you get me a garter belt for each artist on your label, I will buy all of your stuff and also wear those bitches in a side-cut skirt on stage.

A lot, pretty much all the music I listen to in the last 6 or 7 years is from a net label. Originally when I started getting into chipmusic candymind (where I found goto80 and psilodump) and monotonik (where I found virt and pink/gjier) had just closed down, retinascan (where I found Stu, Jellica and 8gb) was big for physical releases and pause (where I found alex mauer, , joshmorse, disasterpeace and norrin radd), 8bitpeoples (where I found yerzmyey, linde, random and bit shifter and mr spastic and IAYD) literally changed my life, see blip Tokyo/squaresounds. I think Ubiktune (where I found C-jeff, karfobos and fatal snipe) were just starting up. Other favorites were DWD, Kitternrock and Da heard it. Also big fan of hexawe, bleepstreet and telefuture. Also I have bought a load of cheapbeats albums

2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?

No preference but my chances of finding you if you are on a net label / were on a net label are far far higher.

3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?

Couldn't choose 3 I love to many, Recently basebit records, dataairlines and cheapbeats have been getting most of my iphones play time.

4) What would you consider a appropriate price range for chiptune albums?

Im reluctant to pay more than about 7 bucks for digital.

5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?

Unlikely to buy if not on bandcamp, all my netlabel stuff is nicely collected there and I don't want to have to re register all my information for just one purchase.

6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)

Don't personally buy them, I am all digital for books, music and movies (oddly not for comics though)

7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, et)

Love it, I have a drawer full of shirts and a gig box covered in stickers.

Yes, a good netlabel can do a lot to promote your music in a way that you may be unable to as an individual.

2) What are the three most important things you look for in a label?

Good understanding of advertising and promotion, a good fit for demographic and a passion for the type of music I make.

3) What are the top three labels on which you'd like to have your music and why?

I'd have to look more into appropriate labels. I prefer a bit more of a personal connection to the label as I want to understand exactly what the label and I can offer each other. Ideally it's a mutually beneficial partnership. There are many labels that I enjoy as a consumer but I have no clue if they are truly good towards their artists.

4) What is the percentage of the money you think should go to the label?

This all depends on how much the label does to promote my work. If they simply want to upload or mirror my album to their website then I'm not sure I'd want to give any real percentage to them as they're not really earning it. On the other hand, a label that does a lot to promote my work absolutely deserves a fair percentage and for a small, indie label I'm more than willing to allow perhaps 20-30% or more depending on what they're doing.

That said, I'd want to know exactly what it is they plan on doing so that I could give them a fair percentage. This is why a strong relationship with the label is important to me as I can get a lot more feedback in that regard.

5) What services should the label offer? (art, mastering, physical CDs etc etc)

There are a lot of services that are super valid for a label but personally I'm not in need of the more technical services. Advertising and promotion is a major area of weakness for me and so anything along those lines would be useful to me.

6) Your feelings on exclusivity and copyrights?

Almost all my music thus far has been released under some form of copyleft license. Any netlabel would have to work with me to find a proper middle ground between my desire to be pro-comsumer and their desire for exclusivity and/or copyright.

As a customer

1) What, if any, influence does a label has on your purchasing habits?

A good label advertises directly at customers and can act as a hub for music fans. I find that many of the current netlabels lack in the advertising side of things but are generally very good at selecting good artists and music to feature.

2) Do you prefer to buy directly from an artist, or through a label?

There are labels that I avoid buying from having heard bad things about their unfair commision or other practices. However, a good label is worth supporting as it helps both the artist and the general music community/scene.

3) What are you top three favorite labels and why?

Toy company is my favourite label as they pour their money back into shows and events and actually spend money on promotional material. I know much less about 8bitpeoples but their catalog is great and they have a prestige behind them. Bleepstreet gets honourable mention as their catalog is great but I know little about what they do to promote music.

4) What would you consider a appropriate price range for chiptune albums?

I generally believe an album should sit at about $1-2 per average length song. That said, it's not a hard and fast rule and I'll pay more for something truly fantastic.

5) Does the storefront (bandcamp, custom website, etc) influence your purchases?

If given a choice I'll always lean towards a direct sale (custom website) storefront as I know more of the money is reaching the artist.

6) Your opinion on physical copies? (cd, tape, vinyl, etc)

I enjoy physical copies but I'll avoid CDs or tapes unless they're the only choice. While I rarely listen to music on vinyl they are far more collectible and easy enough to throw on my phone (although an included download code is preferred). However, my favourite is cool, unique releases. I've personally released a lot of these types of thing (Smart cards, floppies, flash drives, NFC collectibles, etc) and they're what I look for from others as well.

7) Your opinion on merch? (tshirts, stickers, garter belts, etc)

I rarely wear garter belts but any cool merch gets my attention.