LABEL LINK
May 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Martin Brown
Abstrakt Reality was founded three years ago by Zimar Manigualt, whose original concept was to make the label an online enterprise that would sell products through Liquid Audio. However, the immediate response to the L.A.-based label was so overwhelming that Manigualt soon acquired retail distribution through City Hall Records. What began as a side project eventually enabled Manigualt to quit his job as a limousine chauffeur, take on business partner Albert Gerstein, and run the label full-time.
Manigualt and Gerstein's mission was to establish a label in the interest of artists rather than of lawyers and accountants, and to give artists a chance at a sustainable career. “I'm very open to new styles of music,” Manigualt explains, “as well as music from talented artists that just don't get recognized by larger labels.” A good example of that philosophy is the upcoming release by Darwa, a Slovenian trip-hop, electro-pop duo produced by Pete Lorimer. Manigualt is predictably pleased about this creative marriage: “I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to put together an unknown Eastern European singer with a well-known dance producer and mixer.”
In general, Manigualt does not recommend sending unsolicited MP3 demos through e-mail, suggesting instead that an unsigned artist send e-mail invitations leading to his or her own MP3 site. If you don't have a site, Manigualt advises setting one up on MP3.com; that way the label can download your music and decide if it wants to get involved. “The Internet has allowed me to receive demos and sign artists from all over the world,” says Manigualt.
By exploiting the Internet to get its message and music out, Abstrakt Reality now has products on playlists from England to Yugoslavia. Although the label originally focused on trip-hop, ambient, and drum 'n' bass, it now takes an interest in all styles of electronic music, particularly genres that aren't well defined. Manigualt suggests that Abstrakt Reality's musical adventurousness is what sets the label apart: “My goal is to promote new styles of music before they become popular and everyone else wants to sign those kinds of acts.”
Contact: Abstrakt Reality Records, 1319¼ N. Martel Ave., West Hollywood, CA 90046; tel. (323) 850-9992; e-mail abstrakt@abstraktreality.com; Web www.abstraktreality.com.
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