Innovative communication
Innovative Communication ( IC for short and IC / DigItMusic GmbH from 1990 ) was a German record label founded in 1978 by musician and electronic soloist Klaus Schulze and music journalist Michael Haentjes (later CEO of Edel AG ).
The abbreviation IC stood for “Independent Composers” when it was founded, but was changed to “Innovative Communication” from 1979 onwards when the IC studio (sound and video) was set up in Winsen / Aller.
Alignment and artist
The following artists were released on the label , which mainly published electronic music , Neue Deutsche Welle, then also NewInstrumentalMusic, New Age and World Music : Richard Wahnfried , Baffo Banfi, Lorry, Ideal , SOFTWARE , TeeKay, Quiet Force, GENE, Megabyte , Peter Seiler , Freeze Frame, Mind over Matter, Double Fantasy, Blue Knights , Mickie D's Unicorn, DIN A test picture , Robert Schroeder , P'Cock, Manuel Göttsching , Dieter Schütz , Win Kowa, Mark Eins (Din-A test picture) .
A specialty of the label IC were LPs like those from Ideal , which had to be played like singles at the speed of 45 / min in order to achieve a better sound quality.
history
The label started in 1979 with the Richard Wahnfried production Time Actor , behind which Klaus Schulze himself stood. The Italian musician Baffo Banfi was the first foreign artist on IC with La Dolce Vita in the same year. The first IC productions were sold through WEA, then from No. IC 80.001 with Robert Schröder LP Floating Music (IC 58.066) a cooperation agreement with da-music in Diepholz followed in 1980. The Bremen artist Michael Weisser created the cover photo for this LP and thus established the concise artwork typical of IC.
Due to personal circumstances, Klaus Schulze handed over the management of IC in 1983 to Mark Sakautzky, who was in charge of IC management in Australia. Under Mark Sakautzky and the new owner of IC (Manfredachtenhagen), the first work of the formation Mergener & Weisser appeared in 1984 with the LP Beam-Scape and in 1985 the era of the formation SOFTWARE began with the LP Chip-Meditation , which started with an edition of innovative computer graphics in the artwork of LPs and CDs explicitly focused on the then new topic of computer culture.
In 1985 Michael Weisser took over the role of Creative Director at IC and developed the specific image of the label with his partner Sakautzky. While Weisser was responsible for artwork , product innovation and strategic alliances, Sakautzky took over management and maintained contact with the artists and the license partners.
As early as the late 1980s, IC was increasingly relying on international license partners with a focus on the USA, Japan, Italy, Israel, France, Switzerland and Austria. Sakautzky and Weisser presented the label and its musicians on radio and TV stations on worldwide promotional trips. With multimedia editions ( computer graphics , PictureDisc , hologram CD, etc.) IC became a collector's label.
In 1990 the million sales mark was exceeded and Sakautzky / Weisser founded IC / DigItMusic GmbH based in Hamburg. However, the free, illegal download of music via Internet platforms subsequently called the economic future of the CD sound carrier more and more into question.
In 1994 Sakautzky sold his shares to the Pallas Group and Weisser managed IC alone for a period of 8 years until in 2002 he also sold his shares to the Pallas Group distributor da-music in Diepholz. The label's CD inventory was destroyed in 2002. However, the label is still active with a selection of old titles in revised form via the da-music / Diepholz distribution. Old titles are now considered collectibles.
literature
- MusIC for the eyes of your mind - general catalog IC / DigItMusic GmbH, Bremen / Hamburg 1998
- WhitePaperCollection Edit 03, Interview of the music journalist Thomas Hammerl with Michael Weisser, 2016
swell
- Collection of IC CDs see: ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Michael Weisser Computer Culture Collection, 2008
- Staatsarchiv Bremen , Das Archiv: Signature StAB 7, 278 Weisser, Michael (Music: 01-Label-IC / DigItMusic)
- Sound carriers from IC in the catalog of the German National Library
- The history of the IC label [1]
Individual evidence
- ↑ The history of the music label IC / Innovative Communication in: Herbert W. Franke and Michael Weisser, Dea-Alba - A fantastic sounding story with computer music by SOFTWARE (first edition as volume 207 in the Fantastic Library Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt 1988), new edition extended by the History of the IC label published as a QR hybrid book by Die | QR | Edition, Murnau am Staffelsee 2017, pp. 117–149.
- ↑ Herbert W. Franke, "SOFTWARE - Die Andere Musik" in: Mark Sakautzky (Ed.) "TenYears SOFTWARE-Music" (1984–1994), in: Staatsarchiv Bremen (Sign. StAB 7, 278 Weisser, Michael)
- ↑ Thomas Hammerl, "SOFTWARE - ten years" in: Mark Sakautzky (Ed.) "TenYears SOFTWARE-Music" (1984–1994), in: Staatsarchiv Bremen (Sign. StAB 7, 278 Weisser, Michael)
- ↑ Ingo Engelhardt, "Der Stein des Weisser" in New Mag May 1991, pp. 73/74, in: Staatsarchiv Bremen (Sign. StAB 7, 278 Weisser, Michael)
- ↑ "Here and now and everywhere - Computer & Culture" in: PC Week 10/1989, in: State Archive Bremen (Sign. StAB 7, 278 Weisser, Michael)
- ↑ WhitePaperCollection Edit.06, "Die IC-Story" in: Interview of the music journalist Thomas Hammerl with Michael Weisser, Kindle-Edition, 2016