below average
| below average | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GbR |
| founding | May 28, 1999 |
| resolution | December 31, 2011 |
| Seat | Cologne |
| management | Andreas Wildner, managing director |
| Number of employees | 1 |
| Website | www.unterm-aver.de |
Below average was a German recording company that was founded in Göttingen in 1999 and was based in Cologne until it was dissolved. It was listed under the GVL label code 12566.
history
The name unterm average is borrowed from a former Hamburg record store of the same name, which resided at the lower end of the street “Average” in Hamburg-Rotherbaum. The label enjoyed fame due to its political and stylistic pioneering work. His bands were mainly assigned to the genres Emo , Screamo and Post-Hardcore . The bands Katzenstreik , Captain Planet and Jet Black are considered to be pioneers for many subsequent bands of later differentiated styles. Label operator Andreas Wildner, however, rejected stylistic fixations:
“Basically, bands and labels always want to get out of such terms and the media need them and create them [...] We weren't, we didn't want that, we wanted to put everything together anew [...] I'm fine Everything is always about the experiment, not about restricted thinking. Open up, go out, question, be euphoric. "
On December 31, 2011, the label dissolved.
positioning
Below average saw itself as a record label which, in addition to the publication of music, also reflects and critically views its own work. This was expressed in culturally critical statements that the label put up for discussion on the Internet. In 2010, below average, fanzines and magazines criticized for their always benevolent but unsatisfactory record reviews. That would highlight the same at the expense of the new. In progress, however, the artistic intention is expressed. In Unclesally * s magazine , the company differentiated itself from other record companies as follows: “There is no series of parties, no merchandise and no other diversionary maneuvers. The artists themselves are my calling card. "
In the leader of the Pop Up fair in Leipzig, the company presented itself with the sentence “The public has the right not to be smeared, even if they insist on being smeared”. This quote is borrowed from the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno .
Despite the sometimes relatively high print runs, the first publications were partly handcrafted. The printing of covers and labels as well as booklets as well as the folding and gluing of the cover sleeves were done without industrial production .
Distribution channels
The label sold its own publications until 2004. From October 2004 there was a supplementary deal with the company "Broken Silence-Independentdistribution GmbH" and through "RecRec" in Switzerland, "Ixthuluh" (Austria) and "Interpunk" (USA) . The publications were also offered as digital albums in download shops around the world via “Zebralution GmbH”. The label's own edition "The Mensch Gap" was administered by Freibank Musikverlage.
Main publications
CD and vinyl , which were conspicuous due to their special packaging, served as the publication medium . The publication “ I Can't Relax in Germany ”, for example, is a bound, 60-page book CD on the subject of “Pop Culture and Nationalism”, for which authors such as Martin Büsser , Roger Behrens and the group sinistra! Texts and bands such as Tocotronic , Kante , Kettcar , Die Goldenen Zitronen , Mouse On Mars , Muff Potter , Die Sterne and many more partly exclusive songs contributed. The initiative was discussed in the nationwide press (3Sat Kulturzeit, Frankfurter Rundschau, Die Taz, Visions Magazine and many more) as a counterpoint to the “You Are Germany” campaign that was launched a little later.
Musician
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Below average at Discogs
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview in Intro No. 193 (June 2011), p. 128
- ↑ Intro No. 193 (June 2011), p. 128
- ↑ Intro.de: At the end of a label. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 12, 2016 ; accessed on November 11, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.unterm-aver.de/polaroid-plus/ Collection of critical statements from unterm average, viewed on May 28, 2011
- ↑ http ://www.unterm- average.de/polaroid-plus/details/die-musikkritik-die-keine-ist/ Entkunstung der Kunst - music criticism that isn't, April 9, 2010
- ↑ Unclesally * s , Do It Noch Yourself, No. 165, November 2010
- ↑ Pop Up Messeader, 2006
