BloodMusic

Obviously music, otherwise I would've started Music Blood, where I released lavish, limited edition blood, haha.

Curious the same. I saw a cooking show on TV where the producers had forgotten to book a table in advance, and the host just sat outside the restaurant and talked about what it would have been like had he eaten there, haha.

Last time I went to CPH, it was booked solid as I didn't have long enough notice. Would love to try someday.

There is this bizarre sort of unspoken dance that goes on once we sign bands to feel out their deficiencies. It's rarely ever spoken about. But for instance, if I feel like a band is completely there sonically but needs some visual help, I'll tell them upfront.

My goal is to be as transparent as possible while delivering the best possible release. So, some artists come totally armed with a completely professional visual identity and aural identity from the get go.

Given two different artists:

Perturbator, he completely had his visual identity figured out and audio too. With his releases, I came in with the release plans, marketing plans, and packaging concepts, such as the 3xLP box and 2xCD book.

Those were fully conceptualized and art directed by me. But Perturbator was in charge of conceptualizing and art directing the album cover and graphic novel with Ariel ZB, the artist.

Then you have GosT, whose visual identity I was almost completely in charge of on his albums Behemoth and Non Paradisi, working in conjunction with the brilliant artists Førtifem. The Behemoth album cover concept was mine and Non Paradisi, we were told the album was about Milton's Paradise Lost. I worked with the artists to come up with the complete package on both.

Or furthermore, OddZoo just gave us the front cover painting, and we had to figure out the rest.

This translates to audio and other issues.

Just recently, a band turned in their album, and we were able to convince them to go for a better master.

It just depends on what the band NEEDS essentially to release the best material possible. If we're psyched about it and the band is psyched about it, we think everyone will be psyched about it.

Great to hear and thanks for all the questions!

1) It is the age-old question of balance, and we're still working at it. It's never perfect. It was clear to me long ago that working alone (and running the warehouse, shipping, etc.) was way too much. I kept that on my shoulders for years too long.

I would say the label structure is a very strong outgrowth of the internet generation, where we can coordinate digitally across any place on the globe. A few key elements are :

Myself and my team split tasks up so that we each handle a number of jobs, and then I oversee the more critical work they do too.

We now have shippers and warehouses actively working in Finland and Ireland who do a phenomenal job. We have distributors who help sell our stuff to stores in many countries.

Frankly, when I say it is a one person label and has been, that's never the full truth. I've worked with freelancers who are audio engineers, band members themselves, illustrators, layout artists, the plant, etc. It's a vast number of people and we try as best as possible to make it through the hardest times. Like any company, there are times where it just becomes punishing for weeks on end. I would never suggest 10-12-14 hour work days to anyone. Sometimes you have to pull them, but they're not human.

But for now, we are managing.

2) I actually stumbled upon Hollywood Burns on YouTube, on an autoplay! As you can imagine, I have been sent tracks from virtually every darksynth and nearly every synthwave artist out there hoping to catch a break. I wasn't really interested in oversaturating the label with them. It would've been an easy cash out situation that would've eventually made the label terrible. A Hollywood Burns track came up from his EP, and I heard instantly someone with potential. I think it's the same spark I heard from Perturbator, Dan Terminus, GosT. It was like - this dude is going to do something great. I told him to keep in touch if he wrote an album. That is rare, I'm not sure if I've done that to anyone else!

3) They aren't, and it was my choice. I love their record, but after release it just becomes clear to me that some bands aren't meant for the label. When the fan reaction is just not screaming for something, my thought becomes that I'm really glad I worked with them but they are going to benefit so much by finding the right label elsewhere. It's a hard choice to make and many bands want to stay even after that, but there are just signs to me that I will be holding them back to keep them signed.

4) Tough question - but many bands come with ideas already. In the event that they do not come with ideas, we usually try to give suggestions on artists we already know or ones we follow. There is just a ridiculous amount of talented visual artists, and you can find them all across social media.

5) The great thing is that I never personally tire of music, despite any possible lows with the label. That is one thing I was nervous about upfront with the label. I'm also very able to tear apart the art from the artist, so in any cases we've come head to head, I can always still love the music the same as before. That said, I don't think any project I've worked on could be soothing to me afterwards, haha. I'd say the most critical work for me personally that has ever come out on an emotional level is Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works, Vol. II". I can literally see in my music player right now I've listened to it almost 2000 times since getting this computer a few years ago. And that album has followed me since it came out, so you can imagine how many times I've actually listened to it. Tens of thousands. I actually play it to my puppy to calm him down.

That is so great to hear about the music getting you through tough times, I can't tell how much that makes me glad!

Great question. Regarding all your examples, oddly enough none of those were a significant factor, at least at the start.

• Money - I had some small savings when I started it but furthermore, the first release was (mostly) done in pre-orders, so this was not an issue, until I got into later releases, such as the Strapping Young Lad 7-LP box, the Moonsorrow 14-LP box, etc. Those were projects that couldn't be financed simply through pre-orders and PayPal nearly crushed the label by holding onto all sales of those until after they were all sent (a story for another day).

• Doubt, etc. I somehow saw the map of the entire trajectory of the label from its first release through the end of the Emperor box set, about 5 years later. Certainly many surprises happened along the way, but nearly everything happened as I envisioned it.

TO ACTUALLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION -

I would say the hardest thing of all is time / energy management. At first, the projects were slow-moving. Getting bands and labels to accept licenses or collaboration with a startup was (almost) impossible, and vinyl production moves at glacier-pace, so it would be 6 months minimum until anything started happening between a band saying yes and actually being able to offer it for sale.

I was just looking for something to do, and I buried myself in future work because I wanted something to do right then and there. The amount of tasks to get through became so punishing, I almost didn't make it out in one piece.

I'm very sensitive to time / energy management these days because of this, and I was very public about how overcome with stress I personally was. The label became known for that on social media for a while!