As of April, 1998 Simple Machines is no longer an active record label, although our back catalog lives on! From this site you can read about the history of Simple Machines, see the 8 year project discography, flip through the catalog and order stuff, and find out more about your favorite bands or look up tour dates. Since we are no longer actively working on the label, we hope that this website serves as a scrapbook for projects we did and an information source about the bands and records that carry on.
NEWS: May 2001
Currently, we are working on two projects that are related to our Simple Machines efforts. In November, 1999 we teamed up with Insound to create a new area of their site called The Machine. It began as an effort to update our Mechanic's Guide to Putting out Records, Cassettes and CDs to report on the new tools and services available to small bands and labels via the Internet. But, thanks to the unforseen developments in both music and technology, the project has grown substantially to include interviews with musicians, lawyers, webmasters, indie label owners, as well as essays about the current mingling of music, technology, policy, law and economics.
And, because of this project and our recent experience with the Low Power Radio Coalition, we have been part of the creation a powerful new voice for the independent music community on Capitol Hill called the Future of Music Coalition. In the fall of 2000, the FMC published a manifesto on the website, which we encourage members of the independent music and technology committee to read and endorse. This was followed up by a Policy Conference in Washington, DC in January 2001 where over 500 activists, artists, lawyers, academics, and technology professionals gathered to debate some of the most critical issues facing the emerging music/technology environment. By organizing the independent communities, the Coalition hopes to have enough muscle to provide a strong and articulate voice for artists and labels in the policy-making venues of Washington, DC.
This fall, the FMC is set to take the show on the road! Sometime in September or October, members of the Future of Music Coalition will be touring many university and college campuses all over the US where we hope to educate lots of folks about the critical issues at stake. Plus, we're out to have some fun. In most places, the tours will also include a rock show at night, where Jenny Toomey will be joined by other musicians and bands. By the way, Jenny will have two records out on Misra this fall. If you're looking for a sneak preview, she's doing some East Coast tour dates with Destroyer in late May. Check out the tour dates page for info about this as well as the enormously long tour that Retsin is on right now in support of their new CD on Carrot Top, Cabin in the Woods. Trevor from Sea Saw/HollAnd recently sent me his list of releases for 2001 -- there's three in the hopper for this year. Liz and Dan from Ida are expectin' their first baby very soon. Good luck to them!
Our bands collectively feed off of this TipJar:
