Hello! My name is Alan, and I’ve been running a small but passionate bedroom label, Coraspect, out of my spare bedroom since 2018. I just recently discovered TSMN and had to sign up.
If I can provide any advice to an artist looking to venture into the realm of physical releases (LP, cassette, CD, minidisc), I’m definitely happy to help. Also, I’ve made all the stupidest mistakes one can make when starting a one-person record label, so I can offer first hand advice on what not to do.
Hey hello Alan ! Please do share your mistakes with us 
i love myself good mistake stories 
Considers making a mistakes and “worst gigs ever” thread because I do too… 
I’m from Aotearoa, from the southern island, Te Wai Pounamu. Currently resident in the northern island, Te Ika a Maui, in the lands of Waikato Tainui, on the banks of mighty Waikato. I’m a child of the British diaspora in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, which calls the ocean the Pacific, these islands New Zealand, and the city I live in Hamilton. I’m known as Danyl Strype (@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz and strypey in lots of places).
I’ve been playing music for fun, going to and putting on live music events, and collecting recorded music, since about the mid-1990s. I’m a jammer/ tinkerer/ dabbler, fond of spontaneous garage/ spare room/ bedroom/ porch jams and drum circles. I helped to start Synth Obscura, a monthly jam night for people who pay electronic instruments like synths, beat boxes and keyboards, analogue or digital, bought or home made.
I bought dozens of recordings directly from touring artists I pay to see, to avoid giving most of that money to corporate intermediaries. About 20 years ago I was heavily involved in the global Indymedia network, and wrote up this attempt to apply a similar strategy to global music cooperation;
Around that time I got involved in creating a CreativeCommons localisation, which led to CC Aotearoa/NZ (now TohaToha). This led me CC music platforms like ccMixter, MagnaTune, Jamendo, Free Music Archive, and the NetLabels collection on Archive.org. Like a lot of anti-corporate geeks, I got very interested in the idea of using netradio and P2P file-sharing networks like GNUtella and BitTorrent to improve discovery of independent music.
A general interest in software freedom and decentralised networks got me signing up to the first fediverse service, identi.ca. A while later, again looking at CC music hosting, I stumbled on Libre.fm and the GNU FM software it ran, and then in turn, GNU social and the beginnings of the fediverse. I’ve been involved in fediverse development for about 15 years. So I’ve been watching with interest as projects like FunkWhale, Radio Free Fedi and BandWagon build infrastructure to support musical artists using fediverse tech. I’m very excited to see what can be achieved by bringing people from a bunch of these projects together.
Welcome! We don’t have many members from the Southern Hemisphere (but there is at least another one). If you add yourselves to the member’s map you will increase our current geographic range immensely. You can do this on your profile, in the Map Location section.