Ĉi tiu intervjuo aperos en sia originala Esperanto en la revuo Kontakto (majo 2011), do abonu tuj, por certiĝi, ke vi ricevos ĝin ĝustatempe.
Through my interviews with Floréal Martorell, we looked at the structure of Vinilkosmo’s music online as well as why they are not present on iTunes. Today, we will speak of something revolutionary for Esperanto music: Vinilkosmo radio!
What is Vinilkosmo radio at cd1d? How does it work?
Vinilkosmo radio at cd1d (click Ecouter to listen)
Because cd1d is a larger structure, it also has more resources from all their members combined which profit from that structure. That’s why it’s also possible to add songs to their Internet radio station which selectively represents their members. The radio of each of their members plays complete songs of their artists. Vinilkosmo agreed with every artist to put 2 complete titles which makes it something like a radio compilation. Every time you open the radio, the music will appear randomly. So, here is Vinilkosmo radio (click on “Ecouter” to start it).
Using the same system, it’s also possible to create a “radio station” for an album, for example “Urbano” radio by inicialoj dc. There are two complete songs there, but also previews of the other songs. Every artist has their own radio station. Also, when there are videos, they will appear in the playlist with an icon which can be clicked to watch it. Later, we’ll even be able to have Vinilkosmo TV by the same principle, with all our music videos on shuffle.
Another important radio station is the general cd1d radio. This station works to unite all their members, so sometimes you’ll hear Vinilkosmo songs played randomly among the thousands of other songs on the station from other indie music labels. Some statistics from cd1d: in December 2010, cd1d represented 200 music companies in France, and also Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and England. That’s over 1,500 artists, 2,250 albums and 15,000 downloadable songs. Among those are 18 Esperanto artists, and 24 albums! Of course, the radio will evolve as more and more cd1d members keep adding more songs.
For the holiday season last year, Aaron Irvine of Esperanto-TV contacted me and proposed a link which he made to have a direct link to the station without having to click “Ecouter” at cd1d’s site. This page also includes a link to go directly to Vinilkosmo-mp3.com to buy and download mp3 and ogg files and a chance to go to cd1d to buy the songs in lossless FLAC format. Here is Vinilkosmo at Esperanto-TV.
It became evident that cd1d is important to Vinilkosmo, because it was an official way for us to open up to the outside world, but in a specific way. It gave us the ability to reach people who are more open than ordinary consumers, because they are already interested in independent music. Independent music companies don’t have any common identity with the corporate music industry. They are really worlds apart with completely different goals and strategies. Independent music is creative and culturally diverse, because this is important for indie publishers, and to help the public discover new artists and music genres, etc. The corporate industry doesn’t care about culture nor diversity. They just want to sell massive quantities of the most famous artists. They don’t give new creations from unknown artists a chance. It seems to me that we found just the right spot at cd1d, which has the same feelings as Vinilkosmo.
In iTunes and other corporate download stores, we wouldn’t have any kind of space where we could keep our identity and specialty… and our music would drown in the ocean of other music. We wouldn’t be very visible there. Now we have two places where you can buy and download Esperanto music and it’s now very easy to find the three services depending on whether you want your music on CD, mp3/ogg or FLAC.
The role of the Esperanto speaker is to inform others about all this. I, myself, send around information a lot, but it seems that’s not enough. As many Esperanto speakers as possible need to help from their side, among their friends, clubs and associations. That’s why we created a system in our websites, so people who want to help inform could use banners to let others know.
- For our CDs: http://www.vinilkosmo.com/banners/
- On our download service, you’ll find a code for a banner to link to that page. Besides that, there is also a menu on the very bottom in the section “Kunhavigo / eksporto” where you can find a banner to link to the main page of the download system.
- At cd1d, there is the same system clicking the “Share” button or also “Partage/export” on the page that you’d like to target.
So, I think everything exists, so that people can help promote our websites, but they don’t really do it. I don’t know why. Maybe they’re waiting for Vinilkosmo to disappear, and then they’ll want to promote, but then it will be too late. What’s important is to act now, while we need it, not when we’re dead. Now if everyone is aware of this need, I think that it will no longer matter that we’re not in iTunes or other corporate music stores. Ours exists, works and isn’t even that bad. Of course, it will also be necessary to think a bit, leave the herd and think independently. We’re all trying to help change the blind and one-way consumer train of thought. I hope that people will get it and find a way to support our efforts.
In the final part of this series, learn more about the Future of Vinilkosmo.
