Just over a year ago, I published a post about #WEATNU – We Are the New Underground.
WEATNU is an organization and movement of Electronic / DIY artists. It’s goal is to bring to the light the unheard and talented artist, giving the artist a way to be found by new fans who appreciate their style of music.
And things have moved on a long way since that post thanks to the tireless work of its founder Almark who created WEATNU because indie electronic artists need to be heard, appreciated and found and the ideology of WEATNU is to help unknown indie electronic artists be known in the world of the Internet.
It’s now easier than ever to explore what WEATNU is all about. A very good introduction is the anniversary compilation. Released in late December 2015, it features 74 tracks covering a wide range of styles:
The website is an invaluable source of information and has been redesigned to make it easier to use and navigate to find information. This redesign is largely complete with some further amendments to follow.
There’s now 6 radio portals available on Tune-in radio:
- WEATNU [OUR] – The main station
- The Listening Booth – Playing WEATNU RECORDS artists
- Abstract Alpha – Abstract, experimental, avant-garde, drone and ambient
- Transmission Nova – British rock, indie rock, shoegaze and noise guitar pop
- Synthesis Noir – Darkwave, Industrial, EBM and more
- Echostation – Dance / Electronic, House, Deephouse, Techno, DnB
There’s also a Soundcloud page where you can check out artists:
You can read features in the WEATNU digital magazine
There’s also a very useful app available on android or iOS that brings all features of WEATNU and associated links together for you making it very easy to explore and keep up to date.
If you like what you see / hear and think that you would like to be a part of WEATNU, you can do this by sending an email explaining why you would like to join and they’ll contact you with further details on what you need to do. WEATNU is about helping the electronic artist through exposure and the net-radio WEATNU [OUR] helps with this. You will need twitter to join because without it, your fans will have no way to reach you through net-radio and twitter posts. You also need dropbox to submit songs however WEATNU share their pro account with you so it won’t cost anything.
Another side to WEATNU is the WEATNU Records label. It’s important to point out that by joining WEATNU you are not automatically signed to the label nor obliged to join, but if you choose to do so you will be required to sign a legal agreement. Signing up to the label allows you to make income from your music as the internet radio portals don’t collect royalties they are non-profit. As an artist you make 70% of sales through Bandcamp and sales / streaming through Baboom. These sales help fund the running and administration of WEATNU although donations are another important income source for this. In summary the label is non-exclusive and doesn’t own anything, you retain all rights. However as with any legal agreement it’s important to read and understand the terms and conditions and ensure they are right for you.
I’ve been a member of WEATNU since the very early days and I signed to the label at the end of last summer, so far I’ve released Tech Explorations album; rise | fall | decay EP and Beunruhigende Nacht EP through the label with more releases to follow in due course. I’m very pleased with the promotion / exposure I receive from both radio play and promotion of my releases.
I’m excited to be a part of WEATNU, the growth over the past year has been very impressive and the new portals and especially the app help me to easily explore new artists and music. And this is where your own input really makes a difference. I’d say that as an artist, WEATNU really helps promote and increase your exposure but it works even better when you also promote yourself and other artists through facebook and twitter etc. The combined effect is always greater than the sum of the parts – the promotion / exposure goes that bit further; reaches more people and the mutual support you receive back enhances this even more. You also get to speak to like minded people, build new networks, find new inspiration and grow as a musician.