3 days in and the sales and reviews are starting to pour in. The most satisfying thing has been the general thumbs up with which the music has been received. I spent a couple of hours over the weekend making submissions to several online music magazines and newspapers and although this is generally a hit and miss affair I am hopeful that one or two will take notice. If you have a blog or are involved in any online music resource that may be interested in featuring indiecater please give me a shout and I'll send you on a copy of the album. Given how things are panning out I have decided to start work on its successor (!) which will be released in late August. Once again if you are in a band and would like to be considered for Volume Two please get in touch. This time all submissions will be considered, even previously released tracks, on condition you own the rights to them or have received permission from your label.

Well it’s finally here! The lengthy preamble is over and it’s time to let the music do the talking. I hope you enjoy the 10 tracks on this collection. Just click on the buy icon below to purchase indiecater volume one for the princely sum of €4.50! If you don't have a paypal account or a credit card just email me and we can sort something out.

Here is the track listing:

1) Burning Codes - It's Alright (Belfast)
2) Slushco - Astronaut (Atlanta)
3) Storkboy Choons - Rockfield Symphony (Kells)
4) The E.L.F. - Cockroaches (Sydney)
5) Foreign Slippers - Packed The Car (Norrkoping)
6) Beaten Awake - You Remind Me of Me (Kent, Ohio)
7) Call To Mind - (Untitled) (Inverness)
8) Empty Rooms - We've Been Waiting for You (San Francisco)
9) Cymbals Eat Guitars - Share (New York)
10) Michael Knight - Dumbshow (Director's Cut) (Dublin)

If you'd like to listen to the compilation before you purchase click here.

Please remember you will need to use Winrar to extract the mp3s, information sheet and artwork from the file you have purchased. If you don't have Winrar you can download it for free from the Winrar website.

If you are having any problems purchasing or download the compilation please give me a shout.

Yeah, the first compilation is not even in the can and already my head is drifting onto what will come after it. Time is almost out for Volume One and I think it will be an impressive release. The artwork is coming along well too thanks to Lorna’s efforts. Volume Two is looking like a certainty now so if you are in a band and would like to contribute please get in touch. I think the unreleased side of things confused a lot of people so V2 won’t have this restriction. The only condition is that in submitting a song you have the rights to do so. Further down the line I’d like to release an indie Christmas album so if you have something that might fit give me a shout. More on this later.

Yep, strange that I can say that just 1 week on from that 3 a.m. thought that started all this. The songs have been flooding in and in the majority of cases have been truly wonderful. At this stage I am 90% sure about what the final 10 tracks will be but there are still some stragglers so the door won't be closed until Friday week (27th June). After that submissions will be only be considered for Volume Two (he says confidently and with little idea about how Volume One will work out). I think we are looking at a release date of Monday 7th July. I am currently deciding on a promo track that will be given to bloggers/media who wish to review the album. Promo tracks are useful as they can be used as a free download in conjunction with a review to promote an album, for example Sigur Ros used 'Gobbledigook' as a promo track for their newbie. All of mp3's on indiecater will be encoded at 256kbs which in layman terms means that they should be as good a quality as what you'd hear on a CD.

Seven great tracks have made the cut so far (I won't reveal them yet as I'm not 100%) and I have spent some time ordering and reordering them so that there is a natural flow to the way they play in sequence. I've listened to the chosen ones quite a few times and none have become tiresome which is always a good test for a song. Thus far some of the submissions have surprised, some have disappointed and others have been as good as I expected them to be. It is going to be difficult making the final selection and I hope I don't upset anyone who doesn't make the cut. If things work out this could be just the start of a series of compilations so it is quite likely that some songs submitted, but not selected, for volume one could pop up down the line. Currently I am waiting on about a dozen other bands to submit their work. These songs will be either brand new recordings or reworked versions of previous releases. With a bit of luck I'll have the final 10 tracks selected by the end of June with a release date not too long afterwards. All very exciting, my inner nerd is having a field day!

We are up to 15 tracks submitted, with about the same number promised! The quality has been outstanding and there is a nice variation in the tunes so far. The biggest issue now could be to choosing the final 10 songs! If it works out then this could perhaps be the start of a series of releases so those that don’t make it onto volume one could be part of a future collection. I can’t get over the generosity and enthusiasm of the bands, giving their work away to a blogger whom they’ve never met. Hopefully I can repay their faith and indiecater will turn out to be a success. I have been working on the backend over the last day, I wanted a nice clean pay-and-here’s-your-download process and thanks to the help from Simon at SVC I think I have something that will make buying the album a seamless process. You may be wondering how I’ve had so much time to do all this, well having a week off work helps. Music in the morning/afternoon and Euro 2008 in the evening, yep, it’s turning out to be the best week ever!

2 days in and the response have been overwhelming. We’re almost halfway there already with 4 really good tracks lined up. Several high calibre acts are recording new material this weekend especially for the compilation (gulp!), which will mean we will be in a very healthy position by this time next week. Someone asked me earlier what the CD would look like – well, I decided early on that this would be a digital release only. No point in introducing unnecessary delivery and packaging costs when a simple zipped file can do the business for free. The zipped file will include the 10 songs, a playlist (so the songs play in order), track listing, original artwork plus some background information and links about the bands taking part. It will probably sell for €4.50 with the income shared amongst all those taking part. As ever I would welcome any thoughts, ideas, guidance that you may have.

Sometime soon mp3hugger will have in its possession 10 brand new songs from 10 different independent artists. The songs will be packaged together to make a compilation to be titled ‘indiecater: volume one’. The collection will be low priced and sold directly from this site. Each participating artist will receive an equal percentage of the purchase price and so will be guaranteed an income once at least a single copy of the album is purchased.

Submit Your Song

As everyone knows a compilation is not really a compilation without songs so this is where you and your band come in. The only condition for submitting a song is that it is of good quality, hasn’t been released commercially already and will remain exclusive to this compilation. In return you will receive exposure to mp3hugger’s readership (currently 1K a day), receive income from every sale and benefit from any reviews on blogs/other media that the compilation may receive. If you are interested, have questions or would like to submit a song straight away please contact me.

Buying The Compilation

Those who buy the album will receive a zipped file containing 10 high quality mp3s that have been vetted by mp3hugger. This means there will be no filler whatsoever; every track will come with the mp3hugger seal of approval. Take it as read that there will be no compilation unless 10 tracks of high enough quality have been submitted. Also included in the file with be some unique artwork, a track listing as well as information relating to all the participating bands.

What Is Point Of This Exercise?

The number of great bands that receive little or no press whatsoever constantly surprises me. This collection will gather 10 of the best, which should prove to be an attractive proposition for indie music fans. The compilation will be of high quality and budget priced with profits going straight back to the music makers. If Volume One is a success further compilations may then become possible.

Early Days

As you’ve probably guessed I am winging it a bit here but I think that something like this is workable. If you have any suggestions or issues with any of the above please get in touch. I could do with all the help I can get.

Indiecater is an offshoot of the mp3hugger music blog. It's not really a record label in the traditional sense as we mostly put out records (not really records per se as everything you see on here is a digital only release - in other words you can't touch it, although we do hope you can feel it) by people who've paid for the recordings themselves. And because we're picky buggers we only put out a record if it's something that we'd buy ourselves, that way we can put our heart and soul into telling the world how great it is. Indiecater initially released compilations of songs that had appeared on mp3hugger but we soon realised that there was much more that could be done. That's why we will be reissuing albums that we've always loved but are no longer in circulation (but blood pumping all the same!) or are hard to find. We've tried to keep our prices low in the hope that people like you will take a leap of faith and end up finding some music that will stay with you forever. It's all very simple really and the best thing of all is that the majority of the income from every sale goes straight back to the bands.

P.S. The ‘we’ is really an ‘I’ but self-promotion is no promotion as some famous royal once said.

What is indiecater?
I’ve heard mp3s sound brutal so what’s the story?
Why are your releases so cheap?
Where does all the money go?
Tell me how I can buy an indiecater release?
I’ve downloaded the album, now how do I play it?
Can I download what I buy from indiecater as many times as I like?
I prefer music products you can hold in your hands such as compact discs, cassette tapes and vinyl so am I wasting my time with indiecater?
I’d like to sample the music before I buy it, is there any way I can do this?
I’ve flippin’ lost/deleted/can’t find the album I bought from you, I’m distraught, can you help me?
Why should I shell out my hard earned cash on more that one release?
Blast, I’ve bought several indiecater releases already and never copped that there was a discount available, is there anyway I can claim it back?
I’m in a band that has released an album/EP and I wouldn’t half mind having it on indiecater, is that possible?
I have a blog/website/radio show/newspaper/magazine/fanzine and I’d like to feature one of your releases, can I get a promo?
Do you stock the Stereophonic's latest triumph?










What is Indiecater?

indiecater is a digital record label run by music blogger mp3hugger. By digital we mean that every album for sale is available to buy in mp3 format only, there are no CD’s although at some stage we’d like to release something on vinyl.

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I’ve heard mp3s sound brutal so what’s the story?

All of the mp3s on indiecater are set to 256kbps (in laymen’s terms this means they sound just as good as what you’d hear on a CD, if you are a canine reading this I must convey our apologies) which ensures an extremely high sound quality.

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Why are your releases so cheap?

While there is nothing cheap about the quality of the material we believe that music has been overpriced for too long. Charging €20 for a CD album is reprehensible in our eyes despite how good the music might be. By setting a reasonable price we hope to get as many people as possible to experience these great artists. What we offer is only a sliver of their back catalogue so we hope that indiecater can be the starting point of your voyage of discovery of them.

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Where does all the money go?

Our primary objective when setting up this label was to give something back to the artists we love. So the majority of the income from every sale goes back to the artists in question. This will hopefully go some way towards helping them record even more wonderful music. What’s left is used to pay for the running of the site.

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Tell me how I can buy an indiecater release?

We understand that buying stuff on the internet can be daunting so we’ve gone to great lengths to make the experience as easy as possible. All of our transactions are handled through Paypal which is renowned as one of the safest internet shopping facilitators. If you are still a bit wary just give us a shout and we can work something out using more traditional methods.

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I’ve downloaded the album, now how do I play it?

After you’ve downloaded an album from indiecater it will appear on your computer as a zipped file. This file contains all the artwork, information and mp3s. The zipped file is characterised by a .rar extension (much like a word document would have a .doc extension) so if you’ve just bought Sunbear’s album it will be called sunbear.rar. The zipped file in itself is quite useless and it won’t emit as much as a single note no matter what way you click it. So to extract the mp3s from the .rar you need to have winrar installed on your computer. Winrar is a simple and free piece of software that you can download from here. Once this software has been installed on your computer just right click on the .rar file and chose the extract option and the mp3s will pour forth like honey from a summer beehive. With a bit of luck you’ll also be buzzing from the experience!

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Can I download what I buy from indiecater as many times as I like?

At the moment we have set the download limit to 3 times but if you need more just contact us and we’ll sort you out.

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I prefer music products you can hold in your hands such as compact discs, cassette tapes and vinyl so am I wasting my time with indiecater?

In our opinion CD’s have had their day (cassette tapes you say - where have you been living for the last decade, still have a smidgeon of love for them myself it must be said) but there is nothing stopping you printing out the artwork and burning the mp3s to a blank CD. At some stage we hope to release something on vinyl but not just right now.

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I’d like to sample the music before I buy it, is there any way I can do this?

Yep, every release on indiecater is playable through the website players dotted around the site. Just go to the release you are interested in and scroll down to the end. We’ll also have a radio page set up soon that will provide a nice sampler of everything available on the site. Also, when our catalogue is big enough we hope to offer a free downloadable sampler.

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I’ve flippin’ lost/deleted/can’t find the album I bought from you, I’m distraught, can you help me?

Of course, just get in touch using the same email address you bought the album with and we’ll send you a fresh download straight away!

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Why should I shell out my hard earned cash on more that one release?

Delighted you asked that because if you buy more than one release at a time you can get up to 10% off the price of your total order.

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Blast, I’ve bought several indiecater releases already and never copped that there was a discount available, is there anyway I can claim it back?

Crikey, well if you get in touch we can give you an instant 10% off your next purchase!

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I’m in a band that has released an album/EP and I wouldn’t half mind having it on indiecater, is that possible?

Please, please talk to us. Indiecater is constantly on the lookout for new and exciting stuff to release and we guarantee that if we like what you do your music will be appearing on these very pages in the quickest possible time.

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I have a blog/website/radio show/newspaper/magazine/fanzine and I’d like to feature one of your releases, can I get a promo?

We’d be over the moon for any exposure you can give so drop us an email straight away.

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Don't go there.......




Do you stock the Stereophonic's latest triumph?

Piss off!

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Solidarity and lickable covers, why it's gotta be the indiecater compilations series!


Hits In The Car gives the compilation the thumbs up by saying 'Indiecater Volume 3 is out now and features some absolutely wonderful artists!'

Man about town and self-confessed vinyl addict Matt had this to say 'features the best indie talent drawn from around the globe'.


Other Mentions

5acts

What is it about Vol. 2 and 8/10's? Not sure really but here is another one from the Clare People Newspaper.

8/10 ain't too shabby and that's what Volume 2 scores from the Clare People Interactive site, they also like the way it 'unearths some gems'.

Fresh Deer Meat prove that indiecater is certainly to their taste when they admit that 'few compilations this year will open your eyes to such a diverse range of quality artists'

indiecater gets its first review as gaeilge from slinky online mag nós* and in the process scores an impressive 4/5!

Matt Vinyl cuts to the chase and in the process hits the nail on the head 'reminiscent of old folk recordings in the way that it’s put together'.

'excellent tracks by some uniquely talented artists' is how our fav Danish blogger Stytzer puts it.

'a super affordable album of gleaming musical treasures' is how Gardenhead describes the album, extra points for acknowledging hugger's insatiable taste for punnery.

See what you hear likes what he hears 'the second part of this charming series has arrived'.


Other Mentions

5acts
Indie Limerick
Quiet Color
Side One: Track One
Silicon Republic
State Magazine
Tenacious T

indiecater achieves what appears to be a near perfect score, well 8/10 is pretty nifty don't ya think? from the newly revamped and now fully nationwide Analogue Magazine.

An ecstatic in-depth review from Tim at Tenacious T that culminates in ‘a good compilation is like sex and by god this one proves that point - the foreplay, the action and the sated yet yearning for more feeling at the end. God give me a cigarette now!’.

Album review which has comments on all 10 tracks from Pretending To Be Japanese.

From blogger come burgeoning record label Song, By Toad "a bloody good listen".

From the high priest of self-depreciation Matt Vinyl "a very diverse and wonderful range of music".

The Egocentric lads had this to say about indiecater "a compilation of underground music that's just too damned good to remain underground".

Jared from one of our favourite blogs 5 Acts had really nice things to say "I love it! And the best part: not one single track here is a letdown".

Danish Blogger Hits In The Car says "Now this could be very, very interesting!" in relation to indiecater.


Radio

mp3hugger was interviewed on Phantom FM on 29th July 2008 about the indiecater compilation, you can listen to some of it here hugger on phantom


Newspapers

The Clare People
The Irish Times
The Irish World & With Support From Emerging Mancs


Blogs

Asleep On The Compost Heap
The Bringer Of Song
The Devil Has The Best Tuna
Fabulist!
The Indie Hour
Indie Limerick
Keep Hope Inside
Largehearted Boy
Nialler9
Ohmpark
Pascal's Country Sounds
See What You Hear


Podcasts

Clare People Interactive