What is Space for Music? Our focus is space music. Our mission is a space for all kinds of music. So, artists from diverse cultures and genres are represented here at SFM. I am not sure what the overall common thread is other than music, but, integrity, ideals, vibe, consciousness and sincerity are all in the mix somewhere. Descriptions and definitions can be so limiting. I feel this music can and does transcend the bounds of culture, race, age, sex and religion. In 1985, I started Space for Music with clinical psychologist Nona Owensby as a "space music" listening group in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1986, I created and produced a series of multimedia electronic performances called Space for Music including live music from Giles Reaves, Kirby Shelstad, Allen Green, Gerrit Wilson, Martin O'Conner, and myself. In 1988, in partnership with Neal Merrick I started "Space for Media", a high-tech multimedia and recording studio utilizing the Macintosh computer system, located on music row. Artists working out of this facility included myself, Giles Reaves, Neal Merrick, Kirby Shelstad, Rob McClain and Aashid Himons among others. By 1995, I was back on my own working out of my home studio and created the SpaceForMusic.com website as a way of encapsulating all the electronic music based artists who had worked together over the years in the Nashville area. Our first step into the record label world happened in 2000 within hours of receiving an email reply from Mike Griffin of HYPNOS Records saying "you should just start your own label." My thought was "you are right, I guess I already have." It seemed like a very appropriate step to culminate my activities over the years and my hours spent championing this music. I had been in dialogue with Mike about a possible release on his HYPNOS label with the SPACECRAFT project. After working years with Angel Romero and Lektronic Soundscapes, I had found that it seemed logical for me to progress forward starting a "virtual label" at first, utilizing mp3.com as a "music service provider" and the internet. This basically means that mp3.com acted as a manufacturer, distributor and fulfillment for the CDs that are uploaded to their website. This arrangement enabled me to contact the many friends and collaborators over the years, along with new artists asking them for unreleased material and creating new CDr's to be promoted by SFM, but manufactured and available through mp3.com. By 2001 we collected over 60 CDs of material for our catalog, all available online. I am grateful for the enthusiasm and support of the artists related to these activities. The next logical step was to release some "traditional" manufactured CDs to distribute through the normal channels, in addition to the internet. Going from the "virtual label" to the "real world label." The first release of a SpaceForMusic.com Records CD in the traditional fashion was February, 2001, SPACECRAFT "Summer Town." More CDs were released in 2001 in the traditional fashion. By 2002, mp3.com had changed from being a firm supporter of independent efforts, to an emphasis on major music acts, much like major labels. The table had turned towards a less desirable direction. Plus, SFM needed to have full bandwidth audio on the CD and CDr's, not the mp3 file based masters of the mp3.com CDr product. Space for Music decided to bring the manufacturing in-house in January 2002, thus solving many of the problems present with reliance on an additional website like mp3.com or ampcast.com handling manufacturing. Now all of the CDs and CDr's in our catalog are manufactured at Space for Music Records giving the customer a far better product than previously available with the mp3.com CDr versions. Phase 2 is now complete. Phase 3, 4, 5?? Basically, Space for Music has become a collective of like-minded musical artists, promoting and making available new music for the existing space music lover and expose this music to new listeners. With the advent of new technology changing the music industry, we are attempting to stay abreast of this technology to find new and creative ways of getting this music we love out to more people. One of the specialties that has presented itself is "live concert" recordings. Many of the SFM releases are results of live concerts from the artists. These days, live recordings virtually sound like studio recordings. Most times the listener cannot even tell the difference. And most importantly, these recordings capture "live" musical moments with a live energy that is missing in many studio recordings. Taking the passion that I have had for this music since 1971 and rolling it into a focused concept has become Space for Music. It has kept the fire going for me and provided a vehicle for my own musical activities along with my friends and collaborators. I have found that my life experience has given me an understanding for artists, their music and the music business from a unique angle. Probably not in the major labeI sense, but to move it all forward with new ideas in this new world we find ourselves living in. I feel that the space music genre has yet to have it's shining moment. By creating a network of top notch artists responsible for much of the music in this genre, I hope to help move it into the light it so deserves. Space for Music has continued to evolve over the years and will continue to evolve into directions not yet discovered. I hold the artists of the SFM collective in a respective light and will continue to represent them to the best of my abilities. I look forward to the future when we have a 100 CDs and CDr's all being distributed using whatever method is the most effective, a television channel dedicated to the space music genre and producing concerts showcasing the excellent artists who are part of our network. There are even farther goals for Space for Music in the coming decade. We will just keep moving in that direction for the good of it all... -Tony Gerber 1/10/02 Internet Service for the Space for Music Collective is provided in part by OLM.NET ©1996-2004 SpaceForMusic.com
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