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Split Releases Explained: How to Coordinate Multi-Artist Experimental Music Projects

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If you have ever tried to get two experimental musicians in the same digital room to agree on a release date, you know it is like herding cats.   Feral, feedback-loving cats . At  RZRecords , we have been doing this for over twenty years. We have paired harsh noise artists with avant-jazz saxophonists, punks, metal heads IDM artists and indie shoegazers. We have pressed splits on CD-Rs that remain unsold in basements, and digital releases that connected listeners in Ukraine, the Philippines, and Serbia. We've also tried our best with floppy disks. We failed. A  split release  is the ultimate DIY handshake. It is not a compilation; it is a direct dialogue. But coordinating them requires specific strategies for legalities (or the lack thereof), money (or the lack thereof), and format. Aaaand EGO, don't forget ego. Here is how we do it, a guide pulled directly from the RZRecords playbook. 1. The Handshake: Legal Agreements & Permissions Let us get the boring (but ne...
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How to Release Experimental Music Independently: A Guide by RZRecords

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  Introduction: Why This Guide Exists We have been doing this for over twenty years. That is not a boast. It is a confession. Twenty years of releases. Twenty years of collaborations. Twenty years of watching platforms emerge, promise democratization, and then monetize themselves into irrelevance. Twenty years of explaining to friends and family that yes, the mess, screaming and feedback is intentional, and yes, someone actually purchased it. We have released harsh noise wall, avant-jazz, drone, dark ambient, electroacoustic improvisation, no-wave-noise-punk, and things we still do not have names for. We have worked with collaborators in Ukraine, Netherlands, Serbia, Canada, Russia, Japan, Philippines, Canary Islands, Israel, Poland, and obviously the US, and basements everywhere that do not appear on maps. We have released albums recorded on answering machines and dictaphones, and albums recorded in professional studios. We have pressed CDs, burned CDRs that remain unsold and cass...
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