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