CHALLENGING MUSIC FROM SCANDINAVIA…
Uhrlaut Records is a rogue Danish recording label specializing in challenging electronic music and video art from Scandinavia - as well as embracing Internet / file sharing culture by experimenting with Creative Commons licenses and explicitly encouraging the free copying and exchange of music. The musical profile of the label spans the entire electronic spectr
um ranging from lush, ambient landscapes and abstract glitch sounds over vocal driven electronica singer-songwriting to more challenging, danceable breaks and beats. At Uhrlaut we add a visual dimension to all releases in the sense that all releases consist of both music and video that compliment each other, thereby enabling the music artists to explore their audiovisual expressions – often in collaboration with one or more established video artists. Uhrlaut is a founding member of Labelkollektiv, an informal association of small independent record labels with reference to the city of Aalborg in Denmark. Creative Commons pioneer label
Uhrlaut Records believes in the strength and sustainable inertia of sharing and openness, and was the first label in the world to use a Creative Commons license on actual, physical records while supported by a collecting society; namely KODA in Denmark. The pioneering release was Small Arm of Sea on cd/dvd and lp/dvd (by female electronica artist and KODA-member Tone), which was released in Danish stores on January 21, 2008, just a few days after the official announcement by KODA that Creative Commons was now a legit option for its members to choose, thereby ensuring announcing that commercial revenues on tracks released under Creative Commons non-commercial licenses would now be collected by the society, whereas non-commercial sharing was allowed to be given free by members wishing to do so. The release was a bold move that spawned media attention from all over the world and rewarded the label and Tone for their gamble of having sent the records into print with Creative Commons logos on the cover a month before it was certain whether Creative Commons licencing would be legal for the society’s members. Read the official Creative Commons International blog entry here and the official announcement of KODA‘s adoption of CC licenses here. Uhrlaut Records was initially known as Urlyd Records, but had it’s name changed in 2011 to cater to a more international audience.
