Planet Mu

[all conjecture and my opinions, wonder what your opinions are too]

So planet mu have been rather brilliant at bringing us a number of very notable new artists in recent years.

For whatever reason though, it seems a lot of them have all now signed to Ninja Tune (Falty DL, Slugabed, Starkey and now it seems Machinedrum too).

Perhaps this is just a "end of contract" thing or perhaps a conflict in interests due to the direction of the label?

Mu has gone through many "taste" changes over the years, bringing us IDM, breakcore/mashup, early dubstep, footwork and more poppy stuff. Whatever the genre they have championed, it has always been a gamble but generally seems to have paid off.

This does however sometimes lead to a bit of an identity crisis (much the same can be said for Warp). There are certain labels where I know I will definitely be interested in hearing a new release because it is on that label... Mu and Warp are such broad churches that it is difficult to know what to expect.

Venetian Snares currently sits alone on their roster (probably why the Time_Sig label sub-label was started), and mu do not seem to represent any other breakcore/mashup artists anymore.

I have been a big fan of planet mu over the years, but it will be interesting to see where the label heads next and what the release schedule for the rest of the year brings. I know about the Heterotic and u-Ziq forthcoming LPs which is perhaps heralding a return to IDM-ish sounds (get Frog Pocket back on board! His album last year was amazin) but aside from that it seems to have been a relatively quiet start to the year....

Thoughts?

Mods wrong forum, please move thanks

I have no idea what the hell they're doing. Ceephax is releasing his newest album on some other label (and not on cd... which is bullshit). Machinedrum is releasing his next on Ninja Tune. Snares is on a break. Kuedo is pretty good, but it'll probably be a while before we hear anything new from him.

No offence to all the other artists on there, but it kinda seems like all the flagship artists are leaving at this point. There's still some good music being released (newest Ital Tek was pretty sweet) and the label is still way stronger than most, but I don't know.. it's kinda weird.

good posts. i thought the same a while back. it isnt impossible that labels like ninja tune have more to offer than mu, money wise and promotion wise. im sure ninja has better connections with the media than mu has. for an artist it makes sense to want a lil bit more (and still stay kinda underground)

For a label like Mu to last this long is extremely impressive and from people that I've spoken to in the past (and I'm sure the WATMMers that know him personally would agree), Mike is a very intelligent guy when it comes to knowing how to run a label. I know there's been cynicism before about how his label somewhat is a forefront of zeitgeist following and not placing more, for a lack of a better term 'experimental' electronic artists at the forefront, but Mike is very good at knowing what to release at what time without milking a genre til its hopeless outdated. When you think how fast things move music style wise, to me its not very surprising that artists quickly move from Mu to another label.

Although, there is another aspect that could be at play here. Whilst not saying too much, I was in talks with quite a prominent label recently and one of the aspects they're interested in focusing on is 'building a substantial portfolio'. If this is being interpreted in the way that I'm assuming at the moment, it seems pretty common for artists to release on smaller labels first who are happy to be more risky with what they release and if the artist begins to become known, they suddenly walk along to more prominent and bigger labels they've known all along. Now I'm not saying that Mu doesn't have that amount of influence and probably counts as one of these larger independent labels, but it is possible maybe artists are being released to foothold signings for larger labels and releasing on a pretty daring label like Mu benefits pretty much everyone involved. I'd be interested to see what Mike's opinion on this is, just take what I've said with a pinch of salt here. I'm very prone to misinterpreting what people mean when it comes to stuff like this.

I don't know much about Planet Mu, I think the only record of theirs I have is Machinedrums Room(s). The only Ninja Tune stuff I have is their Zen compilations from quite a number of years ago, I found a lot of Ninja Tune gear too jazzy and a bit too pedestrian for my tastes (lacking that slight madness that classic Warp releases have)

I am sure both labels have some cool stuff on but there's no Geogaddi's, Go Plastic's, LPFives or Drukqs (and the ilk) as far as I can see.

Mu gave me iTAL tEK, venetian snares, and boxcutter/the host, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Come to think about it I have some Planet Mu tucked away on Mary Anne Hobbs compilations. They are pretty good.

Watching Planet Mu over the years has been interesting. First it was created as a Virgin sub-label years ago, then it broke off rather quickly, being a rather niche IDM and breakcore label until they began releasing dubstep and juke/footwork singles, EPs, and albums. For the dubstep artists in particular they seem to do a lot of one-off EPs and singles of well-known producers (Ikonika comes to mind).

They're clearly a well-respected and "established" label and something of a launching point for people to go onto bigger "indie" labels - Warp and Ninja Tune might count. Mike has mentioned trying to get Joker who like Zomby opted to go onto 4AD. In general though there seems to be far less "label" loyalty and instead a lot of artists treat releases as projects with labels and vice-versa. I think it's been a rather healthy trend - different labels often means different sounding records.

And honestly, I don't see Ninja Tune being much more notable, perhaps it's just a better established distribution history - they had a slump in output (The Bug's London Zoo being an exception) while dubstep took off until very recently, and from what I can tell they seem more comfortable releasing LPs - FaltyDL, Machinedrum and Lorn have all done so in the last year or two.

  On 3/15/2013 at 11:01 PM, joshuatx said:

And honestly, I don't see Ninja Tune being much more notable, perhaps it's just a better established distribution history - they had a slump in output (The Bug's London Zoo being an exception) while dubstep took off until very recently, and from what I can tell they seem more comfortable releasing LPs - FaltyDL, Machinedrum and Lorn have all done so in the last year or two.

I'd agree that Ninja Tune haven't released that much in notable records, I think though the fact that Ninja Tune is run by Coldcut makes it a very desirable label for an electronic musician to be released on. Ninja Tune also has a few prominent sublabels (Big Dada, Counter, Werk Discs and their relationship with Brainfeeder) so they've got their finger in many pies and can afford to take slumps with their primary label once in a while. It's kinda like the amount of people here that wish they could get a release on Rephlex; its more about the recognition and gaining a sense of 'authenticity' within the music subgenre that they admire than being successful. However instead of Aphex, regardless of how they may admire his technical abilities and think he is an amazing artist, I wouldn't mind betting most electronic artists would probably want to be recognised and associated with Coldcut instead. That's more of a key to their success than anything.

  On 3/15/2013 at 3:44 PM, Franciscus said:

labels like ninja tune have more to offer than mu, money wise and promotion wise.

I’ve always assumed that this was the reason. I think to the watmmind Mu and Ninja may seem basically the same, but my impression is that Ninja is a much larger operation. I guess I could be wrong.

That said, Mu is probably my favorite label. They release so much stuff, and much of it is great. I always try and stay informed about every release, and for a while I was picking up pretty much every CD they did.

I think it’s pretty amazing, actually. Count how much electronic music Warp has released over the last 5-10 years and compare that with Planet Mu. The perception is still that Warp is “the” place, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mu has released 10x more electronic music as Warp has over that time. And again, it’s not crap.

They’ve churned out awesome shit during the most dire time it has ever been to be in the electronic music business. I think that’s a pretty amazing accomplishment.

EDIT: that said, please repress the Tim Tetlow album. Thank you.

such a great label, it's not all gold but i got so much awesome music thanks to them

i remember a time when i had no interwebz i'd check the recordsstore and when it said planet mu i was like "fuck! gotta check it out"

the 2 last releases i got from mu were awesome kuedo - servant and young smoke - spacezone

i hope they continue the same as before

I've witnessed a few times IRL when a DJ would switch up into juke tracks and everybody would leave the club. I'm assuming the same thing happened at Mu.

I hate to use this as a benchmark, but ever since the infamous Red Bull interview in 2006, the label has become a lot more successful and well-known to the larger electronic music community. In other words it has always been stable, but it went from a niche imprint that was literally him listening to demos and doing all the work in setting up pressings/distribution to a label relevant to DJs and home listeners alike. I remember around that time he moved to London, actually announced he hired an employee, and since then they've added more full-time staff and become as active as say, Hotflush Recordings or Hyperdub. They revamped the website around the same time as well.

Interviews with Mike Paradinas are very informative, (here's some recent ones at RA, FACT and this long video interview below) he's done a lot lately and they give a pretty good idea about his involvement and goals. He doesn't flat out say it, but I think he's content with Planet Mu staying interesting and fresh, but never going for a "big" artist signing or putting out a very hyped and acclaimed LP. Instead he goes for consistent releases and new sounds. It's crazy, but even after hundreds of releases beforehand, the label's focus on footwork was arguably it's biggest accomplishment in making themselves a name and a noted label. He's noted that some releases had been shelved, didn't break even money wise, and even that he has disagreed with the tracks and release plans of his artists - but I don't think any of that has to do with Machinedrum, FaltyDL, and Starkey moving on.

It's really down to this - Planet Mu is an incubator label - they take chances on new artists with EPs and LPs and often those artists move on. R&S Records is the same (Jame Blake, Blawan) as is Werkdiscs (Actress, Lone), Hyperdub (Mount Kimbie, Darkstar, Zomby), Plug Research (Dntel, Flying Lotus), etc. Now more than ever this seems to be a familiar trend and a remarkably amicable one - many artists simply release their music on a different label each and every time (this is why the cassette label model is successful) because it's a lot more liberating and flexible than signing with a label as a career move. Planet Mu seems to be on the right track in my opinion - they nor any of their peers can ever make themselves into Warp or Ninja Tune, but that's just fine. Those labels were old enough to make enough money and fame to remain one of the few imprints who can still sign long-term record contracts.

look, you can mull over and romanticise about this but like everything in life it boils down to one thing: MONEY.

Planet mu cant pull out the big guns like ninja tune because they dont have a roots manuva artist to finance artists. Even though, If you looked at sales I doubt they would be much different- but artists want the reach that ninja has. Ninja has tried to get many other artists from mu btw.

I've always felt that Mu has had identity problems. In my mind, there's two ways to run a label: You either focus on one "sound" or you focus on very few but consistently amazing releases from various camps. Mu fits neither of these IMHO. Of course, I know nothing about running a label and they are still in business after many years while I'm a lowly paid white collar pleb so who the hell am I to say anything, but those two qualities are usually those that influence me to start watching a labels release schedule like a hawk.

Gotta admit that reading what Joshua says about "incubator label" makes some sense as well.

Anyways, I respect and wish the best for Mu, they have released a lot of amazing material and they continue to do so to this day.

As for Ninja Tune, I think they have a different audience than Mu, a lot of hip hop heads and hipster crossover kinda people that don't necessarily know what IDM or planet Mu is follow them, so it makes sense especially for musicians like FaltyDL and Machinedrum who release music rooted in "street" music to release on there instead.

Great comments all; quality read!

Mu have introduced me to and given me enough shit-hot records and artists for me to respect them completely and support them when I can. Always buy their releases directly from the label. Their only failing for me is no longer releasing any Sunken Foal records. But on the plus side, they still have Solar Bears.

  On 3/16/2013 at 6:28 AM, joshuatx said:

Planet Mu is an incubator label - they take chances on new artists

Yes, this. Well said. This is one of the best things about Mu imo.

  On 3/18/2013 at 9:33 PM, Ascdi said:

 

  On 3/16/2013 at 6:28 AM, joshuatx said:

Planet Mu is an incubator label - they take chances on new artists

 

Yes, this. Well said. This is one of the best things about Mu imo.

And rarely do they fail IMO.

  On 3/18/2013 at 4:02 PM, Caretstik said:

Mu have introduced me to and given me enough shit-hot records and artists for me to respect them completely and support them when I can. Always buy their releases directly from the label. Their only failing for me is no longer releasing any Sunken Foal records. But on the plus side, they still have Solar Bears.

Did you get the release Sunken Foal put out for free last year? Oh god, so good it's painful!