What the @!#& is Warner Bros. Records doing on IUMA?!?!!

You may very well be asking yourself this question right now. Regardless of who you are or where you are from, your reaction to seeing Warner Bros. Records on IUMA will likely fall into one of the following categories:

  1. Indie-Inspired Rage Which Makes Your Teeth Ache and Your Fingers Tingle
    (or "Aha! I knew IUMA would sell out to a major corporate label!")
  2. Complete Indifference, just more music to access
  3. Warm Fuzzy Pleasant Feeling Running from Head to Toe

Just to keep things clear from the start, IUMA is still entirely owned by Jeff, Rob, and Jon. This project is yet another label seeing the advantage of having IUMA help them with their online presence, and though various large corporations may wish they owned us, no one does. As a result, of course, we continue to just barely scrape buy to pay our rent. :}

The answer to the topic of this page is quite simple -- it is the next step towards the IUMA vision. There are three portions of this vision which are affected by a major label like Warner Bros. Record's participation:

  1. Movement towards equal distribution for all musicians
  2. Removing more of the barriers which currently keep musicians and their audience separated
  3. Exposing yet more people to the Internet's vast resources, specifically relating to the electronic distribution of music

In order to create a level playing field which gives equal distribution to all artists ranging from an angsty 6th-grader in his/her garage to huge mega-pop-stars, all artists must be placed side by side. The playing field cannot be even unless everyone is playing on it.

Warner Bros. Record's decision to make excerpts of upcoming singles available online to the entire world for free along with images and album information is a great service towards enhancing the flow of information about their musicians to their respective audience. Warner Bros. Records is now joining the IUMA family of labels working to remove the artist-to-audience barriers by allowing listeners to directly sample new music from their own homes and offices. IUMA will continue to offer and expand this service for all unsigned musicians, independent labels, and major labels who should desire it.

It is imperitive that as many people as possible get involved with the Internet and it's future development. Without this sort of awareness and participation, this resource cannot reach it's full potential.

IUMA is pleased to work with Warner Bros. Records on their entry into the Internet in a manner which is consistent with appropriate netiquette.

Sincerely,
Rob Lord, Jeff Patterson, Jon Luini,
and the entire IUMA staff.

IUMA / Warner Bros. Records