Allow me to introduce the new kid on the block: Grape Soda Records. Grape Soda Records is a brand new record label and the latest label to embrace the new “Open Music” concept. Open Music is similar to open source software in that it can be shared between people. Grape Soda Records will use the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license to allow sharing of all 128k MP3 files distributed by the label. This will give people the opportunity to try out the music before they buy it. Further more, all 128k MP3s will be streamed from the web site. Once music is purchased, customers will be able to download high-quality WAV files along with several other music formats, including, but not limited to MP3 VBR, OggVorbis, and FLAC.

How does the artist benefit from this? Most emerging artists are still in the process of building an audience. Allowing people to share the lower quality MP3 files gives artists the opportunity to build that audience. If someone really likes an artist we believe they will want to purchase the higher quality music files. And Grape Soda Records will split the purchase price of the digital files with the artist 50/50. Most record labels won’t give emerging artists more than $.20 per CD sold, if they’re lucky. And our music licensing programs will allow our artists to license music for film, video games, CD compilations, TV ads, and much more. And we split money earned from licensing with the artists 50/50. Its a great opportunity for unsigned bands to gain an audience and make some money from the music they work so hard to create. We can’t promise millions, but we will try our best to promote the label and the bands we sign, while finding sources of money for your music.

Now that you’ve had an introduction to who and what Grape Soda Records is, lets get down to business. Grape Soda Records is currently seeking submissions from artists/bands who would be interested in signing with Grape Soda Records.

What we are looking for:

Bands should submit a completed album or EP, along with a one page bio about the band to:

Grape Soda Records
P.O. Box 229
Depew, NY 14043

• All genres considered.
• Your CD must be of high quality, preferably mastered.
• You must be 18 years of age or older.
• Please be sure to include your email address and phone number on the bio or seperate piece of paper.
• Please remove all shrink-wrap from your CD before you send it.
• You must currently own all copyrights to your music.
• You must not have any copyrighted cover songs or samples in your music. Any samples must be created by you.
• Compilation CDs or CDs already published by another label are not eligible.

What’s in it for the artist?

• The contract between us and our artists is non-exclusive; the artists are simply licensing their music to us for distribution under the above mentioned Creative Commons license. You are free to press and sell your own CDs or pursue other opportunities.
• Our artists will always retain their copyright on their music.
• Our artists will never be required to submit additional music to us.
• As stated above, we split the gross revenue on digital download sales with our artists 50/50. In the event that we produce physical merchandise for our artists we will split all profits (gross minus cost) with them 50/50. It may be some time before we decide to do physical product. Please be aware that we will be starting the label by selling only digital downloads.

We promise we will make every effort to listen to all submissions. In the event that your submission is accepted, we will contact you with further information. Please feel free to submit any questions you may have to info@grapesodarecords.com