Media Promotion - The Kilcoole Collective

Music and art shall remain an integral part of the collective for I believe that through appreciation of personal artistic expression a lot of confidence can be gained. It can also bring people together, spread opinions and ideas, inspire and I personally believe art, especially music, can be a very spiritual thing that must not be abused in the way the industries of the empire have done, creating empty, meaningless replicas and cheap imitations of the real thing that ought to create shivers in your spine.

To avoid these industries I believe that DIY ethics are the way to go. All this simply means is: Do It Yourself. If you have a song record it yourself. If you have a record, release it yourself. If you want to be famous promote your record yourself. If you have a book, publish it yourself. Of course this all seems to be much easier said than done. But by creating a collective and pooling efforts, obstacles can be overcome and progress can be made especially if networks are established. MDLB has, through the power of pooling efforts, sent bands on tour, showcased touring bands, recorded and released records and publishes a zine.

The strangest thing I found, however, was a top man in the Irish industry telling me once, never to pay for anything! Blag your recording time, offer services in exchange for reproducing records etc. But within a completely DIY collective there was not the imagination to attempt or believe any of this. Now, I find it hard to imagine succeeding in many of the things this man told me in this day and age but its just a shocking contrast between what I believed the industry would teach me and what I would learn through DIY. Like I said, I did find it a bit hard to swallow but was nevertheless open to ideas on how to alternatively make money or do without money. There are ways, believe me, you just have to be creative in finding them. The new collective must also be open and willing to brainstorm for these ideas for it to succeed and mean anything.

I will still be interested in searching for talent, recording it, releasing it and promoting it, putting on gigs and tours. The definition of talent I am going for is almost anyone who has the imagination not to work in an office for their life!

Films, photography and other forms of art are other mediums I wish to promote through the collective. If we happen to never claim a building for ourselves an internet gallery, art books and videos will have to do. I wish to also publish writing. zines, pamphlets or even attempt books, anything is possible. None of the art or literature has to be relevant to resistance or global issues. Self expression is the foremost requirement here.

I believe with much of the worlds media now an elite force within the empire that uses it as a tool for propaganda it is important for the collective to establish its own source of information and to network with other, similar organisations that have not been tainted in the ways of biased journalism funded by the empire.

Talking of funding, or at least finance, the pieces we attempt to promote must be sold for near to cost, as low as possible, and all profit, if any, must return to the central fund that sustains the collective.

The forum must conclude on what exact infrastructure to take and build in promoting such pieces.

-- Ed Whitfield, December 2003

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