I have no intention of going over Sub Rosa’s complete story; I simply would like to restate two or three things that are essential to us, at a moment where the physical support of sound objects tends to disappear. First of all, we are continuing our exploration of what we do not know –anything that has no pedigree, no obvious reference, no ties is welcome, now more than ever (1). Second of all, it seems vital to us, as it has always been, to protect by any means necessary specific forms of music, voices and attitudes from the past that, in our opinion, proceeded from an irrepressible freedom of thought and action. In that regard, highlighting archives becomes an act of pure resistance (2).

So, we will continue to produce objects – new digipacks with texts and visuals, anthologies (CDs & booklets), LPs, DVDs, publications, books – for whoever wants them. You will also be able to download some of our releases in very high resolution (see the section Sub Rosa Order).

What we produce is not services but physical – or at least virtual – objects. And these objects have a certain value (in and of themselves) that extends beyond mere entertainment. Therefore, we must face a number of counter-attacks. The music industry, the business is completely unknown to us, like a foreign world. Profit has never been our goal, even though we support ourselves only by selling our releases. And so we survive in an unstable balance. We have always been releasing non-profitable records; we consider it as part of a long-term research program. Occasionally, we stumble upon nice surprises, completely unexpected things. Sometimes, you have to make mistake and to do so on your own. Our model has always been Folkways – the Folkways of noise.

Spring 2007

(1) Bring “some exposure” to relatively obscure works.
(2) The Transmission obsession, a task that is probably performed in vain (there are leaks everywhere). Trying to save precious archives “for a while.” Protecting things from the indifferenciation of overproduction, where everything has an equal value.