How we signed the bands on Progress

Here is a question i have been given quite often. How and when did you sign your bands to Progress Productions?. Well, it would be too much reading and tooooo much to write if i took them all at once. So let´s go nice and slow. Let´s do maybe one/day or something. The first band to be signed to Progress Productions was 8kHz Mono who also released the first CD we did "Monochromator", the PROCD001. I first met Krister Hessling after a show i did with my own band (Project-X) at a festival in Stockholm. He and his current girlfriend wanted to buy merchandise. I didn´t feel like selling merchandise so I gave some to him for free instead. In return Krister then sent me a copy of his "Monolog EP" which turned up in the mail. It took me some time before i listend to it since i recived a lot of CD´s at Energy Rekords where i worked. But the day i put that CD in the player i was stunned and after the first "listen through" i was already convinced that this was something i really wanted to do. So we got in contact again and i actually offered him a record deal with Energy Rekords and plans was pretty far gone with that when things suddenly changed. To be honest i had been pretty pissed of about how the Energy label was run for a long time and it was time for a change. In December 2003 it was time to move on from this slowly sinking ship. However i was far away from letting my 2 last findings Iambia and 8kHz Mono go that easy.

So I decided to start my own label. Said and done. Even behind the back of the people at Energy Rekords i had already my plans made up. Progress Productions was borned. It was pretty funny because we put out a webpage and i think we even took out an advert with the name Progress but no one at the Energy office figured out that one of their leaving co-workers was the one behind it. Hahaha... well, fun times for sure. Actually this part of the story is so long i could probably write a book about it. Like the time Krister was on the phone with the "boss" at Energy Rekords telling him he will leave and on the same time in the other room i was with Krister on ICQ and got all the information that way.

When i later in 2004 moved to Göteborg we got started. And later on in the year the "Monochromator" was released .... we were on our way ........


/ t.

Early mornings....

Yawwwnnnn... all these early mornings. Damn, i wish i could stay in bed a few more hours. But the world is waiting for me (hhrrmm... at least my co-workers). But morning has its routines. Crawling like a zombie from bed to the shower, breakfast THEN always Progress email-check and fixes for 15 minutes before i´m off to work. Funny how things has their routine. Tomorrow my partner Krister will meet up with a new potential signing to the Progress family. I hope all goes well since at least i´m very excited to release their new material which i think is really good... but well... more about this will for sure follow if we pull through etc. For now......

Hasta La Vista

t.

Forgot one brilliant news....

See i already forgot one thing. Our greek act Iambia climbed to position 6 on the German Alternative Charts (DAC) with their "Provocatuer" release. Damn .... i totally forgot that ... but it was GREAT news ;) ....

/ t.

First update.

Ohh.... another exciting blog. WHHOOOOAAAHHH.... you must be really excited. Or not ;).. Well, this blog will probably bore you to death but it´s at least a chance to give you an inside view on how we run Progress Productions on a daily basis. I know already now that i wont update this blog on a daily basis. But well, at least we will try to keep it up-to-date. I have to warn you that at least my (Torny) spelling is not 100% but well... i hope you will at least get it. Otherwise, complain ;)...

So what is Progress Productions?. Well, it is actually several things. But the easy basic describtion i guess is that it´s a recordlabel for electronic music is all sort of forms. At the moment we have 13 bands signed to the label. The label is run by me (Torny Gottberg) who started the label back in 2004 and Krister Hessling who takes care of all those important stuff that im seriously worthless in doing (read economy and stuff like that....). However it´s not all that simple since we try to more than a label. We more refer to being a unit, a family. Label & bands working together really close with no hidden cards or hidden catches. Everything is totally open. I will probably rant my ass off about this in later posts so let us not focus to much on this at the moment.

So 2009? Running a label?. Everyone say: The record industry is dying, the CD is dead yada yada... To ALL people in this industry having these thoughts i really have only 1 thing to say: CHANGE JOB NOW!!!! I seriously dont think people with thoughts like this have anything to do in this industry anymore. Ofcourse we will never see the golden years of the 1990-2000. But to already give up? LEAVE!!!! NOW!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!! I´m so tired of everyone complaing all the time. Well, sometimes i do myself but well, hey we are not all perfect. At least i still think releasing music and working close with my bands are something really special that i do not take for granted. Music should be about feeling and passion not about money. At least if you like Progress release alternative electronic music.

I´m sure i will return to this subject serveral times as i do have a lot of opinions on this subject. And i won´t be afraid to share them either as you will probably notice later on ;) ... wooooohhhaaa... a "cliffhanger" i bet you are already excited now? ;)

But a blog is suppose to deal with things you do everyday in a way ;).
Well Progress-wise i must say i choose a pretty damn bad day to start this thing because not much has happend. Well some good news. I got a new demotrack from Hype (Robert Enforsen, David Elg and Sanna Lundberg) called "Michelle" which i simply think is amazing. They are finishing it of within a few days and it´s really going to be exciting hearing the final mixdown. Also we finished a new radiosingle for Kite called "My Girl And I" which is going to be sent out to swedish national radio. Their last radiosingle "Ways To Dance" did pretty good with airplay for 6-7 weeks so keep your fingers crossed for this one which i think i equally amazing.
Otherwise the Göteborg HQ have been pretty calm this evening which for once is pretty nice since both me and Krister have fulltime jobs on the side and it´s pretty hard to put in a new gear and 3.4 hours of work extra when we come home from work ;) .... but hell ... in the end it´s worth every fucking second.....

But this is all for now... better stop so i have something more to write later on ...

Over & Out ...

T/Progress Göteborg