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There has been a lot of feedback about this project that boils down to the question - what do I get out of it? The "about" section was written in a formal way so I thought I would make this section informal. The reality is that in a commercial industry there is no money in putting out experimental and marginalized music. No one buys it. Labels who put it out continually take a loss on it in order to see it in print. The labels that survive do so by recording other forms of music that do make money, mostly rock. Popular experimental artists are lucky to sell over 2000 copies in the first year. This doesn't even cover the cost of recording in most cases, let alone the actual manufacturing and warehousing of the cds.  (I personally know of "name" experimental artists with in print work selling under 50 copies a year on a label with a huge and historic catalog) Couple this with the fact that many venues have extensive documentation of the improvised shows that occur within their walls on a weekly basis going back in some cases over 20 years. These are sitting in closets all over the world, unheard and decaying in quality as the tape/cdr/dat they are on gets older every day. Why not let people hear this music? Why limit it to the 10 people who could make it out that night? Why not do something with all of that work besides talk about it? This is what we are trying to do. Getting involved means this is what you get - * Exposure - through press reviews, radio airplay, online feedback via the website, and media attention paid to the label itself. * An audience - people who care about the work, who will listen and talk about what they have heard. * Personal website traffic - the beta website will post a link to each artists chosen label or personal website for every project they are involved with. * The ability to develop a catalog of challenging work without worrying about its commercial success * As the artists on the label generate feedback and chart downloads of their work they are building a package that allows them to present themselves to grant organizations and foundations to receive funding for the work they do. FAQ - "I am involved in the not for profit sector and want to know where this money is coming from. Who is going to give experimental and marginal artists money?" There are hundreds of small private foundations that regularly give money to sound artists and musicians specifically working in marginal music forms. Not to mention that the Macarthur foundation, the Aaron Copeland foundation, and other large institutions give literally millions of dollars away every year to composers, musicians and music programs. The money is there; most artists just do not have the experience and know-how to access it. "Why don't we put up a little bit of the music and charge people to hear the rest?" This is being done by several online services. Give away a track, charge for the full album. If you think you can sell your work via the web then do so. Email Epitonic or some other service and see how fast they respond to your work. "I am already famous, people know who I am, I have been on the cover of Wire! Why should I get involved?" Because once you were a nobody in the community the supports you and you should remember that. By adding your name and work to the catalog you help to support those artists involved in the project that are not popular and or critically acclaimed. "What if a label comes along that wants to put out the work I have on Beta?" Let them put it out. You own it, we do not. All we can do is give away the music online.   As I get more questions of this nature I will post them and the answers here. What this all boils down to is that many artists think that there is money to be made in the world of experimental music. Unless you can get on a bandstand with Sonic Youth then you are going to have to face the reality that the industry is just not made for you or what you do. Help us build something different.