Based in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, Hibernate is a micro-independent label “inspired by the unpredictable, momentary and quiet solitary beauty of the Pennine Moors.” Jonathan steps away to respond to igloomag.com’s Five questions.
Igloo :: When did Hibernate start up and what was your inspiration?
Hibernate (Jonathan) :: Inspired by the unpredictable, momentary and quiet solitary beauty of the Pennine Moors, Hibernate began releasing music in July 2009. We started up with the idea to just release music we loved and in the best format we could afford, our first release was from Ian Hawgood.
Igloo :: Who were some of your initial artist relations and did your physical location hinder any progress?
Hibernate :: In the early days of the label all of the artists we made releases for were for ones that we really loved their work—Ian Hawgood, Chihei Hatakeyama, Hakobune etc.. But as we grew we made many friends and now it is important for us to release works for those we actually know in person and as friends. It’s quite an effort to make an album and release it to the world, a lot of love and energy goes into it so making it for a friend and working together makes it a little easier and much more rewarding.
Igloo :: What were some of the challenges (if any) starting up a label? How did you envision the label to stand apart?
Hibernate :: Hibernate is a self funded project in a spare room, finance is always a problem but that is usually resolvable one way or another. The biggest challenge we faced when we started up and continue to face now is distribution. Selling one CD or vinyl is easy, selling 250 is very challenging. We’d hope that the music we release from the artists we curate let’s us stand apart.
It’s quite an effort to make an album and release it to the world, a lot of love and energy goes into it so making it for a friend and working together makes it a little easier and much more rewarding.
Igloo :: What is your motivation in keeping the label moving forward into the next decade?
Hibernate :: To be honest we just hope to make it through to the end of the year and to grow a little with each release. We hope also to be able to promote musicians on our labels as best as possible and to continue putting on shows when possible.
Igloo :: Tell us more about how you (and your staff?) take the label’s “sound” to the listeners and fans. Distribution, campaigns, word of mouth etc.
Hibernate :: For each album release we give 6 weeks of promotion by any means, usually using social networks, but also we will write to as many blogs, webzines, radio stations and magazines as possible. One thing we never do is spam, it is important for us to build strong relationships with writers, promoters and fans.
For more information about Hibernate, visit their website at www.hibernate-recs.co.uk.
