Records on Ribs gives away its music for free.

Records on Ribs is against nothing. We are not here ‘in reaction’ to anything. We are merely putting into practice what we believe. And this is what we believe:

  • To sell music for profit is to deny its worth. It is to reduce it to numbers, spreadsheets, targets. Desire cannot be quantified thusly.
  • Tapes, CD-Rs and the Internet give us the opportunity to distribute music for free without losing significant sums of money.
  • Anyone could do what we are doing. A free-for-all. Brilliance obscured by an avalanche of mundanity.

So what? There is an avalanche of mundanity already in the shops, and it costs you £9.99 a go. We only ask that you listen with open hearts and minds. And if one hundred, one thousand, one million people want to do the same as us then good luck to them. What a world that would be! A torrent of creativity freed from profit.

We accept donations, but do not expect them. What we do costs us little, but we cannot avoid making a loss. Nor can the artists who have to buy equipment and take time to rehearse, perform and record. Any money you give us will go to loosen these burdens and will be gratefully received. We want to beat the system but we have to survive within it.

You can also buy lovingly crafted CD-Rs of our albums (made to order). We like to think they are objects worth owning, because we know you are all fetishists when it comes to music, and an MP3 isn’t quite the same. We are hoping to do vinyl one day in the future.

All the best,

The Records On Ribs Team

Released On Launch – January 15th 2008