11/06/2025
No fancy introduction and no marketing lingo at this point. Or is this intro not in fact also alternative marketing lingo and part of the staging aimed at keeping the permanently nervous wiping fingers in check? In any case, this is definitely not a Teflon marketing campaign designed with a scalpel and fenced in within the usual 3.5 templates for so-called indie labels and so-called indie artists in order to extract the last few cents from your inflation-ridden portemonnaie. This kind of campaign would have come to the point the day before yesterday anyway, because we are constantly being told that we only have the attention spans of hummingbirds and that campaigns have to be geared precisely to this. In addition, you would have read the right buzzwords straight away and, above all, you would have seen at least 3.5 algorithm-compatible faces and a funky HD reel in the next slide to get your dopamine flowing and push the decisive button to forget about global fascism, climate catastrophe, multiple toxic personality cults, ongoing genocide and the exploitation of mind, body and soul for a moment. Instead, all you see now is white writing on a black background and the unformatted text is far from finished. So take a short breather and get a drink from the fridge. Do we have a deal?
All right, you've earned the line break and we'll continue. What's the point of this anyway? Going so far afield to talk about the streaming economy again? Is the bad $-word about to come? No, label operator Jamal already went into detail some time ago and there has long been evidence that the streaming economy as we know it is not a sustainable model for the majority of players in the so-called music sector. So are we talking about other forms of devaluation? Because why is the number 65 depicted in a striking way? A good and precise question that deserves an immediate attempt to give a good answer. Well, affine65 is in fact a discount code that can be redeemed by anyone on our Bandcamp site affinerecords.bandcamp.com. This discount code is valid from now until September 30, 2025 on all available physical releases but also on every single luxury file (WAV!) from the Affine Records catalog. Every release will be treated equally, whether new or older, whether the last few pieces of a limited edition or of releases that are somewhat more difficult to sell (Yes, this is also a reality labels face). This discount code is both: an offer and an awareness tool, but also a de facto door opener to determine the value of the purchased goods themselves. The platform on which this discount code can be redeemed allows this. Famous last words: Objectively speaking, none of our products are vital, especially in times when war, displacement, fear of the future and economic problems are a dominant factor and at least one of these attributes will continue to increase for the majority of the population. We could now come up with the buzzword escapism, undoubtedly important and necessary. But ultimately the value of something is defined by the value we place on it individually. Finally, not a tired esoteric formula but just the simplest definition of life.
