April_14_2007.
Blanket released their debut album "This Is The New Wave of Political Rock" on April 10th 2007. You should check Blanket's new and improved site at www.blanket.fi for more info on this milestone album. The songs are great, the lyrics are powerful and thought-provoking and the packaging is the coolest in Finland ever. You can buy the album from their web site, but it'll soon be available at a record store near you. Check it out now, it's well worth the price.
Along with the release we launched the innovative Copy Encouraged music concept. It's an idea derived from "freeware" in computer software. We got fed up with all the Copy Protected technologys and DRM's and tried to find another route. To us, copying music has always been a positive thing and as a small label, the more we can get our music out there, the better it is for us. This is why all new IFC releases will be "Copy Encouraged"; you can copy and distribute the music in any form as long it's not done for profit and if you like the music, you are encouraged to buy a real album from us. Please check out Copy Encouraged explained (pdf, 30 kB) or contact us at ifc@nomasi.com for more info. Thanks.
April_10_2007.
PRESS RELEASE, For Immediate Release, April 10th 2007
Finnish Record Company Encourages Free Copying
Finnish record company Independent Fruit Company is allowing free copying of their records and permits free internet distribution of all their published music. With the "Copy Encouraged" concept, which they have developed, records are sold in record stores as before, but free non-commercial distribution of the music and the records is encouraged. The underlying idea is that if people like the music, they will buy the record even if it can be copied or downloaded for free.
The first album to be released under this concept is Blanket's debut album called "This is the New Wave of Political Rock" released on April 10th 2007. In accordance with the concept, the record package contains an extra copy of the CD, which can for example be given to a friend. In addition, all the songs from the record are freely available in mp3 format on the band's web site at www.blanket.fi.
"The music business is changing, because copying of music is getting technically easier all the time", stated Ville Könönen, one of the founders of the company. "In my experience copying only raises interest in bands, increases record sales and brings new people to gigs", Ville added.
"For us, copying is a positive thing. It's definitely not stealing as the common belief seems to be", said Simo Särkkä, one of the owners of the company.
February_12_2007.
Hi. We've kind of forgotten about these pages to be honest. There hasn't been much going on with the label recently, except that we will release Blanket's debut album "This Is The New Wave of Political Rock" on April 10th 2007. The album features 12 songs and it was recorded and produced by Jaakko Vierikko from Clark Kent. Check out Blanket's site for details on this exciting release.
Clark Kent has also been recording their debut album with producer Jonas Olsson. We don't know whether IFC will release the album once it's done, but it's going to be great anyways. Follow the Clark Kent site for details on that.
The other two IFC bands, Vesilaitos and Varttisäkki have quietly passed away since we've last updated these pages. There has been talk of making a Vesilaitos compilation from all the EP's, but it hasn't happened yet. Anyways, stay tuned for the Blanket release, it's going to be a great one!
October_2_2005.
Long time no hear. The Independent Fruit Company has been taking it easy due to all kinds of reasons. The bands that call the Fruit Company "Mother" have been active to the best of their abilities.
Vesilaitos had a few gigs after the release of their well-accepted EP "Elinkautinen". The band has been trying to figure out their future and have been recording some stuff on their own. No release dates yet. www.vesilaitos.com
Blanket has been taking it easy, but have been getting more active lately. Blanket had a monster gig at the hot and humid Semifinal in late July and boosted by that are planning to seriously record some music this autumn. The band is hoping to come up with 6-10 well-recorded songs for a decent winter release. www.nomasi.com/blanket
Clark Kent has been doing great, rocking hard and making friends in all kinds of places. To top a great year, CK is presently on tour supporting the mighty Rasmus. A great and well-deserved opportunity for the band. They also just released a new single called "In My Arms", go to the Clark Kent web site and check it out! It's likely that Clark Kent will be moving on to greater and bigger things, so we'll see how long they'll be allowed to exist under the vast IFC umbrella. It's a miracle that we've kept them this long. www.clarkkent.fi
Varttisäkki is on a break of an unknown length, but it's lead singer Otso Nykänen has recently recorded a low-key solo album called "Viisipaikkainen lyijykynäauto". We'll try to have some info and mp3 samples on that as soon as possible. www.nomasi.com/vs
We are not getting stuff done with IFC as much as we would like. But we still have a few exciting cards up our sleeves and if / when Blanket manages to get a release together we'll have a great new concept to go along with that. So stay tuned, stay informed, support the bands, we ain't dead yet. Peace.
May_5_2004.
Rockers Vesilaitos have a new EP called "Elinkautinen". You can order it thru our updated-with-shopping-cart-CATALOG or get it for free at Vesilaitos gigs! The new EP has also been reviewed online at least by: LMSN.com, Imperiumi.net, Desibeli.net and Palasokeri.com. For all the latest VL gossip, remember to check out the Vesilaitos home pages (link died).
Blanket and Varttisäkki have shared some studio space during the spring months and are about to release a small split-EP with two songs from each group. The tracklisting is:
- Blanket: Rolemodels
- Blanket: My Sworn Enemy
- Varttisäkki: Keltainen maansiirtokoneensärkijä
- Varttisäkki: Nyt on itkuvirren aika
It will out in a month or so in the cheap CDR format.
Clark Kent are in hiding for the time being, we will have some CK news to annouce on June 1st 2004. Until then... luv.
Feb_10_2004.
Hi, we're still alive and kicking it old school. Clark Kent have been active in every sort of way, the future of the mysterious "Get Spencer" -EP will be decided onceandforall in April. The guys had the privilege to warm up The Rasmus at Tavastia a while ago and the band is tighter than ever with super new songs in store.
Vesilaitos has been hindered as the singer Arto has had to pay his debt to society; now that's finally over with, they have a cracking new EP coming up. The release party is at the Stella Star Club in Helsinki on the 11th of March where the EP is given out for free! Unbelievable generosity! So there's absolutely no reason to miss that one.
Blanket have been slowly writing new material and will be entering the studio late February. One or two new songs will hopefully come out of that session.
Varttisäkki is still on hold; but frontman Otso has some solo material out, check the Varttisäkki site for that one.
All in all, it's all good, check out for the Vesilaitos EP and Blanket -single and news on Clark Kent during the spring months. Rrespect!
/ The older news are archived at the ... old news page.