My independent label

Sennen

Mia Vigar

Hungry Audio is a Norwich/London based independent record label whose roster includes The Telescopes, Sennen, The Walk Off, The Aprons, Stuffy / The Fuses, My favorite, Mia Vigar and Master Solo.

The label was launched in November of 2004 by its five partners: Adrian Cooke, Stewart Nash, Alan Southgate, Rob Childerhouse and Chris Bourn. Hungry Audio's first release was the Winter EP by The Telescopes. The single

immediately gathered positive reviews by the NME, Drowned In Sound and numerous websites. The Drowned In Sound review ended by stating, "Welcome Hungry Audio to the big bad world of the record industry. May the rest of your gifts

be as astoundingly beautiful as this."Early 2005 saw the label release the 'Happiest Days of My Life' single by My favorite. The song also received equally glowing reviews and later featured in the 2006 movie 'Another Gay Movie' starring Graham Norton amongst others.

A few months later a club night was launched in Norwich which featured live acts alongside the labels self-confessed shambolic DJing. The first live guest was Loz Colbert the ex-drummer from Ride (band) and now member of the recently

reformed Jesus and Mary Chain. The club night still runs today.In the autumn of 2005 the label released its first longplayer by a then local unknown band called Sennen. The album

went on to feature in numerous end-of-year polls including Drowned In Sound. The album was also picked up by Radio 1's Steve Lamacq and 6Music's John Kennedy who featured tracks from the album on their shows.

More recently the label have released records by new acts including the Bearsuit spin-off band The Aprons, the Steve Albini produced Stuffy / The Fuses and Oxford based noise terrorists The Walk Off who boast a dancing bear as a

member of the band (don't worry, it's only someone in a costume). The label has also released the latest album by The Telescopes who honoured the label by calling the album 'Hungry Audio Tapes'. This release also boasted a beautiful

reworking of the bands 1989 hit 'The Perfect Needle'.The label has also helped to host or DJ at many other nights including the legendary shoegazing nights Sonic

Cathedral. In February 2007 the night included the debut solo live performance of Pete Fijalkowski the ex-lead singer of Adorable (band).

The year 2007 sees the label release the second album by Sennen (which is produced by Primal Scream/House of Love producer Pat Collier) and new artist Master Solo.

The label has also continued received much exposure on BBC Radio stations in the UK. BBC Radio 1 has played the Master Solo on several occasions on and even featured the label as its DIY Label of The Week in February whilst

6music featured "The Walk Off" single on its station.Sennen release their first new single of the year 'A Life To Live' on June 4th.

There websites lets fans see their information and up coming shows. There is also streaming so new fans can listen to the bands newest tracks.

MarketingHungry Audio do a lot of online marketing using their website and MySpace. Their website links

to MySpace pages for all their musicians and also links to any of their websites, as well as links to YouTube videos they have put up for their musicians. It also has a news feed on it’s main page which shows and links to reviews of any releases by their musicians and also any mentions in the news they also promote any gigs their artists have upcoming. Hungry Audio Radio show on Future Radio plays songs by musicians with the label, the show is run by members of Hungry Audio allowing them to mention any releases or events upcoming for any of their artists. The label uses a London based Public Relations Firm which also help market their Artists, A member of the Label also works as a music journalist for a magazine this helps to gain publicity for musicians with the label. Hungry Audio have also worked hard to gain product placement in the form of song synchronisation on TV, they have also created strong relationships with Games companies who are looking for music to use in games. Hungry Audio have recently had success marketing their band Sennen in Asia, this is a market that the band would have struggled to reach without the help of their label increasing their popularity and album sales.

Distribution an exchange• The label sell the Albums and Vinyl releases by their musicians from their website

using PayPal, Some of the CDs are available in HMV but only for their more well known artists such as Sennen, they are also available from Tesco (slightly cheaper) or to buy as downloadable mp3s.They have also got CDs in some shops in other countries where they have tried to promote their bands. All the music by their artists is available to buy on iTunes, there are links to their website to iTunes to allow ease of doing so. They also dstribute over the internet as it is the cheapest way to distribute their songs, it also involves much less fees as they do not have to produce packaging. The market effectively use new media technologies such as Twitter to increase popularity as well as heavy use of iTunes and MySpace as well as several other social networking sites and online music stores. However not all of their Musicians have their own websites aside from on MySpace, and not all are sold in major shops.