Fading Ways is an independent music label that combines political consciousness with pop culture. Our mission: to revolutionize the international music industry. Our weapons: kick ass tunes and socially conscious practices- both of which are sadly lacking in today's major labels.
The Canadian Street Team is part of an international network with branches in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria and Finland. We're here to promote some of the best music in Canada. Our artists run the gamut from soulful folk-rock to in-your-face punk to glitzy retro-glam and back again.
If anyone tells you that rock n roll is dead, send them our way because, trust us, it's alive and well.
FADING WAYS AND THE CREATIVE COMMONS
All Fading Ways releases are licensed under the Creative Commons. CC licenses allow you to legally share, copy and artistically explore your purchase. This means that you can copy and share your CD with friends. You can even upload an mp3 without being taken to court, so long as due credit is given and you aren't profiting from someone else's work.
Fading Ways operates on the assumption that producing high quality music, and encouraging people to share it, is a good thing. It is NOT naïve to think that someone who listens to music for free, and genuinely likes it, will purchase a copy for themselves. The music industry needs to make some fundamental changes and Fading Ways, as the first internationally distributed label to adopt Creative Commons licensing, is at the forefront of a cultural revolution. Keep an eye on us...
SHARE SAMPLERS
The SHARE samplers are a series of compilation CDs featuring various FWM artists. We recently released the sixth Share sampler, and it - along with the first five - are available for download at www.fwshare.co.uk.
Here you can download, for free, all SHARE samplers released to date. You also have permission to copy them, give them to friends, family and strangers and upload them to your p2p networks. Let as many people as possible hear them.
So long as the music is used non-commercially, so that any money that is made goes directly back to the artist, you do whatever you like with it, thanks to the wonder of Creative Commons licensing.
To learn more about Creative Commons, visit www.creativecommons.org. To learn more about the artists featured in SHARE samplers, check out www.fadingways.co.uk and www.fadingways.com . To purchase any of the music you hear, and for many more titles, drop by our online store (we take credit card payments and ship worldwide!) at www fwmusicstore.co.uk.
All tracks are in mp3 format and should take 1-2 minutes to download, depending on your internet connection.
All mp3s are free to download and 100% legal to copy and share with others. However, if you like what you hear and wish to show your appreciation towards any of the artists, you can make a donation via Paypal. Be sure to indicate which artist the donation is for.
FADING WAYS ONLINE MUSIC STORE
The Fading Ways Music Store caters to all your rock n roll needs. We carry a plethora of titles, both classics and undiscovered gems. FWM operates on an artist-first philosophy that respects music fans, therefore we strive to sell you music without CopyProtection or DRM. Furthermore, some FW label titles are licensed to the buyer under the Creative Commons By-Nc-Sa license, which restores to the public its right of non-commercial copying.
If you're looking for a particular item that we don't appear to carry, write us at [email protected]. Chances are we can get it for you, and we are always looking to add to our quickly growing catalogue.
In addition to great music, we carry merchandise: dvds, magazines, books, tshirts, buttons, etc. AND we ship worldwide. Come visit us at www.fwmusicstore.co.uk.
FADING WAYS ARTIST COLLECTIVE
The FW Artist Collective is a Fading Ways Music Store initiative based on a layered approach given the needs of the different independent artists involved.
The goal of the Artist Collective is to strengthen the careers of independent music artists who are releasing their own cd's and merch without the assistance of labels (or on small labels who want to participate!), and don't have exclusive distribution deals in place.
How do we plan on doing this? Mainly by offering a world-wide mail-order sales and distribution service that allow your cds to be sold alongside bigger-label releases whilst being publicized via direct marketing to over 1500 FW Music Store subscribers – and that number is rising steadily.
On top of the mail-order sales, basic newsletter promortions, and digital download deals offered, the FW Music Store Artist Collective partnerships also allow for the facilitation of other paid-services, like product manufacturing, PR services in several countries, and possible traditional physical-product distribution to stores in some territories, as well as film and TV licencing. All these opportunities can be discussed on a project-by-project basis.
"The soul of the FW Music Store is the networking opportunities it provides via its online community of subscribers, as well as the access to the Fading Ways street-teams of independent music fans around the world. If you are an artist putting out your own records, you can gain access to a ready-made independent-friendly fanbase, with the understanding that you too will do as much as possible to spread the word on the FW Music Store in order to further increase the numbers of our community of music fans. Sales achievements depend as much on you putting the word out as it does on FW's own efforts, and those of all the other artists involved in the Collective. Together, as an independent community, we have the opportunity to change the world. Er.. or at least the music business as we know it!" - Neil Leyton, July 2006.
Every artist in the collective gets their own webpage on the FW Music Store, as well as an artist photo, link to their website. The store also allows fans to write in their reviews, and you can link your own site directly to your product page on the FW Music Store. The secure online ordering accepts credit cards or paypal, and FW can also accept cheques and switch cards (over the phone) from our music fan client base. We ship out FW Artist Collective orders the same day, worldwide. FW Collective Artists set their own price for the sale of their releases via the FW Music Store. Fading Ways pays the Collective on a monthly basis via Paypal. The partnership between FW Music Store and its Collective Artists is completely non-exclusive. The Fading Ways Music Store Artist Collective Partnerships have an unlimited term but are terminable at any time by the Artist, assuming no moneys are owed to Fading Ways at time of cancellation for extra services.
For further details, head on over to http://www.fadingways.co.uk/fwmusicstore/collective.htm.
