About Me
Mi5 Recordings is an exchange of British Musicians, American musicians and artists dedicated to a new pop/art movement "A-rticulate R-evolutionize T-hought." Reminiscent of the swinging London scene but for a new millennium, Mi5 Recordings is a safe house for art, literature, music and anyone on the fringes of society that has an articulate vision, thought or contribution to culture!We do not engage in the racial profiling that the conglomerates proliferate. We do not subscribe to class based manipulations that "is" a by-product of the entertainment industry. We did not want our ART compromised or cheapened to contemporary ethos of today’s music and popular culture. We think, we are complex, we express, and we create! This is not about product, this is not about image, this is about culture!
The objective is to create a grass roots movement dedicated to art, literature, and music that is not homogenized or a prisoner to consumer oriented identity tags. The label Mi5 Recordings is a group of musicians, artists and filmmakers that got fed up with the majors perpetuating conservative and boring music with restrictive marketing concepts.Let me introduce myself, my name is Ted Mason, I used to be with Modern English (Hands Across the Sea and Melt with You) and I have worked as a producer/musician with such acts as MC Lyte, Africka Bambatta, the Verve, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Sheila E, and a bunch English Underground stuff. As of late the Major Record labels (like many giant corporations) have limited the concept of culture, to corporate culture. Enlightenment by way of product. A new religion for their new millennium. Power, and money shifting to the very few, (mergers and monolithic conglomerates have swallowed up many competing ventures to consolidate market hegemony), the products we now consume have become the society that defines us.The entertainment industry thrives on the same marketing values that have perpetuated great success in other major industrial giants. To create product that is simple, homogenized, and devoid of true innovation. Based on the lowest common denominator, instant cash return and continuous returns for the future. Unfortunately this is all perpetuated by the public’s willingness to accept what is handed to them. We are the public. If we cannot see the restrictions we are imposing on ourselves, we will be doomed to forever hold the sidelines of society while very few will spoon feed our beliefs for the sake of a few good pennies.Think about democracy. While government is held accountable for its actions in some form or another, (elections, Parliament, House and Senate) corporations are not held to the same standards. Power emanates strictly top-down, board of directors to managers to lower managers and ultimately the common consumer/employee acquiescent to his/her position in this village. No flow of power or planning from the bottom up. Ultimate power resides in the hands of investors whose only concern is financial returns regardless of the product. We are primed on dress code, regulated on behavior, granted time off, and given compensation for performing tasks benefiting the future survival of the corporate village always aware of the insecurity of our indentured servitude. You can chose security in corporate employment, but your services adhere to strict corporate guidelines. You may consider this joining the chain of command but you do not have control, or power sharing as which is affirmed in democracy. When there are as few as 4 or 5 corporations expanding the hegemony to homogenize a culture, you must find the common denominator to please the largest of communities, regardless of content.Now more than ever, there is a need for a movement that would articulate the concerns of a substantial majority of the population that are being left out of popular cultural planning and ultimately a political process. Choices are limited to selecting among options that are highly structured by the real concentrations of power that we have for so long allowed to exist. It makes no sense for corporate culture to have decision-makers and participants; as corporate culture prevails, the demand is passive, obedient populations of consumers and political spectators. A community of people who are so uniformed and devoid of opinion, obliterated and isolated they can’t put together their limited resources and become an independent, powerful force that will chip away at concentrated power.At Mi5, we as artists have refused to succumb to the lowest common denominator of the common culture. Revolution materializes with change of one mind! It is the courage to question! In the end we need your support. Lay down your arms and resist or forever hold your peace! We invite you in to envision an A-rticulate R-evolutionized T-hought.
