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elsewhere music is a US-based record label founded in 2018 by Yuko Zama, focusing on new trends in contemporary classical music and beyond, specifically composed works. After being involved with music production first as a photographer, then as a designer and co-producer for Erstwhile Records for 15 years and Gravity Wave for 8 years, I decided to start my own label. The label's name is 'elsewhere music', curated and run by me as a sole producer. My label will feature mainly contemporary works, specifically compositional works which has classical music aesthetics at its roots, but it may not have to strictly belong to the area of contemporary classical music. The essential goal for my label is to find and release good music which touches my heart deeply with its lasting value, created by earnest devotion from the artist’s pure soul, which I believe I will want to listen to repeatedly for a very long time - just like I love to return to Schubert or Mahler or Monteverdi, or any past classics that deeply move me over the course of many years. This label may also feature some music outside classical aesthetics - as long as it feels real and genuine, or something that seems as if I were hearing it in the wind or from elsewhere, far away from the noise of the real world. Deep thanks to all of you who have been devoted listeners of our Erstwhile Records and Gravity Wave for giving us tremendous support for many years until today. We sincerely hope that we will be able to keep going with this new label as well as Jon Abbey's Erstwhile and Michael Pisaro's Gravity Wave label for many years, and your continuous love and support will be deeply appreciated. - Yuko Zama (Feb. 2018) elsewhere musicについて「elsewhere music」は、2018年に私（座間裕子）が設立した米国ニュージャージー州を拠点とするCDレーベルです。主に現代クラシック音楽の新しい潮流やその周辺の音楽、特に作曲作品に焦点を当てています。「elsewhere」というレーベル名は、渡米前後の2004年頃から2020年まで実験音楽やクラシック音楽について個人的に書いていたブログview from elsewhereから取りました。 元々、日本にいた頃は音楽ライター兼カメラマンとして活動し、2004年の渡米時から現在まで「Erstwhile Records」のデザイナー兼共同プロデューサーとして、さらに2010年には米国の現代作曲家マイケル・ピサロの作品をリリースする「Gravity Wave」をピサロとジョン・アビーとの共同運営で立ち上げ、そこでもデザイナー兼共同プロデューサーとして携わりました。そうした経緯を経て、2018年2月に「elsewhere music」という自身のレーベルを立ち上げ、唯一のキュレーター＆プロデューサーとして、企画・制作・運営まですべてを担当しています。 このレーベルでは主に現代の作曲家の作品を扱いますが、基本的にクラシック音楽の美意識が根底に感じられる作品を取り上げています。とはいえ、必ずしも現代クラシック音楽の領域にとどまらず、もしその音楽がアーティストの純粋な魂から湧き出る真摯な情熱によって生み出され、普遍的な価値を持つだろうと思われるなら、そして私自身の心を深く揺さぶる良質な音楽だと思えるなら、リリースの対象になることもあります。このレーベルで取り上げる作品は、シューベルトやマーラー、モンテヴェルディ、あるいは長年にわたり私が深い感動体験を得てきた過去のクラシック音楽作品のように、私自身が何度も繰り返し聴きたいと思うような音楽であることを判断基準としています。そのため、時にはクラシック音楽のジャンルにはまらない音楽も取り上げる可能性があります——それが「本物」で真っ直ぐなものと感じられる限り、あるいは現実世界の喧騒から遠く離れた場所から風にのって聴こえてくるような、どこか別の世界（elsewhere）で鳴っている音楽のように思えるのであれば。 長年にわたり、Erstwhile RecordsとGravity Waveのリリース作品を愛してサポートしてくださった皆様に心から感謝申し上げます。この新たなレーベル「elsewhere music」も、ジョン・アビー主宰のErstwhileやマイケル・ピサロのGravity Waveレーベルと同様に、これからも長く制作を続けていけることを切に願っております。 座間裕子 (2018年2月) new sub-label elsesongWhile releasing contemporary classical music works through my elsewhere music label, I occasionally find myself drawn to pieces that evoke the pop-rock of the '60s and '70s (one of my formative experiences as a youth), new works by contemporary singer-songwriters that conjure that era's atmosphere. For this reason, I have occasionally released song albums in the past, most notably The Giving Shapes and Shoko Numao. I played the acoustic guitar and sang in several folk bands during high school in the early '80s. Back then, I loved older songs that felt simpler and more genuine than the music from that decade. Whenever I hear music that I listened to during that time, or pop rock that my friends in other bands played, or any music reminiscent of that era, it brings back memories of that special, exciting, joyful time in my youth. In the winter of 2025, I came across another collection of songs reminiscent of the pop-rock spirit of that era: Rick DePaoli 's 'Don't Lose Your Faith'. The simple, pure honesty of his songs strikes straight to my heart, much like my favorite pop-rock songs of old time, and they deeply resonate with me. Each year, I've grown to appreciate the beauty of these nostalgic experiences more and more. To share these works, I launched a sub-label called "elsesong" as an homage to '60s and '70s pop rock and folk songs, to introduce outstanding works by contemporary singer songwriters, an imprint which is completely separate from my main elsewhere music label. My hope is the simple, honest songs that speak directly to our hearts, or bring a gentle tremor to the heart—like the vintage pop-rock and folk songs of the '60s and '70s—and songs with the innocent sensitivity lost in today's world, will be revived once again. - Yuko Zama (February 2026) Elsewhere Music Publishing launched In August 2026, I launched Elsewhere Music Publishing, a music publisher, to protect the copyrights of my label's artists. Recently, I discovered a disturbing fact: 22 years ago, one of my label artists wrote a song that was unlawfully used by an American singer and included on his CD. My artist sent out a demo of the song in the early 2000s, which seemed to circulate and reach the singer, who recorded the song for his own album and released it without permission. At least my artist's name was credited as the songwriter on the CD, but he was never notified about it and never received royalties or compensation. He found out by chance while searching for his name online after the CD was released, and he was completely shocked. The singer who infringed on my label artist’s song wasn’t well known. However, his CD was released by four labels in four countries in 2004, including Italy, Spain, and Japan. It seems to have gained some popularity in Japan around the time after being released by one of the top three major record companies. The song that this singer illegally recorded and released is still on YouTube and streaming services. My artist couldn't do anything about this case since he couldn't afford the expensive music copyright attorney fees, so he had to let it go. To help prevent such cases from happening in the future, I decided to become a music publisher (and register to ASCAP). My goal as a publisher is not to pursue profit but to study music copyright law thoroughly and closely monitor it to ensure that the rights of my label’s artists are not violated. If any royalties are generated from an artist’s work, I intend to give most of them to the artist. I myself have experienced this helpless anger in similar copyright infringement cases: when I was a child, my late father’s designs were stolen by a young designer who visited our house, and on another occasion, by a major advertising agency—and although both became nationwide hits, my father never received a single royalty. All he could do was accept his unfortunate situation and swallow the bitterness, as my label's artist did. In this morally bankrupt era, I sincerely hope that artists in every genre will not have to endure such painful experiences, even if only a little less often. important notice (november 2025)To Our Label's Fans Our label does not tolerate any harassment or stalking of our artists. Should such situations arise and cause harm, such as emotional distress to our artists, we will consider taking strict measures through legal channels. We kindly ask all fans to support our artists in a respectful and appropriate manner. elsewhere music owner 当レーベルのファンの皆様へ 当レーベルでは、アーティストへのハラスメントやつきまとい行為を一切許容しません。そうした状況が生じて当レーベルのアーティストが心傷を受けるなど被害が生じた場合には、法的窓口を通しての厳重な処置も検討する所存です。ファンの皆様につきましては、節度のある方法でアーティストを応援してくださるよう、よろしくお願いいたします elsewhere music主宰 concept for elsewhere piano series Q: What kind of (piano) music pieces you release at your label? YZ: I like piano pieces that have unique structures and sounds tapping into the composer's/performer's originality and creativity, with different qualities from more conservative piano music from older periods, but also deeply or subtly rooted in the aesthetics of traditional classical piano music. Also, I don't feel the terms 'experimental' or 'avant-garde' are right for my label's works. I rather call them a new form of 'music' that has an organic life with a hint of warmth in a clean minimal structure composed only with essential elements with no frills, yet not in a frame of the rigid styles of conventional compositions. Some people may call my label a "neo-classical label", but I am honestly not so happy about the name since it sounds like a shallow, atmospheric, easy listening-sort of piano music for relaxing and healing. Of course, "relaxing" and "healing" are great effects of music in general, which I love personally, but that's not the main purpose of the piano music I would like to feature on my label. I like to feature piano music that is more purely artistic, essential, and profound, something that could help you to experience the pure beauty and the new, unknown possibilities of the sounds of the piano, and through them, I hope you could see a glimpse of life and real art. Q: What aspects of compositions, concepts, interpretation are of your interest? YZ: I think it's important for the pieces on my label to have some sense of contemporary time. Compositions and interpretations have to be original and inspiring, not banal nor cliched. The music has to be created by real artistic minds of devoted composers and performers who are deeply and humbly committed to pursuing perfection for the sake of creating great music, not for the sake of satisfying their own vanity nor competitive mind nor a desperate urge for social recognition. (*from the radio interview with Pavel Klusák on Český rozhlas Vltava, Nov. 19. 2020) other interviews with yuko zamaAn Erstwhile & Elsewhere Interview with Jon Abbey and Yuko Zama, by Austen on The Needle Drop (1/3/2023) Musique Machine interview with Yuko Zama, curator/producer of Elsewhere Music, by Roger Batty. (6/11/2019) Rate Your Music's Sonemic interview: Yuko Zama's favorite 10 releases (8/24/2019) NYC music journalist Steve Smith did an in-depth interview with me on elsewhere, which will help you to understand my label's orientation and aesthetics very well. (8/3/2018) about audio qualityAlso, in order to pursue the best possible sound quality which will be closer to the rich, warm analog sound of vinyl, and also to convey the life of the music as vividly and naturally as possible, we are aiming to use 24-bit recording/mixing/mastering for every release, and also DSD recording/mastering for some particular project. Customers can choose between regular CD format or 24bit/96kHz FLAC HD files to purchase from our website, depending on their preference and listening environment. We also sell CD and lossless digital files on Bandcamp with streaming service. (On Bandcamp, pre-order customers for CD can download lossless digital files and streaming for free.) We are not planning to make vinyl records due to our limited production circumstances, but we hope that our 24-bit hi-res audio will let you experience the music without losing its original delicate nuances of the sounds in a wide dynamic range, as well as the rich overtones and the warm, organic feel of the space, in a closer way to how you feel when listening to a vinyl record. * Streaming of the elsewhere catalog is only available on Bandcamp (as of April 12, 2021) about order and shippingAll the CDs will be shipped via USPS from New Jersey, USA, normally within 2-7 days after we receive an order. During the COVID-19 pandemic time, shipping may take a little bit longer than usual due to the safety reason. Ordering multiple items is very highly recommended for non-US orders, as 1-3 copies of the CDs can be shipped at the same minimum cost. Thank you very much for your kind support for my label.  Comments are closed.
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YUKO ZAMAproducer |
