CRONOMI IS NO LONGER

[dj Inada]

We sadly announce that CRONOMI IS NO LONGER: the label stops all its activities for good.
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First, we would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the years! Many of you bought our releases blindly: many considered us a 'boutique' label with far out the best psychedelic dance music: that makes us proud! 🥳🤩
You, our fans, made it possible for us - the label and its wonderful artists involved - to bring out the best psychedelic dance music. For that we are very grateful!!! 😘 🤗
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There are many reasons why Cronomi stops all its activities. Mainly it is due to the many negative changes in the goascene over the years.
To sum up a few:
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(1) The goa scene has shrunk a lot, so sales went down. 〽️
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(2) Many people prefer to stream music for free or at low budget (online): we can not compete with multinationals like youtube or spotify, who by the way don't share any of their profits with us - the revenue is very very small. Maybe it makes you more "visible", but sales never follow. With visibility you can't pay the bills
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(3) People seem to prefer to spent their money on parties and festivals, but not on the creative input that makes the goa scene move forward - labels and artists are forgotten and it seems that the overall so called PLUR experience of the party or festivals goes before that of the support for the music that makes out the core of the scene. 🥸
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(4) Power and political games in the goa scene: many line ups are dominated by the same people over and over. Small and lesser known artists hardly get a fair chance. The time that good music promoted itself is gone. Cronomi is a label, nor a booking agency, nor a party organization and certainly not a hollow online promo machine. 🤑🤖
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Conclusion: we can no longer afford to invest our own savings into the label with so little return. We hardly turn break even.
It is sad that sales went down so much, because everything we released received much positive attention and good reviews. Music works therapeutic and still many people seem not to care enough to invest in it.
That is a paradox with low selling rates: music helps us heal, but those who make the music receive hardly any support. A sad truth...
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The Cronomi stock will stay available for a while, BUT not for always. So if you want to still grab your copy, be fast! At a certain point all of the remaining stock will be destroyed.
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Thanks again to all our loyal fans - we will NEVER forget the appreciation you gave us 🥰
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Warm regards 🙏

 

 

[Kitrinos]

Understandable.

Talk about the same boring lineups with the same well-known names over and over again! Not to mention the very high ticket prices for the festivals.They are not affordable for many of us. It's kind of sad that many people who go to festivals have deep enough pockets to pay for travelling costs, festival tickets etc., but not for an album. You're probably right that most of the new audience don't really care about buying the music or at least getting acquainted with relevant discography. They just want to go to festivals, even if they don't know who's playing. I feel the scene is becoming more commercialised, like the rest of Psytrance. Fast food for the masses.

Not sure though whether the Goa scene itself has shrunk. It seems it's becoming more mainstream. The underground feeling is fading away, and instead you get big expensive festivals with extravagant, flashy decoration, and very prominent, levelled up DJ decks, as if they are some kind of superstars. They look ridiculous, egotistic attention-seekers to me. When the scene emerged in Goa in its most authentic form it was not like this; the dancing experience itself was the focus.

There are more events and music released than 15 years ago. It's just that there is no "quality control" anymore. As physical format is gradually being abandoned, individuals and labels can publish virtually anything online, which is not costly I suppose and therefore not risky. And then you end up with tons of music released, most of which is of poor quality, and most of which almost nobody buys.

 

[Kitrinos]

I just don't understand why you plan to destroy any remaining stock after some point, it makes no sense. It seems a disservice to the purpose you've served all these years and disrespectful to the artists. 

[acid being]

This is sad news but also not too surprising in today's world. For me personally, I have been enjoying Goa trance since the late 90s but I had to drastically cut back my music purchases in recent years due to financial pressures which I am sure is the same for countless others (and no I don't go to festivals either). I think I had bought only 2 or 3 psy albums in the past 8 years.

My rationale was that if and when my financial situation improved I would reward all my favorite artists at that point, but I see now, for some it is too late. However on a slightly happier note I have just bought Artha's 2 albums, M-Run - Some Run Just For Fun and Flumina - Globox. All digital download though as most of my CDs just end up wrecked these days.

Thanks for all the great music and best wishes.

[Oopie]

It's a decision that's understandable in the current world. Not that many Goa labels out there anymore, innit? Or even labels that release CD for that matter. There's a slight renaissance for vinyl which on the other hand is positive news, if you're into that. I still like to play CDs though... no need to have computer/app open is such a relief.