Origins

This project is something that I’ve been doing informally for a number of years. It was on 22 January 2019 however, that I began an Instagram page under the moniker The Folkpunk Archivist. While restrictive in space for my admittedly lengthy captions, I chose the platform because I wanted to change the narrative over the definitive medium of the folkpunk community, the CD-r.

I launched this project on Instagram because I wanted to give these folkpunk releases, in particular those old CD-r’s, a visual-based platform where people would see them, and read about them. In doing so, my hope is that folks will look at self-released physical media a bit differently, and as something worth holding on to.

The CD-r, while perhaps still insignificant to many, seems to me like the perfect manifestation of the DIY spirit, in terms of physical media; it allowed anyone with a computer (and maybe a Xerox printer), to bring their music into the physical world without needing a record label, or even a company to create/assemble the albums for them.

While it aided in the ongoing democratization of music distribution at the time, the CD-r has not yet hit a nostalgia cycle, unlike vinyl records and to a degree, cassettes. For many early folkpunk projects, the only physical release these albums ever received was often band-assembled/self-released CD-r’s. Luckily, a product of the rise of the Internet has been the preservation of much of the music itself (the most important part). What we are starting to see, however, is that since CD-r’s are not viewed as worth holding onto from a technological nor nostalgic stance, we risk losing important pieces of folkpunk’s physical history. In particular, many of the liner notes on these CD-r releases were never digitized, and exist solely on folded and aging printer paper.

In the first year of this project’s public existence, I’ve received exponentially more interest and support from folkpunk fans, music collectors, and the artists themselves than I could have ever imagined. This support has provided me the access and connections necessary to continue to track down and preserve increasingly scarce pieces of folkpunk’s physical history.

I want to thank everyone that has reached out and supported this project in its first year, as well as all of the folkpunk fans that have followed along and interacted with my write-ups. I’m eager to continue growing and excited for everything in store for this year.

A Note on Social Media

You will notice that Instagram is the only worthwhile social media platform this project has a presence on at the moment. This is because it is where I publicly began this project, and have put the most time into learning how best to use it. I am still struggling to find good ways to utilize these other platforms in a way that enhances what I am already doing on IG. If social media is a particular talent of yours, feel free to reach out and teach me!