A Not for Profit Making Music
29 January 2008 at 3:13 pm
From the outer suburbs of Melbourne has emerged Australia’s only independent record label with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status – Small House Records is a Not for Profit making music for social change.
Originally set up as business by husband and wife team, Mark and Niki Tulk, they found that their model of mentoring musical artists and promoting social change was best suited to a Not for Profit arts organisation structure.
Small House Records gained its DGR status in October 2007.
Both Mark and Niki have more than 15 years experience in the arts industry.
Niki Tulk says they take on emerging and unsigned artists because they believe in them. Many of them are already working in areas of social change and want to use their music to advance it further.
In the Small House Records stable there’s the very tall artist with dreadlocks and multi-coloured socks called Zuigia who travels around schools using his music to help lower the suicide rate, and 16 year old Pacific Islander, Arieta, who’s about to release a single and has been working with street kids and singer Levi McGrath and his social change messages to name just a few.
Tulk says Small House Records finds artists for assistance or the artists find them.
She says their aim is to make the world a more compassionate and imaginative place and bring about real and lasting change through music.
She says regular contributions from donors are essential to keep their mentoring, promotional and management services, and music production standards at the highest level.
Normally it would cost around $50,000 to produce a good CD and popular artists usually pay back the investment through records sales.
But at Small House Records where artists perform in schools and prisons and at community functions, Tulk says that kind of money is not possible to recoup.
Small House Records relies on business partnerships, donations from friends and family and benefit concerts, to raise their funds. As well they offer their production services and facilities at generous rates to keep the doors open.
Tulk says their purpose is to record, package and promote ‘purposeful’ and culturally relevant music to the highest quality possible.
Beyond looking after its own artists, Tulk says they are committed to assisting unsigned artists or organisations (churches, schools, welfare groups) with aspects of their work using their music expertise.
For more information check out the website at www.smallhouserecords.com.au
