Channel Fest is a great idea whose time is overdue. For several years, Seattle has housed many outstanding record labels, and not just the prominent ones like Sub Pop/Hardly Art, Light in the Attic, and Barsuk. But until now, there's been no formal acknowledgment of this thriving culture. Taking place July 16 at Fred Wildlife Refuge and founded by audio engineer, producer, and musician Chris Moore, Channel Fest is the first sanctioned event to celebrate this healthy state of affairs, showcasing the wares of over 30 area labels of varying statures and styles.

Channel Fest is slated to happen in two shifts. The day segment (12 pm-7 pm, free, all ages) offers people a chance to get to know the labels' output and obtain their rare releases while several Seattle DJs spin records. The organizers also promise zine creators, radio hosts, projected visuals, a photo booth, a raffle giveaway, and outdoor food trucks. The night segment (8 pm-2 am, 21+, $12 DOS) presents live sets by some of the Pacific Northwest's best bands—Gaytheist [Good to Die Records], SSDD (Steal Shit Do Drugs) [Help Yourself Records], and Roladex [Medical Records]—plus more DJs and projections, and other elements—including the headlining act—to be announced. Check out the press release after the jump—especially if you're part of a Seattle record label who wants to participate.

SUBJECT: All-Seattle record label fest announces its inaugural event on July 16, 2016
CHANNEL Inaugural Seattle record label fest premieres this summer with over 30 local labels of all sizes and genres.

Labels include:
Light in the Attic, Suicide Squeeze, Brick Lane, Help Yourself Records, Good to Die, Hush Hush, Medical Records, Freakout, Knick Knack, Debacle Records, MOTOR, Eiderdown, Further Records, Nostalgium Directive, Neon Sigh, Illuminasty, Lo-Flydelity, FFU (Filthy Fingers United), Broken Press Records + more being confirmed every day.

CHANNEL Seattle Record Label Fest is the first-of-its-kind Seattle area record label fest taking place on July 16, 2016 at Fred Wildlife Refuge from 12pm-2am that will bring together over 30 new & reissue record labels specializing in a panoply of formats and genres representing the richness of the Puget Sound’s current music scene.

CHANNEL is to Seattle what CHIRP is to Chicago, BARF to San Francisco, and Labelmates to Portland.
The volunteer-run festival is in its first year (with plans to repeat annually and during the year in smaller showcases), operating on an agile model and a shoestring budget seeded by its 5 founding organizers: (a sound engineer, a record collector, a DJ/promoter, an events manager, and a designer/musician. CHANNEL frames the current Puget Sound-area music scene through the lens of labels, as opposed to bands or record collecting. It strives to ensure representation of smaller, POC-led, and undistributed labels that are making up the richness of Seattle’s musical community. Many of these labels have dedicated grassroots followings, but have not yet found their “cultural home”. The event aims to galvanize and centralize the Seattle-area record label community, while also welcoming a growing and heterogeneous audience of music listeners to partake in fundamentally “locally grown” music.

The daytime portion (12–7pm Free, All Ages) will allow visitors an opportunity to purchase rare offerings from labels, meet labels, discover new music, and catch a wide array of popular Seattle-area DJs spinning all under one roof. Accompanying this will be the presence of community arts/culture partners (zines, radio hosts, etc.), outdoor food trucks, projected visuals, a photo booth, music-themed activations and a raffle give-away. The evening portion (8pm doors, 21+, $12 day of show) will feature a lineup of 4 highly notable local bands represented by tabling labels, DJs, projections, and other specials to be announced.

The core organizing team:
- Chris Moore / Founder and Artistic Director (Audio Engineer and Record Producer; Chris also plays in the dream pop band, Spirit Award).
- Marianne Goldin / PR and Marketing Director (Senior Strategist at Wunderman Seattle agency; Marianne started the #frenchface brand and Weird French music nights).
- Jordan Rundle / Art and Design Director (Designer at Creature; Bassist and keyboard/synth engineer in Newaxeyes)
- Lura Bradford / Venue and Finance Director (Fred Wildlife Refuge Boss Babe; Rock n Roll aficionado; formerly a San Diego cultural events planner)
- Vi Tranchemontagne / Operations Director (Fred Wildlife Refuge Director of Operations; Revolver bar event booker; DJ; established the vinyl section at Easy Street in Queen Anne)

Plus many industry advisers representing radio, labels, press and the record label community…

Where: Fred Wildlife Refuge 128 Belmont Ave. East, Seattle WA, 98102
When: Saturday, July 16, 2016, 12pm-July 17, 2016 2am
Cost: Daytime no cover; Evening $10 Adv/$12 DoS
Ages: Daytime All Ages, Evening 21+
Who: CHANNEL Fest, a volunteer-driven grassroots committee

Contact:
Marianne Goldin – CHANNEL Fest Director of PR and Marketing
info@channelfest.com
www.channelfest.com, Twitter @channelfest, IG @channelfest

About the venue:
Fred Wildlife Refuge is an event and arts space whose mission is to support and foster multimedia art, collaborative art projects, performances, and installations for the Seattle Community. It strives to innovate by blending artistic disciplines to create a truly unique and transformative experience. It is housed in a 300-person capacity non-profit event space and recording studio, contained in a beautiful midcentury building just off Broadway on Capitol Hill. Fred’s two floors, stage, full-service sound system, 25' ceilings, a video wall, and full bar are home to weekly concerts, cultural events, private launch parties and festivals such as CHANNEL.