I cannot confidently say that I reached what I had in mind. Perhaps lack of effort, motivation to reach more. What I learnt though is that it is all about creating an illusion. Were I to revisit the idea of a netlabel today, I would advise to:

quit critical thinking and get used to presenting claims as undisputed facts

get used to considering an audience as helpless masses which eagerly await your instructions

exaggerate an artist’s, label’s or reviewer’s importance when outlining his achievements

emulate images, poses and phrases from today’s top mainstream stars.

find use and content in every submission and instruct people to do so, too

create accounts on every social networking site there is and collect strategically important friends

constantly repeat desired attributes people shall associate with you, your label and your artists

never argue with label owners or artists no matter how justified it appears

be sure to religiously follow the latest trends in music, buzzwords, gadges and web services

enrich Wikipedia with articles about your netlabel and its artists to inflate your importance

How about contacts? Some never get back to me in time, others confuse me with the doctor in ward nr. 6 or expect me to unconditionally admire them. Sometimes none of the former is happening, but in this case you can be sure that the conversation will die once the other side has accomplished its goals. Wear a mask, get used to it. There is no friendship, only different shades of solitude: One that manifests itself with being a stranger amongst many “friends”, another that unexpectedly cuts off conversations or one that never gets started at all.

If there was a change in 2008 then it was an increasing reluctance to write about me or subjects in general. Writing always implies importance of a subject. Thoughtless writing, however, can inadvertingly heighten subjects to an importance they never had. I approached the edge staring in Thanatos’ face and struggled to escape. He poisoned my thoughts, emphasising monotony, hopelessness and ignorance and yet I continued for reasons unknown to me.

I wrote better music and made better photographs, but my output slowed down notably towards the second half of the year. Perhaps the greatest advances were related to design. A mixed year. Things never turn out the way one would like them to see and instead prefer a steady state.