PC Music
PC Music is a record label and art collective based in London and run by producer A. G. Cook. It was founded in 2013, making its music available on SoundCloud that year. Artists on its roster have included Hannah Diamond, GFOTY, Danny L Harle, EASYFUN, Namasenda, and Planet 1999. The label's releases have been showcased on the compilations "PC Music Volume 1" (2015) and "Volume 2" (2016). The label is known for its surreal or exaggerated take on pop music tropes from the 1990s and 2000s, often featuring pitch-shifted, feminine vocals and bright, synthetic textures. PC  Music has been characterized as embracing the aesthetics of advertising, consumerism, and corporate branding. Its artists often present devised personas inspired by cyberculture. The label has inspired both praise and criticism from journalists, and has been called "polarizing". Background. The label functions as a collective in which acts frequently collaborate with each other. Many of the acts are aliases, obscuring the identities and number of artists on the label. Early on, the label kept tight control over its branding and limited its interaction with journalists, and as its profile grew, Cook declined to engage with press, described as a sort  of Berry Gordy figure within the group. "Vice" magazine said that PC Music's acts are best understood not as living people but as "meticulously planned and considered long-running art pieces…living installations who put out music." Cook mentioned preference for "recording people who don't normally make music and treating them as if they're a major label artist." Rather than engaging in extended promotional campaigns, the label continually announces new acts. Each develops a persona that is conveyed through Internet slang and cartoon imagery. History. Cook had previously worked on Gamsonite, a "pseudo-label" and blog collecting  his early collaborations, among other projects while studying music at Goldsmiths, University of London. He founded PC Music in August 2013, as a way of embracing an A&R role. Within a year the label had published 40 songs on SoundCloud where, as of September 2014, some of its songs had accumulated over 100,000 listens. It had not released a physical single, and its first paid download did not come until the November 2014 release of Hannah Diamond's "Every Night". QT's "Hey QT" single was also released in 2014, on XL Recordings, with production from Cook and PC Music -affiliate Sophie. In March 2014, the label made their live debut in the United States when Cook, Sophie and QT performed at Hype Machine's Hype Hotel during South by Southwest.<ref>name="joyce-spin">