With the 2nd Berlin chapter of Independent Label Market in front of us, we’ll portrait a few labels close to our heart that exhibit at this fine event. Third in line is London based Erased Tapes (which was founded by Robert Raths), a label with a soft spot for electronic music that just loves to twist and turn genre conventions until these are finally obsolete .

Robert, in a climate where people tend to download tracks only instead of listening to whole albums, what made you decide to actually found a label that's also rich on vinyl releases? I see it this way: You might meet someone in a digital space and form some sort of relationship based on emoticons and animated gifs. But it’s nothing compared to the power of meeting people in real life, who put a real smile on your face. The same goes to experiencing music in physical form. Yes, being part of the Walkman generation, I of course do appreciate music being mobile, but only for so long. When I get back home I can’t wait to put on a vinyl record and listen to it in a real space, coming out of real horn speakers that allow the music to run freely, uncompressed, bleeding through the balcony door into the streets of a real neighbourhood, which in return bleeds back into my space with the sound of the wind and people walking by. Maybe it will brighten up someone’s day, or maybe someone will complain about the noise – but at least it will start a real conversation. No one knows what will happen to Soundcloud in five, ten, twenty years time. But you will still be able to find some hidden treasures in a dusty old record store in Soho. No one meets on iTunes, but people do meet in real record stores. Unless that’s part of Apple's next upgrade, and we'll all hang out in digital stores. What a nightmare.

Your label might touch a certain genre superstructure but certainly crosses over to other styles - and hopefully therefore a different audience - as well... was that a quintessential point on the label's agenda from the very beginning or did that actually develop through the “work in progress“, so to speak? A superstructure? Amazing. This word might lift this whole genre debate to a brand new level. Of course genres are only meant to help us communicate better, just like any other word that can be found in our dictionaries. But do they ever really describe what we see or feel? Surely the guy or girl that first came up with ridiculous terms like Neo-, New-, Modern- or Post-Classical only meant well, trying to sum it all up under one all-encompassing word to describe this very crossover between classical and contemporary ideas. Whilst really, it means nothing. The other day I found Dawn of Midi and Colin Stetson in the Jazz section of a little record store. It was a classic store with just five or so different sections. So I guess it was most fitting, but then again, it didn’t fit anywhere. That’s how I sometimes feel about the label. Adam (Wiltzie) of A Winged Victory For The Sullen ones described us as the pariahs of this century. Maybe these composers in fact bend the superstructures as little super heroes. Who knows. Anyhow, I certainly think that grey area is where music is most alive.

Besides building a unique artist roster, how important is the visual side of the label to you? Very important. When done well, the record already starts spinning in your head when you look at the cover artwork. I see it as an entrée. But as with most starters, less is more.

Any artist you wished you would've signed when you had the chance to? No, because it would have happened if it was really meant to happen. Music isn’t a sport. I’m not a scout and artists certainly aren’t something you bid on and if you don’t get the one you want you look for the next best bet. Music is not an industry, it’s a community. And essentially you want to work with people that share the same vision. Life’s too short to even think of it as a missed chance. I don’t believe in chance, but I believe in the right time and the right space to be persistent and determined.

Is there actually a release on your label that you're particularly proud of? My mum always used to say you should never be too proud of what you do. In fact, I think you should never stop to question what you are doing, because then the magic disappears. There’s around eighty releases I’ve been working on in these past eight years, and each and every one of them is part of this journey, our little story. Sure, there’s peaks, but these are thanks to the people that listen and pay attention to it. So if anything, then it’s the audience I’m most proud of. In moments like when 5000 of them came out to celebrate our BBC Proms night with us in London despite the tube strike and some even had to walk for an hour to get there. These peaks you can never predict nor question. You simply appreciate them as they get you through the ebbs.

If you knew back then what you certainly know now, would you consider founding a record label again? Certainly. I can’t imagine it any other way.