Hello everybody!

this is a hard choice for me to make, but I guess its time to think about how Alerta Antifascista Records can continue without me going crazy.

As most of you know, Alerta has been around since 2001 and since then, I worked so much to support the d.i.y scene, because I care so much about it, it became part of me, putting out these records, touring with these bands, creating a family through these connections. I booked so many tours, I set up hundreds of shows and festivals, I drove for almost a decade on tour with bands, always tried to charge the cheapest prices as possible. and now, after 16 years I have to admit to myself that I can't continue like this.

I always had to work so many hours per day, every day of the week and I worked more than my health is able to handle. In the last five years I have had two massive burn outs, I have made myself sick through 14 hour days, and I feel that I am on course for another crash. I guess I never had the time to recover and that has made my health situation even worse.

I got the last burn out when we became part of a housing co-op, a massive old school rebuilt into a living house, my partner was pregnant with our child, and in that year I worked even more than usual and continued to make my health worse. I have a family to support and I do not wish for my relationships to suffer as a result of this work load.

I have thought long and hard about what I should do. It makes me very sad as Alerta is part of me and there are only a few options available to me. Continue, or close the label. So this is what I am going to do.

The most obvious choice is to raise the price of my records by a few euros. Selling records at a slightly higher price will allow me to take on an employee who will help me run the label and to make sure I have enough money for living at the end of the month and so I don't need to work like 70-80 hours a week.

Delivery time will be slightly longer. I try to send out records the next day, but I put myself under artificial pressure to achieve this. So, records will be sent out once a week, on post day. This might add one more week to your delivery time, but don't worry! Your record is on the way!

I may cut down some activities and only release a limited amount of records per year. which would be less work, less expenses and therefor more money to put towards supporting and promoting those releases. My only issue with this is that I want to put out records by so many wonderful bands and I still get so excited about these amazing records, its hard to say no!

Anyway, the reason I am drawing attention to this is that I want to be open and honest about running a label like this. I think maybe from the outside this label might seem bigger than it actually is - but its just me, and I have huge amounts of expenses to cover, to rent the space to house the label and to press the records and make the merch. I am a punk, and I care a great deal about diy, about all of the people who I interect with online, at shows, this is supposed to be a community and so I want to turn to you and let you know these decisions. I guess there will always be people who will accuse me of capitalising or selling out or whatever, but honestly running a record label is no simple task. It has been 16 years since I started this and only once or twice have I felt like I couldn't continue but I always have. We all deserve to have a happy life, and Alerta does make me happy, but perhaps small adjustments will make it easier for me to achieve this without becoming ill again. Punks are no exception, we all live in this system and we all have to make a living, and to live.

Alerta got too big to handle, but also doesn't make enough money to survive.

To get things going and as a fun little opportunity, I will launch a little label benefit. I am offering the test presses of my releases, super limited. It will be blind bag, so you won't know what you're getting, but if you buy more testpressings you will get different records. It can be a Fall of Efrafa, Archivist, Sangharsha, Dezafra Ridge, Sol, Autarch etc with a limited edition cover! These will be shipped at the beginning of August.

Thank you for your time and patience and if you have any questions feel free to message me,

hugs, Timo

Testpress Sale: doomrock.com/Musik/LP/Alerta-Antifascista-Records-Testpress-LP::1514.html