D.I.Y. SUPREMACY
Some more or less interesting blabbers about
the crucial choice of doing it or not.

D.I.Y = Do It Yourself, a word that probably appeared (or at least took most of its sense) in the end 70's referring to the many punk bands and labels that sold some very "poor" and dusty looking rehearsal tapes with harsh sounding music, as well as to the totally cut'n paste paper fanzines ran by total maniacs who couldn't do it any other way, thanx to the massive flow of alcohol in their nailed veins. Ah!
Back then, metal was a bit nicer and softer than punk (At least not as fucked up and poor/ street induced... At the end of 70's, it was the end of hardrock and some cool, but not so fuckked up, heavy metal bands were there), so I'm not sure if D.I.Y. could totally fit the metal of this epoch... But anyway, just wait a few years, and have a look at it: it's commonly known the first thrash metal bands like METALLICA or SLAYER used to record rehearsal and demo tapes.

In most of D.I.Y cases,  the label is generally a very little structure, most of the time composed or one or two peoples at the most... So, you're able to control everything from A to Z, and so be aware of everything that occurs in the inside. It sounds far more enriching than being a part of something bigger with only a little very focused contribution... What kind of nice things could you learn if you always do a cool, but repetitive activity? On, the other hand, if you do it all, you have all the responsibility, rights and decisions to make the whole shit evolve in a way or another... with or without flies. No bad surprise, no looser-partner that wastes it all, you all did it yourself. (If you can't trust yourself a little bit, good luck to achieve something... No, I'm not thinking about someone in particular Ahr Ahr)

Do It Yourself, Be Yourself: No need to stress as hell, and follow the mainstream anal waves to release one more "proooo" CD, just because many traders think it won't sell well enough (Because they don't sell tapes or CDr anymore... Hu!! I sell some almost everyday.) or because a part of the scene do not know anymore how to handle or consider a demo (Strange isn't is?). Do what you FEEL, with a minimum of conscience. There will always be enough peoples to feel and think the same way you do, and finally things are possible.

If you can't think it yourself, how could you do it yourself?

Professional CDs are always meant to be sold, so a good looking packaging is necessary...  Fuck the marketing focus! D.I.Y releases can be much more experimental, visually creative and surprising! Did you cross that many professional CDs soaked with stinking pork-blood? No, but at least I met a nice amount of strange tapes héhé... and the mighty odor emerging from the package was both interrogating and a bit disgusting.
Can you take that much risks releasing a professional CD? Hard, especially since you're meant to sell it... D.I.Y seems to be the only solution to release something many peoples won't be interested in... At least you can TRY to release it and spread that to few peoples... If it really don't sell, the loss of money won't be the reason for your decline.

This is also a matter of levels and considerations: While peoples are generally more demanding concerning the music of their professionally pressed CDs (Eventhough, I have some burning doubts considering the amount of well produced musical shits that emerge from the ass of the shitfeeding "musical industry" (You can also call it "underground" or "metal scene" if you wish, businessmen are everywhere, even when there's apparently no money or fame to earn...) than the music of demos (that are meant to be some kind of demonstrations items, showing what a band is able to do...). So why are all these bands trying to release at all cost a "fucking brillant" professional album, the soonest the better, at all fucking costs, while they're sure to sound at best average on what is meant to be a fucking pact of insane quality (an album is supposed to be the best of the best a band could record after years of hard work, the best of the best riffs and ideas they have gathered from their most fukked up days) while their music could only be considered as better on a D.I.Y/ Demo format? That's quite funny if you ask me, many bands want to reach a bigger level and impress peoples with their "professionalism", while many of these peoples might think the bands' pretentions are too big and releasing such kind of average music on a professional format isn't realistic and lacks a sense of serious professionalism... Uh?

Releasing something in very small limited quantities is impossible with professional solutions, unless you have a fucking big lot of money... So, if you do things yourself, you are even able to release cult rehearsal demos strictly limited to one copy! So, you'll became the cultest of the cult! Cool isn't it? ;-)
If you have a lot of fucking money, what's the use of claiming to do it yourself? Maybe for the styyyyle? Sorry, but the spirit can't be there... get a life and release something professional. Thanx.

Since the massive expend of home-computers, it became really easier to decently record your music (Even with an average soundcard and common slow-priced microphones... At least, it will sound better than rehearsal demos from the past... So always listenable or edible for underground maniacs (the first ones supposed to put an hear on underground music, right? Or maybe I'm living in the past?)), to do a nice looking layout, and to burn everything on a CDr. So why not trying to do it yourself? But some will answer: "Maybe since everyone can burn a CDr, this format is pure fucking shit! It's too easy to burn it, the cult has gone, and it looks fucking homo!" One should interrogate himself to know if he really needs to be a total-rebel that always needs to fuck the mainstream and make his life harder to be so fucking proud of the pro? Hu?

D.I.Y means work: If you think a webzine is 100% D.I.Y., I can't totally agree... Many of the elements were ready to use: Did you build the website editor? Did you set up your computer to host your website and share it with other peoples? As you can see, it's so fucking easy with computers, that the "Do It Yourself" words can't really fit. All were pre-mashed, and you currently only have to open your mouth and shit in the right holes to suddenly becomes one more superstar, in only few minutes! RRRrrhhhaaaa! You're so clever, and everyone loves YOU!!! ALL THE LOVE OF THE WORLD SUDDENLY FALLS ON YOUR KNEES!! HOURAH!!
But think for a minute about the good old paper zines. These WC-paper alike and old looking pieces of crap many "metallers" talk shit about: The editors had to write everything, type everything, do the layout, xerox everything, compile the zines, package the fanzines to send it, go to the post office and send it all, search for distros to sell more zines, find some money to xerox more zines and send it, spread always more flyers to sell few more zines, find a new girlfriend that can have a less active sexual life (Fanzines take a lot of time haha), find more money to send more zines... Pfffew! Did I really do that on spare time? Seems like I turned quite lazy.

D.I.Y doesn't mean Do It small. It's possible to spread a big quantity of a CDr demo. It won't cost you that much if you're careful and do it with a serious analysis of how things work, little by little. For example, if you trade 1 CDr + 10 covers of your demo with many distros and other bands, you're able to spread a FUCKING lot of copies everywhere... I think it could be as expensive to spread 3-4000 CDr demos as it could be to spread 1000 professional CDs... So, it would be a clever fucking idea to think about what's the most important; to be proud of a pro CD, or to be proud of having 4x more copies of the music circulating.

Then, if you really want to spread your demo, you'll have to face the minds of the "True undergrounders" who will scream: "A demo is supposed to be very limited, hand-numbered, otherwize it's not cult anymore and looses the "underground appeal""... Well, one could wonder why a demo SHOULD be limited at all costs to a very small amount, back in the 80's and 90's bands didn't choose to but couldn't afford to send many copies (because tapes were heavier and much more expensive than CDr), and what will happen if too many copies are circulating, what will appear if more than XXX copies have been listened to? Maybe someone will realize this fucking cult demo isn't that cult anymore and the music sucks? And after all, since it would be only demos circulating everywhere between underground peoples, what the fuck could change, expect the fact more underground peoples would listen to the band? JUST DO IT, DO IT YOURSELF!

All is a matter of priorities: if you think your music is good enough to be wide spread, but can't afford to press and spread a professional album, it might be a good idea to "only" release a CDr, and spread and trade a lot of copies everywhere! (In this case, master + covers rules!). All depends on what you want to achieve... (To spread a professional album is no as easy as it initially seems... Thanx to our god cash... At the beginning you have the illusion the label of "Professional fucking CD" will help the band a lot to sell and spread it's music... Whaaaa!! We released a pro CD!! We are the shit! But the fucking money it costed to press the shit, plus all the money it costs to trade it (Ha... It's not as easy to sell 1000 CDs as it initially seemed... Peoples are more difficult with albums... So it's finally necessary to trade it again...  Not so different than the "Shit demos", isn't it?) is a fucking invest that makes the band really slower for a while... On the other hand, if you have a CDr release, you can spread it little by little, and in case of some important need of cash, it won't be the time for tears of blood.

If you don't do it yourself, who the fuck will do it for you?
Ok, many things actually seem to be free on the Internet, eventhough our cybernetic spaces of freedom are always more reduced, but do you think you could do that much for FREE on the web? Are there so many services you could use without paying? Really? Are there anymore that much things you could entirely do for free without anything else in mind? When you're online and clicking, have you got the feeling you're doing something real? Does it affect something material (a material cause for a material effect) or is it only some moves of vacant voids of thoughts in your mind?

If you think D.I.Y is shit, why did did you read it all, spitting and saying I'm a fucking retard? It's most probably high-time for you to "Do it yourself" and click the little button on the upper right. Thanx for clicking, and have a good night.