Terms & Conditions

We have Recently updated our Terms and Conditions. Please read and accept the terms and conditions in order to access the site

Terms and conditions of use 1. Introduction 1.1 These terms and conditions shall govern your use of our website. 1.2 By using our website, you accept these terms and conditions in full; accordingly, if you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use our website. 1.3 If you register with our website, submit any material to our website or use any of our website services, we will ask you to expressly agree to these terms and conditions. 1.4 You must be at least 18 years of age to use our website; and by using our website or agreeing to these terms and conditions, you warrant and represent to us that you are at least 18 years of age. 1.5 Our website uses cookies; by using our website or agreeing to these terms and conditions, you consent to our use of cookies. 2. Credit 2.1 This document was created using a template from SEQ Legal (http://www.seqlegal.com). 3. Copyright notice 3.1 Copyright (c) 2014 S.U.Corporation Ltd. T/A Strictly Underground. 3.2 Subject to the express provisions of these terms and conditions: (a) we, together with our licensors, own and control all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in our website and the material on our website; and (b) all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in our website and the material on our website are reserved. 4. Licence to use website 4.1 You may: (a) view pages from our website in a web browser; (b) download pages from our website for caching in a web browser; (c) print pages from our website; (d) stream audio and video files from our website; and (e) use our website, services by means of a web browser, subject to the other provisions of these terms and conditions. 4.2 Except as expressly permitted by Section 4.1 or the other provisions of these terms and conditions, you must not download any material from our website or save any such material to your computer. 4.3 You may only use our website for your own personal use, and you must not use our website for any other purposes. 4.4 Except as expressly permitted by these terms and conditions, you must not edit or otherwise modify any material on our website. 4.5 Unless expressly granted By Strictly Underground and subject only to the use of any provided share connections links provided on the web site and/or by direct written consent, you must not: (a) republish material from our website (including republication on another website); (b) sell, rent or sub-license material from our website; (c) show any material from our website in public; (d) exploit material from our website for a commercial purpose; or (e) redistribute material from our website. 4.6 Notwithstanding Section 4.5, you may redistribute using our provided share links directly and without interference between such links to the destination we provide. Any attempt to redistribute using a means to circumvent such links shall be a breach of copy write and these terms. 4.7 We reserve the right to restrict access to areas of our website, or indeed our whole website, at our discretion; you must not circumvent or bypass, or attempt to circumvent or bypass, any access restriction measures on our website. 5. Acceptable use 5.1 You must not: (a) use our website in any way or take any action that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or impairment of the performance, availability or accessibility of the website; (b) use our website in any way that is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity; (c) use our website to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software; (d) conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to our website without our express written consent; (e) access or otherwise interact with our website using any robot, spider or other automated means; (f) violate the directives set out in the robots.txt file for our website; or (g) use data collected from our website for any direct marketing activity (including without limitation email marketing, SMS marketing, telemarketing and direct mailing).] 5.2 You must not use data collected from our website to contact individuals, companies or other persons or entities. 5.3 You must ensure that all the information you supply to us through our website, or in relation to our website, is true, accurate, current, complete and non-misleading. 6. Registration and accounts 6.1 To be eligible for an individual account on our website under this Section 6, you must be at least 18 years of age. 6.2 You may register for an account with our website by completing and submitting the account subscribe form on our website, and clicking on the verification link in the email that the website will send to you. 6.3 You must notify us in writing immediately if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your account. 6.4 You must not use any other person's account to access the website. 7. User IDs and passwords 7.1 If you register for an account with our website, we may provide you with / you will be asked to choose a user ID and password. 7.2 Your user ID must not be liable to mislead and must comply with the content rules set out in Section 10; you must not use your account or user ID for or in connection with the impersonation of any person. 7.3 You must keep your password confidential. 7.4 You must notify us in writing immediately if you become aware of any disclosure of your password. 7.5 You are responsible for any activity on our website arising out of any failure to keep your password confidential, and may be held liable for any losses arising out of such a failure. 8. Cancellation and suspension of account 8.1 We may: (a) suspend your account; (b) cancel your account; and/or (c) edit your account details, at any time in our sole discretion without notice or explanation. 8.2 You may cancel your account on our website. 9. Your content: licence 9.1 In these terms and conditions, "your content" means all works and materials (including without limitation text, graphics, images, audio material, video material, audio-visual material, scripts, software and files) that you submit to us or our website for storage or publication on, processing by, or transmission via, our website. 9.2 You grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, store, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your content in any existing or future media / reproduce, store and publish your content on and in relation to this website and any successor website / reproduce, store and, with your specific consent, publish your content on and in relation to this website. 9.3 You grant to us the right to sub-license the rights licensed under Section 9.2. 9.4 You grant to us the right to bring an action for infringement of the rights licensed under Section 9.2. 9.5 You hereby waive all your moral rights in your content to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law; and you warrant and represent that all other moral rights in your content have been waived to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. 9.6 You may edit your content to the extent permitted using the editing functionality made available on our website. 9.7 Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach any provision of these terms and conditions in any way, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these terms and conditions in any way, we may delete, unpublish or edit any or all of your content. 10. Your content: rules 10.1 You warrant and represent that your content will comply with these terms and conditions. 10.2 Your content must not be illegal or unlawful, must not infringe any person's legal rights, and must not be capable of giving rise to legal action against any person (in each case in any jurisdiction and under any applicable law). 10.3 Your content, and the use of your content by us in accordance with these terms and conditions, must not: (a) be libellous or maliciously false; (b) be obscene or indecent; (c) infringe any copyright, moral right, database right, trade mark right, design right, right in passing off, or other intellectual property right; (d) infringe any right of confidence, right of privacy or right under data protection legislation; (e) constitute negligent advice or contain any negligent statement; (f) constitute an incitement to commit a crime, instructions for the commission of a crime or the promotion of criminal activity; (g) be in contempt of any court, or in breach of any court order; (h) be in breach of racial or religious hatred or discrimination legislation; (i) be anti-social; (j) be in breach of official secrets legislation; (k) be in breach of any contractual obligation owed to any person; (l) depict violence; (m) be pornographic, lewd, suggestive or sexually explicit; (n) be untrue, false, inaccurate or misleading; (o) consist of or contain any instructions, advice or other information which may be acted upon and could, if acted upon, cause illness, injury or death, or any other loss or damage; (p) constitute spam; (q) be offensive, deceptive, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, harassing, anti-social, menacing, hateful, discriminatory or inflammatory; or (r) cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any person or persons. 11. Limited warranties 11.1 We do not warrant or represent: (a) the completeness or accuracy of the information published on our website; (b) that the material on the website is up to date; or (c) that the website or any service on the website will remain available. 11.2 We reserve the right to discontinue or alter any or all of our website services, and to stop publishing our website, at any time in our sole discretion without notice or explanation; and save to the extent expressly provided otherwise in these terms and conditions, you will not be entitled to any compensation or other payment upon the discontinuance or alteration of any website services, or if we stop publishing the website. 11.3 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law and subject to Section 12.1, we exclude all representations and warranties relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions, our website and the use of our website. 12. Limitations and exclusions of liability 12.1 Nothing in these terms and conditions will: (a) limit or exclude any liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence; (b) limit or exclude any liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) limit any liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or (d) exclude any liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law. 12.2 The limitations and exclusions of liability set out in this Section 12 and elsewhere in these terms and conditions: (a) are subject to Section 12.1; and (b) govern all liabilities arising under these terms and conditions or relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions, including liabilities arising in contract, in tort (including negligence) and for breach of statutory duty. 12.3 To the extent that our website and the information and services on our website are provided free of charge, we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature. 12.4 We will not be liable to you in respect of any losses arising out of any event or events beyond our reasonable control. 12.5 We will not be liable to you in respect of any business losses, including (without limitation) loss of or damage to profits, income, revenue, use, production, anticipated savings, business, contracts, commercial opportunities or goodwill. 12.6 We will not be liable to you in respect of any loss or corruption of any data, database or software. 12.7 We will not be liable to you in respect of any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage. 12.8 You accept that we have an interest in limiting the personal liability of our officers and employees and, having regard to that interest, you acknowledge that we are a limited liability entity; you agree that you will not bring any claim personally against our officers or employees in respect of any losses you suffer in connection with the website or these terms and conditions (this will not, of course, limit or exclude the liability of the limited liability entity itself for the acts and omissions of our officers and employees). 13. Breaches of these terms and conditions 13.1 Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these terms and conditions in any way, we may: (a) send you one or more formal warnings; (b) temporarily suspend your access to our website; (c) permanently prohibit you from accessing our website; (d) block computers using your IP address from accessing our website; (e) contact any or all your internet service providers and request that they block your access to our website; (f) commence legal action against you, whether for breach of contract or otherwise; and/or (g) suspend or delete your account on our website. 13.2 Where we suspend or prohibit or block your access to our website or a part of our website, you must not take any action to circumvent such suspension or prohibition or blocking (including without limitation creating and/or using a different account). 14. Variation 14.1 We may revise these terms and conditions from time to time. 14.2 [The revised terms and conditions shall apply to the use of our website from the date of publication of the revised terms and conditions on the website, and you hereby waive any right you may otherwise have to be notified of, or to consent to, revisions of these terms and conditions 15. Assignment 15.1 You hereby agree that we may assign, transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with our rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions. 15.2 You may not without our prior written consent assign, transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with any of your rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions. 16. Severability 16.1 If a provision of these terms and conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect. 16.2 If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision of these terms and conditions would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect. 17. Third party rights 17.1 These terms and conditions are for our benefit and your benefit, and these terms and conditions are not intended to benefit or be enforceable by any third party. 17.2 The exercise of the parties' rights under these terms and conditions is not subject to the consent of any third party. 18. Entire agreement 18.1 Subject to Section 12.1, these terms and conditions, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of our website and shall supersede all previous agreements between you and us in relation to your use of our website. 19. Law and jurisdiction 19.1 These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law. 19.2 Any disputes relating to these terms and conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England. 20. Statutory and regulatory disclosures 21.1 This website is owned and operated by S.U.Corporation Ltd. T/A Strictly Underground 21.2 We are registered in England and Wales under registration number [number], and our registered office is at [address].] 21.3 Our principal place of business is at [address]. 21.4 You can contact us by writing to the business address given above, by using our website contact form, by social media.

Current Version: 1

Privacy Policy

We have Recently updated our Privacy Policy. Please read and accept the Privacy Policy in order to access the site

Business privacy policy

This website is owned and operated by Mark Ryder being the director of S.U.Corporation Ltd. T/A Strictly Underground This privacy policy sets out how Strictly Underground uses and protects any information that you give strictly underground when you use this website. Strictly Underground is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. Strictly Underground may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 23 May 2018. What we collect We may collect the following information: name and job title contact information including email address demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers What we do with the information we gather We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons: Internal record keeping. We may use the information to improve our products and services. We may periodically send promotional emailsabout new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided. From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests. We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure,we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. How we use cookies A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences. We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website. Links to other websites Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question. Controlling your personal information You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways: whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at support@markryder.com We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen. You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to [address]. If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Current Version: 1

Last Updated Date: 2nd June 2018

Strictly Underground Records

Strictly Underground Records

Bills, bills, bills, and still not a release!

Bills, bills, bills, and still not a release!

Something I have learned the very hard way is when you take things up a level thing incrementally get harder and cost more.

Its like walking along the sea front on a clam day. The wind is nice, it’s a bit cold but you enjoy it and the sea is just sliding in and out slowly, that lovely shushing sound of the pebbles rolling up and then back as the sea breaths in and out.

That is when things are easy. In my world of music it used to fell like that. I could go into the studio and I was part of the furniture I just plugged in and all the equipment just bent to my breathing it was not hard work and it was enjoyable and easy to do, I was the music my passion flowed with no complex stuff  just the calm sea and a nice walk was how easy making music was to me back then and i loved the challenges and would live in my little studio room until i had expressed the vibe i was trying to create but i loved doing it.

Go on READER close eyes and your mouth and take a slow deep breath`!

In through your nose and then slowly open you mouth and let it out.

Go on do it…

Please…

That was how easy making music was for me back in the days when raving was massive and dance music was still called electronic .

BUT NOW

Things have changed so much. I can’t say I find it hard to make music but now the making of music is almost incidental to all the other stuff you need to also do.

It feels like I’m trying to take that same breath in a room which is filling with smoke and I am choking as I try to breath out.

Its not that I have lost the ability to make music its just now the fight to complete the task ( and breath out) is so much harder because its no longer just the music I have to complete.

Its all the digital stuff I’m having to do before I can release anything and exhale and thats because the industry has changed so much from just making a record and putting it into a shops

The real cost to complete any single task is no longer about just making the record. Its much more intricate now if you want to get the attention of the public.

I have to be so precise about quality using so many different expensive applications and paying for other peoples specific knowledge in this digital world just to ensure that I am making something that’s of more value as everyone wants more than just the music if they are going to buy it.

Music can be ripped for free so now I need to offer so much more in order for people to want to pay and get the true value in what I am doing.

I know I could continue to just knock out tunes as MP3’s but in todays world they are worthless and disposable fodder for a world where music is now just a small file you can delete and replace for another and as for the pressing of vinyl (the old way) with the few record shops left, it is just as pointless a way to continue.

I know I have had to move forward but the bills the bills the bill

I made a track once in less than 5 mins while my girlfriend was drying her hair and she was shouting at me to be ready but I had this idea and it involved only 4 parts I had in my head and i had to do it but time was against me (women don’t take the word ‘ just 1 min’ very well) but i had this tune in my head and i had to express it before it was lost.  it used just

1 break

1 stab sound

1 vocal sample

1 bassline

You would think that it would be a bish bosh, waste of time but I am always firing with ideas. The track was called ‘Moon stomping’ it took 5 minutes to make and I had it in the shops on Vinyl in less than two weeks and it sold in the first month 20,000 copies on 12”.

It’s a simple tune but addictive and back then it was a perfect rave record and no- one else was on my tip or style. Playing a tune like that at a rave of 20-30,000 people, the quality was in the volume, it was about having the right sounds and being fresh.

I did not have to be so precious with my production or the cover on the artwork. Most of my artwork back then was hand drawn or  was cut letters stuck onto a label then photocopied.

5 mins while my girlfriend was drying her hair!  lol

Sounds stupid but music is a funny thing and being creative can sometimes be even funnier. You just know what works and if it’s good then its good as its all about the vibe.

It was easy to take risks with music I never put my name on hardly anything knocking tunes out that I knew were good but also protecting myself from the negative kick back if people did not understand my style

So here I am now 21st century music maker

I can still make music, I love it and my skills have improved over the years as my history in the charts will confirm but now I am stuck in so much new technology which I have to wade through in order to release anything worth the attention of the digital world public.

Artwork has to be polished and to spec, design, story, game, digital platform specifications are mind boggling

It’s not really music any of this stuff but it all has to be done and because of this I have had to sit on 6 really cool albums (I think) so that they stand a chance of being noticed in the crowded space of the throw away digital music world.

6 years! and during this time I have been trying to live and pay bills while doing this but also paying Hugh amounts of technical bills also.

The first two years of my digital work were written off totally as I started the massive project doing it all as Flash comics and videos

Apple kicked Flash out and I had to start all over again

People close to me (who should support me) are totally tired of me and my attempts to finish this project it’s now a boring story of “it will be finished soon” which i seem to say a lot and being told in response “get a real job” which is now the general perception of those around me

I think that’s sad as I know what I’m doing g is really cool but there is always a point when you can say “it will be out soon” one too many times and people start to think you’re a “west of space, living in dream land” and still the bills the bills the bills

All need to be paid.

I have sold almost all my studio gear and still the bills are coming but getting a full or part time job would just set my work back even more. The project is just so big and it all has to complete around the same time

I never realised how big and technical it was and how expensive it would all be but still I think it’s the dogs nuts and really cool but if no one tweets it or Facebook’s  it then I’m still stuffed.

Is this what being an Artist is about now days?, I suppose it is

That calm walk along the sea front is more like the hurricane season and I’m still there now, pushing against the gale to get to the other side.

Then there’s the final process “soon” I will be releasing it and it might still get stuck under a pile of music being release and never get seen

That will be the worst thing as then I would have been proved to have been a “waste of space”

I have been in this situation a few time before in my life, on the edge of loosing everything but somehow my belief in my work and what I do gets me through and I manage to get back up and the bills can all be paid again but this time there is so much more doubt with the world as it is (in recession) and pirating as it is (stealing seems acceptable) and how disposable music has become.

Will anyone care?

and if they do will they actually care enough to buy it?

or only care enough to only steal it?

Most people don’t get the opportunity to put their life into a project like I have always done.

I think people generally they take life day to day and they make ends meet but I’m not like most people I have always believed if I work hard with the passion I have for what I do and believe in what I’m working for I can succeed!

I can make people happy with the music i make and also make a financial return from my passion in music allowing me to continue being creative and paying my bills after all my efforts and risk.

So if you’re wondering about this blog

This was me thinking out loud, as I know “it will all be out soon” lol  at least when it is i can exhale again..

X