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Off with their Records is a community interest digital record label committed to DOWNLOADS over streaming. Most of our catalogue is not available on Spotify.

Read the ABOUT section to learn more.

Hey! Our online sales platform just shut up shop. Please bare with us while we relocate all our digital products to another platform. Products will appear below as and when they are uploaded.
In the meantime, you can email ideolog@hotmail.co.uk if you need anything.

Bavarien Rocket Groop - Eine Kleine Musik - cover

Bavarien Rocket Groop - Eine Kleine Musik - digibundle

The most long-running band of the genius, Shane O'Linski, Bavarien Rocket Groop have served as conduits of magic for Shane for decades. This album features 11 songs selected from the 50 or so that Shane recorded over a few sessions in 2018 and so represents something of a 'Best of' from those sessions.

Download includes 11-track album, PDF scans of Shane's hand-written lyric sheets, photo gallery, cover art and bonus track.

#OWT007

£4

Tom Conway - Idle Birdie - front cover.jpg

Tom Conway - Idle Birdie - digibundle

31 solo guitar pieces arranged and performed by Tom Conway ranging from 13th Century folk tunes to David Bowie and everything in between. This album showcases the extraordinary breadth of Tom's musical influences and his guitar technique. Tom is a musician of extraordinary calibre, drawing on the legacy of English folk guitarists such as Bert Jansch and Davey Graham, classical guitar, and his own unique character.

This double album sold out two runs of CDs and there are no plans to print any more so this digibundle is the only place to find it. Full track list in product description. Download includes extensive notes on the history of each piece.

#OWT004

£5

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Soyuz Rats - EP II - digibundle

Experimental noise-rock duo formed by Rob Burton and Chris Richford whose musical and artistic adventures continue to be the stuff of legend. Soyuz Rats released a handful of singles and EPs from 2016-2020, this 2nd EP was released as a digibundle through Off with their Records in 2017. 

Download includes the 4-track album + 7 remixes, exclusive music video of Rob and Chris producing an artwork as the EP plays, plus cover art and info.

#OWT003

£4

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Painted Heathers - Perennial - digibundle

Blinding Britpop brilliance from Brandon Jacobs (Neils Children alumnus). This digibundle contains their debut album, released in 2017 with Off with their Records, as well as the 'Weird Things' digital release from 2024.

Download includes the 12-track album + 5-track 'Weird Things' digital EP, 2 music videos, plus cover art and info.

#OWT002

£4

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The Vicars of Stiffkey - Live and Uncassocked

The first ever digibundle to be released by 'Off with their Records' which we will forever keep at the ever-special price of £3.

The Vicars of Stiffkey are a psych-rock supergroup from Norwich. Internationally renowned painter, Will Teather, helms the project, imbuing the music with the dramatic and aesthetic sensibilities that feed his art, as well as a commanding baritone that defines the band's sound.

Other featured musicians include, Shane O'Linski and Tom Conway.

Download includes the 7-track album + 5 bonus tracks, music video, 'making of' document, album cover by Will Teather and press photos.

#OWT001

£3

If you've been reading my blog posts you will have noticed that Off with their Records has gone through a a bit of existential uncertainty over the last year or two. The record label started with a very specific purpose which was to promote the practice of downloading music. The reasons for this were twofold (skip the next paragraph if you're already familiar with my schtick):

Firstly, paid downloads are the way the Digital Revolution benefits independent labels and artists. The practice of streaming was backed by the big 3 record labels in response to the Digital Revolution because it benefited them, with their monolithic back catalogues and bespoke deals with Spotify, at the expense of us small, up-and-coming artists. You know independent artists get paid about £0.0024 per stream on Spotify, so if you're only listening to new music, where does the rest of your subscription fee go? It goes to the big 3 to pay for having their back catalogues. I repeat: direct paid downloads are the way independent labels and artists benefit most from the Digital Revolution ('subscription' models, such as Patreon, are also a promising development). Secondly, the practice of streaming breaks up and decontextualises music. The 'LP-era' was the era when the music industry became bigger than Hollywood, because music became so much more than 3-minute pop ephemera with interchangeable artists. The LP allowed popular music to become something deeper and more meaningful than it had been before. The practice of streaming throws us backwards, stripping music of what once elevated it. Digital downloads, or 'digibundles' as I call them, not only allow artists to release substantial, cogent works of art, they exponentially increase the possibilities for supporting artwork and artistic expression.


And so, when Off with their Records launched in 2017, it was meant to be entirely digital. In practice, however, I started making CDs and merch. Partly so that I had a physical token to sell at gigs that I could attach a download to, partly because people still wanted physical media at that time. Then, as the years marched on, things invariably sprawled. I found myself becoming embroiled in producing more and more physical media while physical media itself was becoming less and less popular. For example, in 2024 I produced about 200 CDs even though most people these days don't have a CD player, they don't even put CD drives into computers anymore. That's something which has changed markedly in the 8 years that the label has been operating. There has been a little surge in vinyl but these are expensive to produce and not in keeping with the label structure and ethos. Furthermore, the technology that tech companies produce has made streaming more and more convenient and downloads more and more inconvenient. I know my Marxist theory and this is dialectical materialism in action. The big 3 have undercut the Digital Revolution for their own gain. And so this left me in a real fluffery buffery as, over the last couple of years, I have questioned what I'm really doing with this label. Readers of this blog will see I've flip-flopped on various restructuring initiatives such as changing my website, moving to Bandcamp, developing an app and I've even considered backing off the label altogether. But, as I was thinking about my next release and as I start re-uploading my back catalogue due to my online sales platform shutting down, the clouds dispersed and it all became clear once again.


Off with their Records is going back to its roots. We are doubling down big time, baby. We are focusing once again on downloads, downloads, downloads. In practice, not a lot will apparently change, but in emphasis and intent we're back on brand. The website is being restructured to put emphasis on downloads. All our downloads will be presented on the front page. We are also improving all the downloads to make sure they are as good as they can be, truly fulfilling the label's vision of substantial 'digibundles' as a superior medium for experiencing music and artists. To facilitate this, we're moving to the sales platform, Shopify, which provides a better service for the purchase of paid downloads. Where we produce and sell merch it will be done in partnership with artists and investors, and a lot of our old merch will now be available only from gigs. And again we are re-emphasising that dialogue with you, the fans, is crucial. Downloads are better than streaming but the industry and the resultant technology is against us, we need feedback from you to make sure we're doing everything we can to make downloads viable and desirable. So please browse our downloads, buy something, let us know what you think, follow us on our socials and bookmark this website, come to our gigs and support our artists. Your enthusiasm fuels the art which feeds your soul.


Ryan Williamson - 14/03/2025 ideolog@hotmail.co.uk

  • Jan 14

As the new "yeah!" passes into being, I have to post an obligatory statement. 

Last year, I released albums from Joey Herzfeld, Tom Conway and the inimitable Shane O'Linski (under the name 'Haemogoblin'). I also started up the podcast again and produced 12 episodes, each one featuring a session from a different Norwich band or artist, find it at PMVpodcast.co.uk or wherever people get podcasts. And I played and helped run dozens of gigs. Despite all that, it felt like a very lazy year. Sure, I have a job and a family but I also spent an inordinate amount of time playing Crash Team Racing, watching TV and reading comic books. And I wouldn't change a thing, I tell ya, mwah ha ha ha. Moving into '25, I am continuing to try and respond dynamically to the world around me, not keep running on tracks. I have talked before about how the label evolves over the years, it was created with firm ideals and practices in answer to the consequences of the Digital Revolution. 8 years later, while the principles remain the same, the culture and technological context continues to change. I feel the label needs to rethink how it operates in order to continue being cutting edge. Nonetheless, all that shite aside, we will continue to release, produce and support art which inspires, lifts and improves the world around it. 

Continue to support us by following us. One thing we're looking into is our relationship with social media but we're still there for now. And purchase our products. Again, we're looking into various other music platforms but currently purchasing a download direct from our store is still the best way to support us and our artists and it's an active and meaningful way to listen to music. Thanks and wishing you the best of yeahs.

Ryan.x

It's true. PMVpodcast is back. And I've lost my capacity for coming up with witty titles for my blog posts. It was long ago, in 2013, that I first started up PMVpodcast. It ran from 2013-2018, 70 episodes, each featuring a live session from a different band along with interviews, local music news, gig listings and DIY chat. A number of things have influenced me to start up the podcast again. The big reason is that I've had to take down the old episodes, the platform I was using to host them has become defunct and I can't justify paying for it any longer. So I've seized on the opportunity to do what I've wanted to do for a long time which is to remaster and repackage the old episodes. So the new series alternates new sessions with remastered old sessions. 

Search for PMVpodcast on any podcast app to find it. If you're having trouble then go to https://pmvpodcast.podbean.com/ to find direct links to listen and follow on any platform.

Pod bless you, my child

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Our downloads and streams are designed to be experienced that way. Connect with artists, discover music.
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