Micromusic.net and Microbuilder Community Construction Kit

Micromusic was an internet community platform and digital playground for creators of experimental audio.

Swiss-based sound enthusiasts Gino Esposto and Michael Burckhardt (pictured) initiated the project in 1998, to bring together audio producers, technologists and creatives who shared their passion for lo-tech music, game culture and digital lifestyle. The Micromusic web interface launched in August 1999, and quickly established bridges between internet communities and various on/offline scenes and formats.

The possibility of group collaboration, combined with meticulously curated audio-visual and editorial content, created a highly contextualised digital environment which attracted hundreds of worldwide digital audio creators and future collaborators.

The Microbuilder Community Construction Kit, which included the Micromusic web platform software and community web tools, was released to encourage others to build and manage special interest online systems and communities.

Micromusic's notable achievements include an honorary mention in Net Vision category at the Prix ARS Electronica 2001 (Joshua Davis received the highest prize for his influential PrayStation.com which was achieving similar success using Carnivore to connect digital visual artists online); winner of Swiss Design Award in 2003; a number of product compilations released with Swiss music label partners Domizil; and regular offline events which helped attract new worldwide audiences to the playful, lo-tech/hi-tech aesthetic and sound of Micromusic musicians and artists.

Interesting note: Micromusic founders criticised Malcolm Mclaren in an open letter to the former Sex Pistols manager for his mis-representation of chip music in a November 2003 issue of Wired magazine. Did he respond?

(micromusic.net still remains online. I dare you not to smile while listening to samples of audio tracks created by project members!)