Ethereal Label Society
Virtual record label guide and frequently asked questions
More than a playlist: a home for the artists you champion
Playlists bring songs together. ELS gives you a fan-curated virtual label built around artists: a recognizable identity, a small roster, and a public history of your discoveries.
- Build a name for your taste. Give your label its own name, logo, and philosophy so listeners know who chose the music and what connects it.
- Give each artist room. Feature 3 to 10 different artists, one current release each, with space to explain your choices and add artist links. Use Bandcamp or Spotify listening destinations.
- Reach listeners across Indie Music Bus. Eligible labels and their artists can appear alongside articles, interviews, Artist Features, and the Music Opportunities directory. Genres connect labels to the featured act or to a reader's selected genres in Music Opportunities. Qualifying labels are chosen at random, with an equal chance for each label. When no genres are set or no labels match, a general Discover ELS selection can appear instead.
- Keep a history of your discoveries. Published roster and ranked-chart editions remain in your label history as you introduce new music. Listeners can explore earlier selections as well as your current artists.
- Take part in wider discovery. Each eligible label supplies one artist when a Master Chart cycle opens. Listeners vote on those candidates; streams, sales, and follower counts do not determine the results.
Use this guide to understand Ethereal Labels, fan-curated virtual record labels, artist participation, charts, listener voting, recognition, privacy, and support.
Getting started
An Ethereal Label is a fan-curated virtual record label for music discovery inside Indie Music Bus. It is not a legal or real-world record label. Society curators maintain labels. Artists may use restricted artist accounts for exclusive participation. Listeners may browse artist rosters and ranked charts, listen to featured releases, and vote in an open Master Chart cycle without an ELS account.
A music fan may apply to become a Society curator. After email confirmation and operator approval, WordPress sends the restricted account password setup. An invited artist starts with the private invitation link. A listener starts on a public Ethereal Label or Master Chart page.
Society curator guide
- After Indie Music Bus creates your restricted curator account, use the standard WordPress password setup email to sign in to the front-end Studio. Accept the Society curator terms before creating your one Ethereal Label.
- A curator account does not provide WordPress Admin access, and one person may operate only one Ethereal Label.
- ELS is built first for music fans: listeners, collectors, bloggers, DJs, and scene supporters. Artists may curate too, but a label must introduce music beyond the curator's own work.
- A label may include no more than one artist that its curator performs as or with, manages, represents, or financially benefits from. Declare that relationship in the artist information form. It appears publicly on the label page after review. Each artist has one current release entry, not several slots for different songs. The rest of the roster must reflect genuine independent curation.
- Set the label name, philosophy, approved color scheme, logo, supported social profiles, and whether visitors may send artist requests. Use Edit label details in the Studio to change these settings later. A new or replacement logo remains private until review.
- Choose nonexclusive curator selection, or exclusive participation that requires the artist to create an account, confirm email access, accept the invitation, and receive your final acceptance.
- Publish 3 to 10 artists as either an ordered roster or a ranked chart. A new ranked chart edition may publish once every 7 days after review. Ordered roster publication does not use the chart interval.
- An ordered-roster label remains public and discoverable. Its artists keep the curator's published order without rank numbers. Both ordered rosters and ranked charts can supply one weighted Master Chart representative. Chart-based recognition still requires a current ranked chart.
- Curators may add a short description and up to three supported social profile links for each artist. These details appear only on the individual label page, not on the Master Chart.
- When artist requests are enabled, validated requests appear as private collapsed entries in your Studio inbox. Email is only an additional notification and may not arrive. Open a request to see its details, reply using your own email if you wish, and dismiss it when you no longer need the pending contact record.
- When a 7-day Master Chart cycle opens, one artist is selected from each eligible label's current ordered list. Positions receive descending weights, so artists nearer the top have a better chance while every listed artist remains eligible. The selection is made once and frozen for the cycle. The Master Chart needs at least 3 eligible labels and 10 valid votes for an official ranking.
- Established Ethereal Label recognition begins with objective eligibility and operator review. It is free, cannot be purchased, and does not affect ranking, voting, or editorial decisions.
- The Founders Badge recognizes labels whose first approved public roster or chart of 3 to 10 artists is published before January 1, 2027, in the Indie Music Bus site timezone. It is automatic, permanent historical recognition and gives no ranking, voting, access, or editorial advantage.
- Use the correction workflow for accidental errors. Serious rule concerns are reviewed by Indie Music Bus and may result in suspended access. Use normal account recovery if you cannot sign in.
Artist guide
- A restricted artist account begins with a private invitation. Email confirmation proves control of the supplied email address only. It does not verify legal identity, authority to represent an artist, or ownership of a Bandcamp or Spotify account.
- A curator may place an artist on a nonexclusive roster or ranked chart without creating an ELS participation relationship. Artists can still request a correction or removal from the public route.
- When a label accepts requests, its public page shows the correct request option. Nonexclusive labels accept chart-consideration requests. Exclusive-participation labels accept requests to join. The request is stored privately in the owning curator's Studio inbox. Email is only a best-effort notification. A request does not add an artist, guarantee placement, or replace the exclusive invitation and approval process.
- Exclusive participation requires your consent and the curator's acceptance. It applies only inside ELS. It does not change music rights, management, representation, ownership, or other real-world relationships.
- Public label pages may show an artist name, release title, short description, supported social profiles, Bandcamp or Spotify listening link, label context, and publication history. A position number appears only when the curator publishes a ranked chart. Private email and account details are not published.
- Bandcamp and Spotify links are listening or support destinations. ELS does not claim that the link verifies the artist or account owner.
- Optional Spotify and Bandcamp players load only after you activate the player control. The plain provider link remains available when a player is blocked or unavailable.
- An artist may leave an exclusive-participation label at any time through the protected departure flow. Published historical editions remain unchanged as history.
- Use the permanent correction or removal route for public information concerns. Use WordPress account recovery for sign-in problems and Indie Music Bus support for unresolved access or privacy concerns.
Accessibility and voting guide
Choose one Master Chart contender, then either hold the vote control continuously for 5 seconds or activate the separate timed option. HOLD works with pointer, touch, Space, or Enter. The timed option can be activated again to cancel.
Releasing early, moving the page to the background, losing required focus, or cancelling resets the attempt. Reduced-motion and forced-color preferences are respected. If JavaScript, the challenge service, or the network is unavailable, no vote is claimed or stored.
This site uses a temporary browser cookie to limit repeat voting in each cycle. It cannot prove that each vote came from a different person or identify a voter. Individual vote records are removed 30 days after the cycle closes.
Frequently asked questions
For Society curators
Why start a label for an artist I love?
Help more people discover their music alongside your other favorites. People searching for an artist may arrive at an Indie Music Bus article. Eligible ELS labels can appear beside articles with related genres, giving those readers another way to discover your label and the artists you champion.
What is a virtual record label?
Inside ELS, it is a fan-curated music-discovery identity with an ordered artist list that can be published as a simple roster or a ranked chart. It is not a legal or real-world record label, artist representative, manager, publisher, distributor, or rights holder.
Is an Ethereal Label a legal record label?
No. It is a fan-curated identity inside Indie Music Bus. It is not a manager, representative, distributor, publisher, rights holder, or legal record label.
Can I operate more than one label?
No. One person may operate one Ethereal Label. If someone deliberately works around this rule, Indie Music Bus may suspend or end their access after review.
How do I receive curator access?
Indie Music Bus creates one new restricted curator account after review. WordPress then attempts to send its standard password setup email. Sign in to the front-end Studio and accept the current Society curator terms. Existing WordPress accounts are not converted automatically.
Can a music fan apply to become a curator?
Yes. Submit the public application and confirm the supplied email address. An ELS operator reviews the confirmed application. Approval creates one restricted curator account and sends the normal WordPress password setup email. Rejection creates no account. Approval does not create or publish a label automatically.
Can I change my label design?
Yes. Open Edit label details near the top of the curator Studio to update the public label name, description, approved color theme, logo, and supported social profiles. It remains available while you prepare an updated artist roster or ranked chart. These changes do not alter the current or pending artist list.
Can I feature my own music or an artist I work with?
Yes, but only one artist per label may be someone you perform as or with, manage, represent, or financially benefit from. Disclose the relationship in the artist information form. One artist receives one current release entry, so ten songs by the same artist cannot fill ten slots. The remaining artists must be genuine independent selections. ELS records your declaration and uses manual review; it does not automatically verify outside relationships.
Can putting myself first guarantee a Master Chart place?
No. Higher positions have better selection odds, but no position guarantees selection. With three artists, the first artist has a 50 percent selection chance; with ten, about 18 percent. Selection is frozen for the seven-day cycle, and listener votes determine the result. A small roster is allowed, but the other artists must not be filler for self-promotion.
Do I have to publish a ranked chart?
No. You may publish the artists as an ordered roster without public rank numbers. The roster remains discoverable and can supply one weighted Master Chart representative. A ranked chart is required only for chart-based Established Ethereal Label recognition.
Can I stop receiving artist requests?
Yes. Open Edit label details and choose Do not accept artist requests. ELS removes the public request option and blocks stale or direct submission attempts. Requests already received remain in your private inbox until you dismiss them.
Where do incoming artist requests appear?
They appear as collapsed private entries in your front-end Studio. Only the owning curator can open or dismiss them. Email is an additional notification, not the request record, so check the Studio even if no message arrives.
Does my label vote directly in the Master Chart?
No. At cycle opening, ELS selects one representative from your current ordered artist list. Artists nearer the top have a better chance, but every listed artist has a chance. The selection stays fixed for the cycle, then listener votes determine the result after the minimum participation threshold is met.
What does Established Ethereal Label mean?
It recognizes sustained eligible platform participation after manual review. It does not verify identity or legal status and gives no ranking, voting, access, or editorial advantage.
How does a label receive the Founders Badge?
Publish the label's first approved roster or chart, containing 3 to 10 artists, before January 1, 2027, in the Indie Music Bus site timezone. The badge records early participation. It is separate from Established Ethereal Label recognition and provides no advantage.
How do corrections and account suspension work?
Accidental errors use the correction route. Confirmed deliberate rule evasion may suspend access for 30 days on the first finding and revoke access on a second finding. Every enforcement decision requires operator review and a recorded private reason.
For artists
Does email confirmation verify me as the artist?
No. It confirms access to the supplied email address only. It does not verify identity, representation authority, or control of a music-service account.
What does exclusive participation mean?
It means you may participate in only one exclusive Ethereal Label while the relationship is active. It applies only inside ELS and does not affect real-world rights or relationships.
Can a curator add me to an exclusive label without my approval?
No. You must use the invited artist account, confirm email access, and accept. The curator then makes the final label-side acceptance.
How do I ask a label to consider my music?
When a curator accepts artist requests, use Request Chart Consideration on a nonexclusive label or Request to Join This Label on an exclusive-participation label. ELS stores your supplied artist, contact, and release details privately in that curator's Studio inbox and may also send an email notification. Curators may turn requests off. A request does not guarantee a reply, chart placement, or membership.
Who can see my artist request, and how is it removed?
Only the curator who owns the selected label can see the pending request in the Studio. The curator may permanently dismiss it. A WordPress personal-data erasure request also removes pending label requests associated with your supplied email address. A temporary privacy-protected check limits repeat requests.
Can I leave an exclusive label?
Yes. Use your artist Studio to request a departure confirmation by email. The curator cannot block your departure. Leaving ELS does not change music rights or other relationships outside Indie Music Bus.
What if my public information or music link is wrong?
Use the public correction or removal route. It remains available without an artist account and gives a neutral response that does not reveal private account or review information.
Does participation guarantee coverage or chart success?
No. Participation does not guarantee Indie Music Bus coverage, playlist acceptance, Master Chart ranking, representation, or promotion.
An Ethereal Label is a fan-curated virtual record label within Indie Music Bus. It is not a legal or real-world record label, manager, representative, distributor, publisher, or rights holder. Participation does not guarantee Indie Music Bus coverage.