Room40

{{notability|1=Companies|date=July 2022}}

{{Short description|Australian record label}}

{{Infobox record label

| name = Room40

| image_name =

| image = Room40 Logo.jpg

| image_size =

| founded = {{Start date|2000}}

| founder = Lawrence English

| status =

| genre = Experimental music

| country = Australia

| location = Brisbane

| url = {{URL|room40.org}}

}}

Room40 is an Australian independent record label founded by Lawrence English.

The label has released work by Australian and international musicians such as Erik Griswold, Chihei Hatakeyama, Mike Cooper, Ben Frost, and Beatriz Ferreyra. They have had over 300 releases since 2000.{{Cite web|title=Room40|url=https://www.discogs.com/label/16420-Room40|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Discogs|language=en}}

Room40's first releases didn't arrive until 2002, with the albums Powerhouse Sessions and A Picturesque View, Ignored.{{Cite web|last=Fischer|first=Tobias|date=2012|title=Room40: Label Profile {{!}} featured Australia Experimental|url=http://www.tokafi.com/news/room40-label-profile/|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Tofaki}} Both were recorded live at Brisbane Powerhouse in 2002 and released December of that year.{{Cite web|title=Powerhouse Sessions, by DJ Olive Meets I/O3|url=https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/powerhouse-sessions|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Bandcamp|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=A Picturesque View, Ignored, by David Toop, Scanner, I/O3|url=https://lawrenceenglish.bandcamp.com/album/a-picturesque-view-ignored|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Bandcamp|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Tangari|first=Joe|date=2003|title=A Picturesque View, Ignored|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8109-a-picturesque-view-ignored/|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Pitchfork|language=en-US}}

Initially releasing music on CD, Room40 has also issued music on vinyl, lathe records, digital audio files, DVD, and cassette tapes. In 2016 they released a sound box with an album of generative music by Spyros Polychronopoulos, meaning each time the listener presses play they will hear something new.{{Cite web|title=Spyros Polychronopoulos Live Electronic Music {{!}} Exclaim!|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/spyros_polychronopoulos-live_electronic_music|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Exclaim!|language=en-ca}} The sound box sold out within four hours of being announced.{{Cite web|date=2016-12-05|title=Live Electronic Music|url=https://room40.org/live-electronic-music/|access-date=2022-02-25|website=ROOM40|language=en-US}}

They released their first book in 2010, Lawrence English's Site-Listening: Brisbane.{{Cite web|last=Zuvela|first=Danni|date=2010|title=RealTime Arts - Magazine - issue 97 - 10 years of room40: privileging the ears|url=http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue97/9881|access-date=2022-02-25|website=RealTime Arts}} The book features maps to 17 locations around Brisbane, with essays by David Toop, Nick Earls and English, and recordings from the locations on a 3" CD.{{Cite web|last=Ciociola|first=Chiara|title=Lawrence English, Site-Listening: Brisbane {{!}} Neural|url=http://neural.it/2011/09/lawrence-english-site-listening-brisbane/|access-date=2022-02-25|language=en-US}}

In 2005 Room40 started Open Frame, an annual music festival held in Brisbane, with later events held in Sydney and London.{{Cite web|last=Starr|first=Lucinda|date=2015-07-30|title=Behind Australian Record Label Room40 with The Necks' Chris Abrahams|url=https://concreteplayground.com/sydney/arts-entertainment/music/behind-australian-record-label-room40-with-the-necks-chris-abrahams|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Concrete Playground|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Room40's Open Frame festival to include Jim O’Rourke, Grouper and more - The Wire|url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/news/36442/room40_s-open-frame-festival-to-include-jimo_rourke_|access-date=2022-02-25|website=The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music|language=en}} The most recent festival was held in 2019,{{Cite web|title=Carriageworks’ Annual Festival of Transgressive Experimental Music Is Back|url=https://www.broadsheet.com.au/sydney/event/open-frame-carriageworks-2019|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Broadsheet|language=en}} with the 2020 festival cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|last=|date=2020-10-28|title=no such array|url=http://inventingzero.net/home/no-such-array/|access-date=2022-02-25|website=John Chantler|language=en-US}}