Frustrated by Nottingham's tag as a place with nothing to offer but gang wars and gun crime, Areafour Records decided to provide a platform for the city's underplayed musical talents. Alan Carter-Davies explains why he came up with the idea for a record: "I was reading the Observer about how bad Nottingham is and I didn't recognise the city I was reading about... "A group of us got together, who liked music, [and said] let's form a record label."
In April 2007, the label released a 20 track CD, 'Soundcheck Nottingham', featuring some of the most-talented local artists. Since then the non-profit record label has now been nominated for a New Statesman New Media Award. The awards were set up to recognise and reward new media projects which promote accessibility, usability and interactivity. Alan explains how they got nominated: "One of the team is a New Statesman reader and nominated the record label for the 'improving award', using new media to improve democratic reach. "The thinking went that because bands weren't getting airplay, they weren't getting a voice in the media or in record sales. "Bizarrely we're up against Downing Street and Africa and all these enormous institutions, organisations and continents, and there's this little record label!" Areafour Records will find out whether they've been successful in July 2007. Click to next to see Alan Carter-Davies' run-down of the CD and how to get your own copy. | 
