Create. Define. Release

A black-led music and talent development organisation with a deep heritage in the UK's grassroots electronic music scene.

We are a community made up of generations of music producers, practitioners and fans. Our purpose is to nurture independent music makers and progress black electronic music across many genres: from Hip-hop to Brokenbeat, Techno to Jazz, Garage to Grime and the many fusions in between.
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We work with children and young people in schools and youth centres, as well as the older heads in clubs and venues. London based with an increasing national & international footprint, we're operating in towns and cities around the country and the world, from Bristol to Nairobi.

CDR is led by Tony Nwachukwu, a renowned artist and educator known to many as the producer of Attica Blues.

We are driven by a small team in London and sustained by a community of contributors and volunteers around the country and beyond, all people passionate about creating opportunities for people to connect and develop through music.

We've created spaces for countercultural musical development since 2002. Born out of frustration with a music industry that promotes hype and constrains growth, we set out to make the democratic potential of digital music making a reality for all.

It all began in East London, with our flagship 'Session', a night for aspiring artists and music producers to meet and road test their 'work in progress' tracks on Plastic People's iconic sound system.

From there we have grown organically, nurturing countless artists, scenes and communities in cities around the world including Berlin, Johannesburg and Delhi.

"There’s something about the early 2000s –the future seemed very interesting at the time. This idea that you can make music on your laptop and distribute it yourself over the internet. I wanted to create a space for this kind of concept - where it’s all about the ideas developing, and seeing how that plays out. I had no idea how it would turn out, what the outcome would be, I just wanted to make it happen."

— Tony Nwachukwu, Founder & Director