Kod Müzik

Kod Müzik is one of the pioneering independent record companies of the Turkish music scene. The label was established in 1996 as an extension of the legendary record shop of the same name, which sold and promoted titles from diverse musical genres including alternative, indie, hardcore-punk, noise industrial, electronica–IDM, avant-garde jazz, which were considered unusual at the time. The founders of the company and the patrons of the shop formed a platform where musical artists producing these genres would come together. They wanted to establish a firm, fertile ground on which the alternative/underground culture they represented would grow, and this is why they featured a wide spectrum of musical genres such as hip hop, hardcore, punk, house, and avant-garde jazz. The label was also quite innovative in the music scene. They issued the first split cassette album Radical Noise/Ask It Why - Sevdasız Hayat, which was also the first legal hardcore cassette, the first Turkish punk rock album Telaşa Mahal Yok by Rashit, the first dance/club music album His by Mert Yücel, and the first Turkish hiphop compilation album Yeraltı Operasyonu. Some of the albums in the catalog now have historical value. Following the recession of 2001, the label ended its activities; however, in 2019 some of the albums from the catalog will be reissued on vinyl for the first time to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the label.