With the recent implosion of Chiptunes=WIN, my attention was drawn to the Chiptune community, and more specifically, A Bit of Chiptune. As I researched A Bit of Chiptune, I admired the fact that this community sought to address the shortcomings of similar communities/spaces rather than ignore or outright deny them, so I asked co-founder Cass Cuttlefish to explain what Chiptune meant to her.

What does chiptune mean to you? 

Starting with the most difficult question, I see. Chiptune to me is a medium of various ideas, genres, communities, etc. that roughly revolve around the act of repurposing microcomputer (e.g. 8-bit) sounds from obsolete arcade consoles, home computers, and so on. 

The answer is vague because Chiptune is whatever you want it to be. Putting too many limits on its definition is antithetical to the community aims at this time. That’s especially true now, when the Chiptune “scene” is more fragmented. Creating a page on the website that fully answers “What is Chiptune?” is on my to-do list for sure, but in the meantime, you can get a lot of information from the Wikipedia page. 

How did A Bit of Chiptune (ABoC) start? 

Two years ago, A Bit of Chiptune started as a Youtube Podcast about Chiptune founded by myself and Triss. We emphasized the inclusion of guests who weren’t involved with the “Chiptune Scene” but who had profound insights that expanded the conversations we had. A Bit of Chiptune later grew to be much more than a podcast, but it has always operated in the spirit of uplifting those historically underrepresented in the medium. 

Were you active in other chiptune communities before A Bit of Chiptune? 

Yes, in fact! A Bit of Chiptune was one of a few groups that branched off of a group called Real Famitracker Hours. RFH was a group that did 8-Bit video game and anime covers on a software called Famitracker. It was led by a musician named Lumen. Over time, Real Famitracker Hours was becoming less active, and I needed a new place to scratch that 8-bit itch, so I created A Bit of Chiptune with Triss. 

How and where did you recruit artists for your albums? 

The albums are organized so that anyone can submit a song, so the recruiting process is pretty organic. ABoC’s compilation practices are relatively appealing too—no exclusivity contracts, active support for those less experienced, few rules, and so on. Those accommodating structures have made the compilation process appealing to artists who want to gain something from the experience and not just give. 

We’re currently working on our next album, Fighting Furies, which will be a soundtrack for an imaginary fighting game (Editor’s Note: Submissions are still open!). Participants will submit themes for their original characters, and many of those participants will have those OCs designed with a drawing and unique move-set. 

When did you start doing Infinite Lives? 

Infinite Lives is a new project that I’ve been working on with many others to showcase talent via live performances online. Its name, aside from being a pun, is meant to recognize the diverse lives of artists and the infinite value of their many voices. Infinite Lives is a collaboration between A Bit of Chiptune and the group All You Can Eat, a team of people in France who use Patreon money to fund Chiptune shows. You can find the schedule and theme for all of the Infinite Lives shows on the associated website. All donations to the event go to the artists and various BLM charities. 

In our first two shows, we raised over $3800 for those causes! We hope to keep this momentum going in our next three shows so that the artists can be paid fairly for their quality music and performances. 

Who or what is Hailynn Star and how does she relate to ABoC? 

Hailynn Star is a fictional character that I created while working on the album art for our first album, Rxx. She later grew to become a mascot of sorts, with variations of her original design popping up on other album covers. Her initial design is influenced by Madeline from the game Celeste. More recent drawings incorporate ‘Magical Girl’ aesthetics. Other interpretations are valid too. 

Could you describe your involvement with ChipWIN? 

I first learned about Chiptunes=WIN when Brandon Hoodie, its founder, went to me to record an interview to promote their album. I thought of collaborating with the group many times afterwards, but that never happened for various reasons. Most recently, I and the rest of staff released a series of criticisms of ChipWIN shortly before it collapsed. We stand by those criticisms and want the Chiptune scene to be better than it was a month ago when ChipWIN and Cheapbeats were operating. 

What mistakes do you think ChipWin made, and how do you plan to avoid them with ABoC? 

Chiptunes=WIN built a culture that was less accessible to groups who have been historically marginalized, and it was structured in a way that was exploitative of the artists and creatives that held it up. It also actively silenced people who identified those flaws, displaying an unwillingness to change. It is important to recognize that Chiptunes=WIN did a lot of cool, amazing things too. Many of us were sad to see them close rather than listen and change. 

As for ABoC, we take steps to celebrate and protect diversity, actively moderating our spaces to reduce bigoted language and acts. Any money earned from our events go back to organizing the event, and surplus earnings go to artists and charities. Vents and criticisms are welcome, heard, and often acted on. A Bit of Chiptune has always operated on these policies and will continue to do so. 

To be clear, we do not intend to be the next Chiptunes=WIN, nor the next face of Chiptune. We would much rather work with and highlight other Chiptune-related organizations who have similar goals as us so that the scene is less centralized moving forward. 

What are your primary goals for ABoC? 

I want to be a collective that constantly pushes for improvement. This includes supporting artists of various backgrounds, uplifting new approaches to music making, and celebrating creatives such as photographers, writers, visualists, etc. who are traditionally underrepresented in music-central Chiptune spaces but are nonetheless essential to the movement. We want to continue to create good music and empower artists of all kinds, while at the same time constantly reevaluating how we can do better in the next project. 

How would you describe the ABoC community? 

The community is, above all else, comfortable and accommodating. We also offer exclusive Queer/Trans, POC, and Neurodivergent spaces for those who want or need that. Things became relatively chaotic not too long ago when we gained a ton of new members and received threats to our community all at once, but things have since settled down and we can move on to calmer times. 

Have you considered releasing VGM covers along with originals? 

That’s definitely something we’ve considered! Another thing on the to-do list. 

What's next for ABoC? 

We want to keep doing what we’ve already been doing—releasing music, uplifting artists, and supporting our community members. The next biggest changes, after Infinite Lives, will probably involve our new website. I would like to add profile pages for different Chiptune artists, get the blog running smoothly, and add plenty of pages, tutorials, and so on. It’s always been a dream of mine to print an independent Chiptune magazine, so that will for sure happen eventually. Of course, all these things take time. As we keep moving forward, our momentum builds. You can expect some game-changing things from A Bit of Chiptune.