RIY is a fictional event created and inspired by Portuguese indie music. Its entire visual identity was developed, along with all the promotional and distribution objects: cassettes, posters, fanzines, its packaging and website. Entitled “release it yourself”, its aesthetic is inspired by the “Do It Yourself” movement, which wasn’t just a way of making music for these independent artists, but a way of being.

RIY celebrates portuguese indie music and the role of independent labels in reconfiguring the country’s cultural capital. After the fall of the dictatorship, there was a need to absorb all this alternative musical production, coupled with the decentralization of music, restricted until then to the main urban centers.

The RIY event promotes four live sessions – concerts – celebrating artists from the Portuguese indie scene in four different venues across the country. On the website, two types of tickets can be purchased: one giving access to the chosen session and its setlist; the other giving access to exclusive content, the poster, a fanzine and a cassette, with a live recording. These objects will serve as collectibles, in a return to the singularity and materiality of the physical medium, and away from the frivolity of streaming.

Indie music emerged from a sense of rebellion, taking the “Do It Yourself” aesthetic of punk rock to a new level. For the first time, we can witness the construction of a musical genre based not only on a type of sound, but on the way it is produced and distributed autonomously, demystifying the music production process. Moreover, it shapes an identity where distinctive social groups seek shelter on the margins of the values that govern society.