Label Guide: Kosmische Musik

Kosmische Musik (Cosmic Music) was a German experimental/space-rock label set up by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser in 1973 following his association with Ohr and Pilz. The first batch of albums were released under the name "Kosmische Kuriere" (Cosmic Couriers) before the label changed its name to "Kosmische Musik".

Kosmische Musik released many important Krautrock titles by artists including Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, Manuel Göttsching, Wallenstein, Popol Vuh, and others, including Walter Wegmüller's "Tarot." However Kaiser got into trouble when he started releasing albums under the name of the Cosmic Jokers, a supergroup made up of artists who did not even realise they were participating in such a project: Kaiser had taken recordings of informal jams by various artists from the label and had released them under the Cosmic Jokers name without their knowledge. The musicians affected - and in particular Klaus Schulze - were far from impressed with Kaiser's release of this material and took legal action. As a result of this and his involvement with Timothy Leary, Kaiser's contracts with his bands were voided by the German courts thus spelling the end for the Kosmische Musik label.