Hello!
Nic Hallanger, founder/co-owner of Angerhall Studios here. We believe that music should never be locked in a cell, even if the person that created that music is locked in a cell.
Beginning in late 2025 Angerhall Studios will begin to regularly release music that was written and performed by incarcerated people in state prisons within Minnesota.
Depending on the interest in this run, we will expand the project beyond the borders of Minnesota in the future, but for now we believe that there is enough talent locked up in Minnesota State Prisons that we could stay busy with this for months or years.
If you know of someone that is currently incarcerated inside a Minnesota State Prison that does some type of audio performance: Singing, rapping, scatting, spoken word poetry, etc.
Please contact me directly at Nic @ nicolashallanger.com (remove the spaces) and I will get back to you as quickly as possible. To speed up the intake process the following information is very helpful:
1. Incarcerated Person's Name & DOC #
Please contact me directly at Nic @ nicolashallanger.com (remove the spaces) and I will get back to you as quickly as possible. To speed up the intake process the following information is very helpful:
1. Incarcerated Person's Name & DOC #
2. Which Facility is the person Incarcerated in?
3. What type of performance does the person do? Music? Spoken word?
4. Any information about the inmate's work schedule / availability to coordinate the first call(s) on Jpay.
Our basic process for working with an inmate in a MN state prison is:
1. Introduction / Kick-off Email sent via Jpay
2. First call - quick "get to know you" session on the phone.
2-A. Schedule first music/performance recording session.
2-B. Identify any potential challenges with locating backing music.
2-A. Schedule first music/performance recording session.
2-B. Identify any potential challenges with locating backing music.
3. Record audio during first session.
3A. Nic will create a first draft of the assembled song and
begin to share samples with the inmate over Jpay video gram or over phone call.
3A. Nic will create a first draft of the assembled song and
begin to share samples with the inmate over Jpay video gram or over phone call.
4. Nic will take feedback from the artist and do rework to get the song sounding how the inmate wants it to sound. This will repeat until we are both happy with the outputs.
5. The music will be slotted into the release schedule and dropped ASAP (unless the inmate has a specific date or time they want the music released).
6. The music will be released on all major platforms (unless the musician states otherwise).
7. The Artist will own the rights to their music. Nic / Angerhall Studios will split any revenue/proceeds from selling or streaming with the artist (exact splits to be determined).
7A. Proceeds from the music can be deposited into the inmate's JPay account, distributed to someone else as desired, and/or donated to support another cause or to support future album release from other inmates.
7A. Proceeds from the music can be deposited into the inmate's JPay account, distributed to someone else as desired, and/or donated to support another cause or to support future album release from other inmates.
I understand that prisoners are paid next to nothing for their labor while incarcerated and I will not charge the incarcerated person money for my time or work that goes into recording, mixing, mastering, releasing, etc.
My goal is to unlock the music from prison cells, not to get rich off of the suffering of others. If the family or friends of the incarcerated individual wish to donate money to facilitate the release of this content I will gladly accept financial support from anyone that makes more than 25 cents per hour.
My goal is to unlock the music from prison cells, not to get rich off of the suffering of others. If the family or friends of the incarcerated individual wish to donate money to facilitate the release of this content I will gladly accept financial support from anyone that makes more than 25 cents per hour.