The Story…

I often get asked about the status of my own record label that I started way back in 2010…

The truth is, Other Record Labels keeps me so busy that I don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to my label…

But there’s other reasons too…

I want to tell you the story of why I quit my own record label and three things you can learn from my hindsight.

When I started my label 2010, everything was focused on community. Playing shows together and playing on eachothers’ records.

But all good things must come to an end. As people naturally moved on, the label's community identity dissipated, and I shifted my focus to finding a new identify for the record label.

As the novelty of the label wore off, it became more about working on projects that I was intensely passionate about…

However, my passion became a problem when I became less flexible, less empathetic, and less patient with the artists.

Over passionate became overpowering. Managing became micro managing.

For better or for worse, I wanted the music I released to be an extension of my own creativity.

I proudly pitched these releases to press as if they were my own, and I took rejected pitches especially hard, as if they were my own…

I saw the label as a movie director with an overarching artistic vision, and the artists are like actors who play a role in bringing the director's vision to life.

I honestly don’t know if I was right or wrong, or if I would go back and change anything…

There’s not a lot of money in the music business (especially for a start-up record label) and so it was the fulfilment and creativity that I considered to be my compensation.

Still there are some things I could’ve done better…

After reflecting on this experience running my own label, I want to share three key takeaways that will help you learn from my mistakes…