My record label wasn’t supposed to be “real”
It was just to cut through the crap. And it worked way too well.
It was like the Jonah Hill movie “Accepted” where they make a fake college and it actually works out. The NYC music scene is cutthroat and to get through the noise as a 19-year old kid, I began reaching out to venues under the guise of a professional record label…but it became much more.
Scrambling for the goods:
I had to develop actual professional materials because credibility is key:
Presskits for our offerings as a label and “event company”
Presskits for each of our bands
Email materials including a template, links to streams, sites, etc. (this was the blog era of music consumption)
Compiling our own database of venues with data points such as capacity, equipment, open dates, demographics, and even radius to transportation
Potential touring maps (for a small tour)
A database of bands in the area based on their reach and potential draws – using these insights to figure out who to best reach out to for certain shows and target audiences
Monitoring other bands’ journeys in the area
Monitoring shows, small fests, mid-size touring bands coming through
Keeping track of equipment to share across bands
Merchandising, online sales, etc.
Recording at Flux Studios – other notable clients are Andre 3000, Wu Tang Clan, & Chance the Rapper.
Getting sweaty with 150+ of our closest friends at Piano’s.
The tactics:
I collected and managed a team of 5 people including myself, a co-booker, an executive producer, a graphic designer, and an artist who had connections in the design space.
We wrote content for marketing materials, advertisements, got blog placements, created pitches, all within our consistent DIY tone – we were there to put on fun shows, but we were not playing around when it came to event production
Emailing bookers with full presskits, pitching them on shows, potential weekend events, and all with the promise of a full in-house production either for them or alongside them
Social media promotion & digital marketing
Flyers (yes, these were still a thing)
For larger events, we even had a roster of DJs we could reach out to for intermissions, formal sets, etc.
The warfare:
We assembled street teams to dump flyers everywhere from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Williamsburg
We went to other bands’ shows to network and dropped flyers, stickers, and ads by their merch tables
We hung out by student housing and sold tickets to classmates, friends, even visitors to the dorms
The results:
We developed an entire record label + event production collective
We sold out the Studio at Webster Hall on a WEEKNIGHT (400 capacity)
We continued a successful run of capacity shows around NYC at landmarks like Arlene’s Grocery, Glasslands Gallery, The Knitting Factory, Piano’s, and more with a rotating roster of our own collective of bands for 3+ more years
We shared the same stage as Twenty-One Pilots, Young Thug, Royal Blood, Dishwalla, HelloGoodbye, and more.
Strong rapport was created with bookers who were now reaching out to us to put on shows
Inspiring new bands to come out of the Fordham, NYU, & Queens music scenes to join us in stirring up the scene