Win is a little different than a traditional label. Let’s call it a music company that aims to apply what I think is cool, as a service, to any and every implementation of music in media and culture.
I made the decision to start a label (or something like it) about three years ago, when I was DJing and booking shows, as well as doing A&R at labels on the side. Despite having worked at and been around labels my entire life, I did not really know what a label actually, ya know, did. This became, in my opinion, an asset. I realized in a kind of humble way that I was doing a lot of the work that labels did without knowing it.
So some artists asked me why I didn’t just release their records myself, and I eventually took the question seriously.
Instead of starting a label then, I wanted to take time and do it right.
What does a traditional record label do?
Why do most of them suck?
Why are they still really valuable today though?
What should a label look like today?
What’s exciting to me in music today?
What’s exciting for everyone else?
What’s going to be exciting in two years?
What do I do well?
What do I have no fucking idea how to do?
Who’s doing those things really well?
How do I want to spend my time every day?
Who do I want to spend it with?
I wanted to work on Dance music, but none of that “EDM” bullshit. I wanted to create a full service label for Dance that could be equally interested in an unknown bedroom producer with one good track as a festival headlining DJ—with the ability to kick ass for both of them. There are some amazing Indies who do a great job on branding, but cannot scale a hit record to, for example, nationwide terrestrial radio. There are some Majors who are investing massive coin into Dance music, but they’re not necessarily focused on artist development.
I wanted to focus on services—A&R, branding, artist development and new marketing ventures. I also wanted to be able to execute Radio, Licensing, Retail, etc. on a really high level.
I fell in love with the Tech industry and can’t wait for it to take over the Music industry.
All this added up to two major elements of my business plan which I consider unique.
Instead of raising a ton of money and building up infrastructure based on old models and growing skills in areas where I have none, I decided to partner with some of the best in the business. Win will release records via Joint Ventures with Glassnote Records and Downtown Records, with my distributer Sony RED as a much more involved partner than simply a distributer.
Additionally, keeping my overhead lean like this leaves me to focus heavily on Business Development. Specifically, Biz Dev with the intention of growing partnerships with Tech companies, whom I can work with to create new, dynamic marketing platforms. I want to be the most open label in the industry to the Tech companies. I not only want to activate on what they pitch me, but I want to come on board to help advise and shape their products, foster industry relationships, and provide my artists to put them on third base, hopefully turning a proof of concept activation into something scalable. Plus, the Music industry is not known as the most innovative bunch, I want to spend as much time as possible with my Tech buddies.
I want to expand these partnerships to the point that they allow me to create new revenue streams that enable me to sign the most artist friendly deals around. I want to be able to say to an artist not only can I provide you with this never before done, really huge marketing campaign, but I’ve created a revenue stream through it, so you’re never going to hear me talk about “360”!
Anyway, mainly, I want to work on the coolest music out there, and find the coolest ways to get it to audiences.
So call me or something.
Love,
Sean Glass
The Hookblast Podcast is a weekly, 10-minute show where we discover a few new catchy songs - all sourced using Music Xray's proprietary combination of music analysis software, machine learning, crowd-sourcing of industry professionals, and fan feedback.