Growing a Label and Finding a Sound
Thoughts on Why Someone Might Want to (or Should) Start a Record Label
By the late '90s, just before I turned 20 years old, I had already been making tracks for a while and learned programming music on an Atari 1040ST about five years earlier. In '99, fire stuff like Britney Spears, Ronan Keating or Mr Oizo’s Flat Beat was on heavy rotation on MTV, and my close friends and I were fully immersed in techno. We lived for the music—going to clubs and events around Malmö and Copenhagen, buying records from local stores, and tirelessly creating tracks that we were constantly sending to different labels we admired.
Starting a record label wasn’t something I initially set out to do, but like many other things it sort of evolved out of a need. Native Diffusion, my first label, wasn’t just a way to get my music out there–it became a home for the sounds and ideas I wanted to share without compromise. I wanted to write a little about how all that began.
Learning from Others
In those early years, me and my friends and co-producers Niklas, Staffan & Henrik had all had experience working with labels like Loop Records and Planet Rhythm, learning a bit of the industry from the inside, gaining various insights into stuff like cost, process, and physical distribution. Those experiences were invaluable, but it wasn’t long before I realized that my output didn’t always align with what other labels or even my own collaborators had imagined. I wanted the freedom to experiment and release music that didn’t necessarily fit into anyone else’s particular box.
When I launched Native Diffusion, my goal wasn’t vinyl sales and commercial success; it was just to create a platform for music that might otherwise be overlooked or ignored. If no one else was going to end up releasing certain tracks, I would do it myself.
Building a Catalog, One Release at a Time
For the first fourteen releases, this label was entirely my project. Everything released was produced by me, either under my name or an alias. This gave me a kind of rare freedom to explore various sounds, from straightforward techno to more percussive and atmospheric tracks. Building a balanced catalog that expressed my ideas was maybe more important than the tracks themselves.
As the catalog grew, so did the label’s identity. Although I, as the young stubborn nitwit I was, initially resisted including other artists, I began to see the value of collaboration and community. Soon, the label expanded beyond my music, introducing new voices who shared a similar musical philosophy.
Navigating Challenges
Running a label by yourself comes with certain hassles. You have complete creative control but also complete responsibility—from music selection to distribution issues and things like promotion. In a crowded scene where the chart-topping tracks often sounded really alike, it’s easy to feel pressured to follow trends to make the label more marketable.
The sound of techno and house wasn’t always as fantastic back then as it may seem today, by the way. I often stuck to ideas that weren’t “in,” feeling out of place with what might boost sales and publicity. The idea of adapting the sound of the label to match that formula honestly felt nauseating. Whether or not that self-willed mindset paid off in the long run, depends on what kind of success you value the most in music.
Sticking to your own musical preferences is something that is just so important. Which isn’t to say that a label’s sound should stay rigid—on the contrary, ND (and the three labels that followed it) evolved with me over the years. But the core remained: platforms for thoughtful, genre-blending electronic music, where taking musical risks isn’t something to be worried about.
A Community of Like-Minded Artists & Listeners
As that first label matured, my view of it grew beyond that of a record label. It did become a community, with listeners being one part. In a genre that’s always full of new talent, I wanted the label to be a place where emerging voices could find a home, just like I did. This guided me eventually to launching my second label We Are five years later, even if the music then had evolved into something different.
This became my journey—going from being inspired by labels I admired to discovering my actual voice in electronic music.
Change and Perseverance in the Electronic Scene
Looking back I see how much has evolved to something different now in the global techno scene; it looks so very different, yet the core remains the same. The raw energy and spilled over inspiration from past generations’ music that drove me to experiment with our project Headroom with Niklas and Henrik back then is still there now. Despite all the commercialization of dance music and the pressure for artists to manage a social media presence, and make brands of themselves, a dedication to underground and unfiltered techno, house or breaks still lives on. New producers continue to build on the foundation laid by earlier artists.
Honest Voices
Running labels and even just being part of a music scene should be about fostering a community of like-minded listeners and artists who share a love for music that doesn’t compromise. In an industry where trends disappear and return once again faster than a Plugin Alliance sales campaign, indie labels serve as homes for musical voices that go against the grain.
The record labels that are there to stay are those committed to THEIR sound and more importantly their own identity, an important element of music culture that’s now under threat. Playlists today more or less replaced labels, and prioritize tracks that sound as similar as possible to whatever track that played right before it, a shift that risks reducing listeners’ exposure to—and opportunity to discover—diverse sounds and styles.
Creating your own platform for music shouldn’t be about trying to reach the largest audience. It’s about building the right audience. The best work anyone can get out there is the work that truly represents them, and not something that was crafted to fit into a pre-existing mold.
Needed to be said and heard. Much appreciated Pat.
Awesome article man! Loved reading it!