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RSR057 - Nick Devan - G.E.D. Soul Records

How Did You Start Your Own Label?

We were doing a radio show when it started. Dave and I had a radio show at MTSU doing the GED Soul Review, just spinnin records. There’s the defunk program here in town that Doyle Davis runs, we were really inspired by him; he’s been on for years and years. It was just a funk and soul format radio show and we had a couple bands that formed out of that. Dave’s usually played bass and I’ve usually played drums. We were pressing our records ourselves and getting them distributed by someone else. Really I’ve always kinda said, “All you have to do to start a label is put the name on a record and you’ve created a label.” That really was as simple as it was when we started and we’ve learned a whole lot as we’ve gone along

After Creating a Label What Are the Next Steps?

Well we were doing it in a way where we were producing and recording pretty much everything instrumentally and just getting singers. In that instance all you need to do is get your singer and you can kind of invent your band. Later on we got the Coolant System, AJ and the Jiggawatts, and Oliver James, so we’ve had other artists who were self-contained outside of what we do. We started off just doing 45’s. We did about 6 of those before we did a full length album and now we’re on our 12th full length. When we started off doing 45s in 2007 digital was starting but it wasn’t what it is now. Now we go for every outlet we possibly can and digital is definietly a good portion of income for us.

What Was Your Business Model?

We never took out a loan. Dave and I, for the first 45’s, would both just throw in and sell them so it was just an investment for us. We did it where we paid for ourselves. Once we did do a kickstarter campaign and we got the money. It was helpful, but the three records we had out didn’t sell quite as well as we wanted, but that’s with any label. Even if you think you have a “sure thing” sometimes it doesn’t work, and vice versa. Sometimes you think you don’t have anything and it starts rollin’.

How Do You Tell If A Record Is Doing Well?

First it has to be really good. You can get a publicist and really hype something up, but it won’t grow legs unless it’s a good record. Because if it’s really good it’s easier to catch a buzz about it. You have to show it to everybody. Sometimes you don’t want to show it because you don’t want to hear what people have to say about it. But even in the mixing process I’ve found that to be so crucial, I’ll show anybody and even if they say they like it, you can visually see if they’re feeling it or not.

Jam Session 

Q- What was holding you back at the start?
A -Definitely lack of gear. At that time I was running a couple mins and really had a poor setup, but it’s really built from there.