Story of a Record Label Newbie

[Continued Sound]

Hey everyone! It’s a pleasure to join this community! This feels like the right place to share my story. 

A little over a year ago I thought “wouldn’t it be cool to have a reissue record label like Numero Group or Mr. Bongo.” The only issue being I’ve never done anything close to this before. I’m a collector and DJ, so the only skills I felt I could rely on going into this enterprise was my music taste and my diligence for digging and discovery. I imagined for my first release I thought it would be cool to compile rare soul songs from my home state of New Jersey. I knew I couldn’t afford to touch anything by Sylvia/All Platinum so I continued to see what was out there in record world. Two names that kept coming up when scanning the credits on 45’s were Paul Kyser and George Kerr. Seeing as they are producers mainly (George had some success as a singer as most of you may know) I thought maybe they held onto control over some super rare Jersey soul. But how does one go about contacting old soul producers in their 80’s/90’s?

Some more googling brought me to an interview with a band from Newark NJ called The Jack Moves. In it, they say for their 2022 release “Cruiserweight” they wanted an authentic NJ soul sound from those who originally crafted it, for this they enlisted non other than George Kerr and Paul Kyser!

Now I don’t know the Jack Moves personally, but we are both from NJ and about the same age, so we shared a few friends in common on instagram. I decided, what the hell, let me DM The Jack Moves and see if they felt comfortable giving me an email or 2 to reach out. Teddy, the drummer was super kind and told me George and Paul were not big emailers (understandable) so instead he gave me Paul Kyser’s home phone number.

This was so cool! But terrifying! I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to say. I didn’t even have a business at the time. I was simply a young dumb enthusiast hoping to make something cool and had no idea the first step to achieving it. I held on to the phone number for weeks until I got up the courage to call Paul Kyser at home. To my great relief, he was extraordinarily kind and so willing to regale me with stories of the industry in the 60s-70s. He even knew George Kerr quite well, gave me his number  and sent over a good word prior to my call. 

George was just as kind. Don’t listen to anyone say folks from New Jersey aren’t friendly! It took about a year of phone conversations and contracts, learning about everything as I went. George and Paul were mentors far more than clients. They walked me through the licensing process, revenue splits, etc. In a way, my inexperience proved to me my greatest asset of all. I had no savvy with which take advantage of anyone, only a dream and desire, which I think shone through and went recognized by fellow scrappy creatives. The Soul of New Jersey is available now but this not an advertisement. I’m still pretty green. I don’t think it’s really reached Europe so any tips/tricks/knowledge anyone can share would be priceless!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Mike]

9 hours ago, Continued Sound said:

Hey everyone! It’s a pleasure to join this community! This feels like the right place to share my story. 

A little over a year ago I thought “wouldn’t it be cool to have a reissue record label like Numero Group or Mr. Bongo.” The only issue being I’ve never done anything close to this before. I’m a collector and DJ, so the only skills I felt I could rely on going into this enterprise was my music taste and my diligence for digging and discovery. I imagined for my first release I thought it would be cool to compile rare soul songs from my home state of New Jersey. I knew I couldn’t afford to touch anything by Sylvia/All Platinum so I continued to see what was out there in record world. Two names that kept coming up when scanning the credits on 45’s were Paul Kyser and George Kerr. Seeing as they are producers mainly (George had some success as a singer as most of you may know) I thought maybe they held onto control over some super rare Jersey soul. But how does one go about contacting old soul producers in their 80’s/90’s?

Some more googling brought me to an interview with a band from Newark NJ called The Jack Moves. In it, they say for their 2022 release “Cruiserweight” they wanted an authentic NJ soul sound from those who originally crafted it, for this they enlisted non other than George Kerr and Paul Kyser!

Now I don’t know the Jack Moves personally, but we are both from NJ and about the same age, so we shared a few friends in common on instagram. I decided, what the hell, let me DM The Jack Moves and see if they felt comfortable giving me an email or 2 to reach out. Teddy, the drummer was super kind and told me George and Paul were not big emailers (understandable) so instead he gave me Paul Kyser’s home phone number.

This was so cool! But terrifying! I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to say. I didn’t even have a business at the time. I was simply a young dumb enthusiast hoping to make something cool and had no idea the first step to achieving it. I held on to the phone number for weeks until I got up the courage to call Paul Kyser at home. To my great relief, he was extraordinarily kind and so willing to regale me with stories of the industry in the 60s-70s. He even knew George Kerr quite well, gave me his number  and sent over a good word prior to my call. 

George was just as kind. Don’t listen to anyone say folks from New Jersey aren’t friendly! It took about a year of phone conversations and contracts, learning about everything as I went. George and Paul were mentors far more than clients. They walked me through the licensing process, revenue splits, etc. In a way, my inexperience proved to me my greatest asset of all. I had no savvy with which take advantage of anyone, only a dream and desire, which I think shone through and went recognized by fellow scrappy creatives. The Soul of New Jersey is available now but this not an advertisement. I’m still pretty green. I don’t think it’s really reached Europe so any tips/tricks/knowledge anyone can share would be priceless!

Thanks for reading!

 

Welcome to the site and thanks for sharing, interesting read, have seen your first release The Soul Of New Jersey Vol.1  around online

have you any official links etc....

we (the site) do have a front page news feature which could be a good way for you to raise awareness of your releases/projects/plans 

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/articles/

its member led so feel free to post news etc