A lot of people are saying the music industry is dying – but now you’ve launched a brand new record label?

Yes the music industry is on life support — or I should say, the “old” music industry is. Symbolic of this is the universal truth that now you can buy almost any song for about a dollar, without having to buy the whole album. So the old music business has been scrambling to replace that revenue. But the customer wins because they get to define which music is best, by choosing just one or two songs off the album. I wouldn’t call that an industry dying, I’d call it a reset that forces us who are in the business to produce a better product more efficiently, which is a good thing for everybody.

David Cole, founder
Cole Ocean Records

But what about piracy, file-sharing, internet radio and all the things that are sucking record sales dry?

There’s really two answers to this: First, when I was a kid in the 70’s, people used to record songs off the radio, and copy cassette tapes between friends, so in at least a basic sense it’s no different these days. Yeah I know it’s easier now and all that, but the point is, we don’t want to worry about what we can’t change; we have enough work worrying about what we can change, and the ‘free music’ thing is one of those problems that yeah, it’s mutated into a different delivery mode – but it’s just not a new problem, and we don’t see it going away for a long time.

Secondly, the market for sales of good music hasn’t disappeared. There are so many ways to monetize quality music besides just selling CDs and digital downloads, and even moreso now with all the new technologies, and even some of the new intellectual property laws.

I hear there are thousands of indie labels out there, so what’s different about Cole Ocean?

First of all, most of the “indie” labels you hear about are not actually independent at all. It’s said that Warner Brothers alone owns over 200 “indie” labels. So that whittles the field down quite a bit; then you have the true indie labels that are very specialized, where you’ve got a Producer of hip-hop, rap and/or R&B and this guy’s built a one-stop shop for his urban-genre artists, and that works well for them.

Cole Ocean is a new kind of label that’s truly independent like those guys are, but it’s not centered around a producer or a music style. Cole Ocean’s core approach is simply finding and developing the true Artist, whoever that may be. Any of the Label people out there will tell you this approach is a very risky business, because generally either an Artist is unknown and unproven, or he or she is proven and then of course the big labels want to sign them. But development is the key here. Can we identify star potential early on? …and we think we can, and we’re willing to invest for the long haul.

What got you guys started on this idea, of developing musical Artists before they’re proven?

Well it’s definitely not a new idea, but like any real people-centered business, there’s always room for a fresh approach that brings you back to what the real asset is, and that’s relationships and people. I’m not talking so much about hob-nobbing with the big guns in the LA/New York/Nashville music machine. We’re more interested in maximizing our personal relationships with people of character and integrity at every level, from the solo Artist who’s just starting out, to the front office staff who keep our paperwork straightened out, to the Distributor and Publisher reps on the ground who help us get our product out there. We feel that this is the solid, slow-growth approach that we can go home at night and feel like we’re contributing to people’s lives instead of taking advantage of them.

Yes but that didn’t tell us where you got your inspiration…?

Oh yeah, sorry for the rabbit trail.. a few years ago we happened upon an 11-year old girl who had written a song out of grief after a severe tragedy occurred in her circle of friends. When this young lady performed her song with voice and acoustic guitar, I got so excited about her potential to produce an absolutely commercial-grade musical product that people would want to buy, a vision began in me to help young Artists like her focus their gift and grow it into something that not only will bless them and their family for years, but also — and this is key — will enable them to stay in control of their brand and their creative work, and this is what absolutely sets Cole Ocean apart from other labels.

Is Cole Ocean focused on any particular genre of music?

(Laughs) ..I’d like to avoid the discussion about what the hot genres are and whose music crosses which genre boundaries, so let me just say this: We’re approaching our work as if there are only two genres of music: “outstanding” and “just okay”. This type of outlook helps us evaluate Artists for who they are intrinsically, and not for which type of music we’re trying to find. Ask any Artist who’s worked with a producer at a genre-specific label, and they’ll tell you there are “expectations” about production style, vocals, choice of lyrics and even the look of the Artist. Think about it: what kind of art is it when a room full of marketing people who are chasing the sweet spot in this month’s Billboard trendings are determining who the Artist is and what he or she should sound like?

The other thing is, the no-genre approach increases our ability to isolate on great music versus just-okay music. Because sooner or later, at the genre-specific label, a certain conversation just has to happen, where it’s like: “hey Artist #1 – you might actually have better, more compelling music than Artist #2, but Artist #2 is more in line with the genre we’re promoting, so we’re going with her” …whereas with our model, the musician with the better product will always rise to the top.

So what would you say is Cole Ocean’s philosophy, in a nutshell?

Our tagline under the logo is “Free your music.” We believe everybody is creative; not this “I’m an artist and you’re not” type of mentality. And of course there’s all kinds of art and all types of creativity, but for anybody who’s musical, the question is, are you able to get the God-given music out of your head and onto a disk in an appealing, marketable form?

We feel that many of the best musicians are trapped in circumstances or habits that are blocking their ability to fully express their music. I’m not saying we’re a counseling service or anything like that — what I’m saying is, if you’re so close to being able to share or express your music, but just haven’t had a team to believe in you and help you focus and ask you good questions – or you haven’t had a way to get your music recorded, or maybe you have everything in place and just need a business structure to help distribute and/or promote your music, then Cole Ocean is a great resource to consider.

So back to your question — the philosophy at Cole Ocean Records is, we exist to help the true Artist free the music that’s already inside him or her, and if an Artist shows us the character and resolve to do it, we’re patient to wait for it to happen in its time, because you can’t rush authentic creativity.

It sounds exciting and I don’t mean to be the devil’s advocate here, but – how do you weed through potential Artists to identify the real gold? I mean, if you tell your Artists, “just take your time and develop”, how can you fund that type of timeline?

There’s a longer conversation about our unique business model and this is one of the things we’re most excited about because we haven’t really seen or heard of anybody else out there doing it quite like this, but we feel it addresses so much of the cutting-edge needs in the new music landscape, where songwriting is king and the Internet is our playground.

Basically, once we’ve isolated an Artist who we feel has the product, the personality and the passion, we make a proposal that’s fluid in the sense of, either party can make changes as we go forward. The flipside of this is, as the Artist, you need to show us on a consistent basis that you’re working hard at your craft and that you’re focused and committed, or else we’d have to reevaluate the whole relationship midstream. It may sound harsh but the reality is, I think this is helping us find amazing, totally marketable Artists who might otherwise never have a shot.

Of course there’s still a risk with this plan, because the Label is making an investment in the Artist that may not pay off if the relationship changes, or even if it doesn’t. But we believe there are a lot of world-class, high-integrity Artists out there who are undiscovered and just need this type of trust relationship to help them act out their dream.

What background do you have that’s prepared you to run a record label?

I could go on about my and my family’s backgrounds as amateur musicians and playing with bands and songwriting etc., but this wasn’t really the root of my confidence as we launched Cole Ocean Records — although it clearly trained my ear to separate exceptional music from just so-so music.

More significant has been my business experience, as I recently crossed the quarter-century mark of operating a successful business in the visual arts field.

A surprising yet convenient corollary between commercial graphics and commercial-quality music is, you must respect the artistic process and give it room to breathe, but also set parameters to help stay focused on commercial success. Many of the same challenges exist, such as the unknowns with every project until it’s delivered out there, and you still have to be organized and manage the unexpected stuff like “hey, the software’s not working today because of the new OS update, so now we might miss our deadline” or whatever. I mean, none of that is any different than the graphics industry.

Why the name ‘Cole Ocean’?

Picking a name has got to be one of the hardest parts of starting a new venture, so using my last name was the first step to isolating on something unique, and it also gives a gentle nod to my family, who’s been very supportive of the idea. The “ocean” reference symbolizes a natural resource that’s virtually unlimited, is often calming and restful, yet quite mysterious and powerful.

So the name is a tribute to the creative force that’s been coded into each human: it’s an echo of where you’ve come from, and at once an undeniably wild and massive resource. It’s our goal that each of our artists and our team members would live in constant gratefulness for – and optimal stewardship of – that creativity.