Oh! Records Stockholm | Label Profile
Oh! Records Stockholm is a quiet enigma - low-profile, but immensely emotive music that really demands to be listened to and felt. It’s something I look forward to when a promo lands from these guys. The digital platform was founded by Andreas Hansson and Dana Bergquist as a way of bringing back sweet memories of those familiar with the magic club. Oh! Is also one of Swedens longest running clubnights, but beyond what any of us can read online of the label I wanted to delve a little deeper…
How did the label come to be - what’s the story of how why you created it?
Dana used to hang around in the recordshop that Andreas used to work in and we started to do some back 2 back gigs because we had the same taste in music. Then we got offered to do some special events and we needed a name so we came up with Oh! At that time was Dana involved in Discoteca Music but they stopped doing releases so we started up Oh! Records Stockholm.
Tell us about the club night?
We used to play in different venues and then we found our home at an old club called Esque and we had guest like Tom Middleton, Nic Fancuilli, Funk D´void, Luke Fair, Manuel Tur. It was a small place for like 250 people with a Funktion 1 system. I think we have some of the nights recorded so maybe it´s time upload them to soundcloud.
What is the magic club mentioned in your RA profile text?
I think we need to update that text. A friend of ours wrote that and he refers to the clubnights that we used to do. The clubscene back then was more of a family affair and much smaller but it had a great vibe. Todays clubscene in Stockholm is much bigger with bigger bookings, better soundsystems but it has not the same atmosphere.
What were the biggest challenges you had to get to release one?
It´s quite easy to run a digital label if you compare to running a vinyl label. The hardest thing in the beginning was to get good demos but thankfully we have some talented friends.
What was the best piece of advice anyone gave you?
Drop one and come up at midnight.
What makes the label unique?
We think that we are not a unique label but we put out music that we love and don´t try to follow any trends.
What’s your musical policy - what do you look for?
The deeper shade of housemusic but we are trying to have a diverse sound.
What producers have you had on the label that sum up the style you want best?
Hard question because we have a lot of great talents on the label that are not so famous but Fabian Kash, Menshen, Lauhaus, Mario Franca, Kornum & Karma, pothOles, BiGz, Kiano, Sunhine Jones, Phonique and of course Dana Bergquist & Peder G.
How do you go through demos, how do you like people to send them, what’s your process?
Thankfully we don´t get hundreds of demos so we have the time to listen to everything. Andreas is selecting the best ones and sending it to Dana and then we decide togheter.
How long do you plan between signing a track and release?
We are trying not sign to much tracks so we can have them out quite fast like 4-8 months.
How do you go about creating the artwork?
Our designer, Dana Bergquist, is also one of the founders of the label and he's been doing the artwork since we started and he's been working with different themes throughout the years and trying to do something different and don't copy/paste genre-characteristic design. By working with the same designer since day one we are able to slowly update the brand and stay current without loosing our voice by redoing it completely every once in a while. He's a professionally trained graphic designer and also do all the photography work for the sleeve designs. Blir grym
Do you work with artists to help them develop their brand/audience?
We could be better on this. Some of our artist don´t even have an artistpage on Facebook.
What’s your view on artists albums?
Albums can be great for homelistning but it´s not for every artist to make. It seems like a trend that electronic producers should do albums. You have to have the right idea for an album and most of the times it´s better to do two EPs instead of an album.
What’s been the most successful release to date and your personal favourite?
Our biggest release has to be Fabian Kash-Chrome it has almost 6 million streams on Spotify. Personal favourite is also hard to choose but Urmet Ks remix of Dana Bergquist & Peder G- Tenaj is really good but we also have had the opportunity to release original music from Phonique and Sunshine Jones from the Dubtribe Soundsystem.
What do you do around a release - promotion etc?
It´s also something we can be better on but we have our promlist and doing some facebook/Instagram ads.
Do you have merchandise?
No but we have been talking about it because Dana is doing some Great work with our design but the problem for us is to find time to do it.
What’s the labels point of view on retail sales vs streaming revenue?
Streaming is the biggest income for the label. Services like Beatport link is gonna get bigger and in the future you can probably connect more streaming services to Rekordbox and stream the tracks instead of playing from an usb stick. Streaming is also great for people that´s not into djing.
What’s the hardest thing you find with releases?
It´s too much music out there so you never know if it´s gonna sell or not. Sometimes you think you have done everything right with PR and still it doesn´t sell. It would be much easier for everybody if it were less releases out there.
How often do you have a release?
8-12 releases a year.
Do you use a promo list and what do you get out of it?
Yes we do and it´s always nice when people are giving feedback and plays our music in their mixes or radioshow.
Can people apply to get on the list?
Yes you can but we prefer you buy the music and supports the artist.
Do you use a PR company or the services for that a distributor sometimes offers?
We have used PR companys and getting really good feedback on the releases and premiers on Soundcloud but it didn´t sell more for that. Maybe we will use it again but it really needs to be the right release.
How important to the release is airplay, DJ support, artist self-promotion?
I´m not sure about that in our experience it´s more important to get featured on Beatport, Traxsource and hopefully get some support from Spotify.
How much work do you put into social media promotion or paid advertising on social media?
We are doing a small amout of facebook/instagram ads. Social Media PR is also one thing we can be better on but it´s hard to find the time for everything.
Do you do any events or club nights?
Not at the moment but we are still doing some dj gigs togheter.
What releases have you got lined up for the year ahead?
Right now we have a new release out from Lauhaus & Mario Franca that is doing great. After that we have a new releases from Mallin, BiGz & Kiano remixes from Koala and Salski, Autonomi with a remix from Rasmus Vels, Mikkelrev with a remix from Neat and an EP from Dana Bergquist & Peder G plus more. It´s gonna be a great year.
What do you think the big issues ahead are?
It is very important to be on curated playlists and more & more labels want to be on this playlists so it´s gonna be harder to get into them.
Where would you most want people to buy the music?
It doesn´t matter what platform the important thing is that you are not downloading it for free. Support the artist and if your are using a streaming serivce add the tracks to your playlists.
Follow Oh! Records Stocholm:
More like this