INTERVIEW: Dosada Records
B: Hi everyone, welcome to this weeks Something Something interview, with me today I’m joined by Jack and Isaac from Dosada Records, boys, how’s this year been for the both of you?
J: Nah, it’s been pretty good aye. The years been very busy obviously, y’know, we’re balancing third year uni, the both of us, and Dosada commitments and Something Something as well. Yeah, no, it’s been good though, we’ve just been very busy behind the scenes, we haven’t had time to put any gigs on yet because it’s just been flat out.
I: Yeah I second that, lots of admin work this year, lots of restructuring to the brand, so keep an eye out for that one. A few new artists on the way, some releases coming out, like quarter four, 2021. So I mean, not a lot right now but just heaps of just book work mostly.
B: So tell us, what was your main drive or vision to start up Dosada Records? Tell us a bit about the start of the company and how that came about.
J: I mean, Dosada originally started in first year. It started in first year as like, it was meant to be designed for a house label, because I’m really into house music, on the low. So I got all the branding done and everything. And then it came to second year, the start of second year where we had to do a release for an artist. And I hadn’t touched the designs and the branding for about nine months. And I sat next to Isaac in class and turned to him and said “Hey, you wanna release some music?” And we started, we released Gajuar’s single together and we started, I was like “Hey, I have all these like, prerequisite assets that we can use.” and kind of started from there. And kind of, the vision was kind of just to be a really easy, accessible label for up and coming Wellington artists. Y’know we’re both from the Manawatū and I think we wanna do some stuff in the Manawatū as well like, oh Rangitikei, the mighty Rangitikei. It’s just being that accessible point, I feel like people are very scared to just go and get shit done and we wanna help people go and get shit done.
I: It’s essentially like, early brand and artist inception and development. I always identified when looking at bands and looking at their successes is that people who had a name and a platform that they released their music under, always looked more like they had their shit together essentially. So like, we kind of, our vision, I mean we started with the Gajuar stuff, but then we kind of moved on to like, yeah, just creating the bridge point between new, developing artists and then the further industry. And also, just being like, that good kind of secure gateway, we have a bunch of contacts, you know what I mean, where they can get their shit developed and out there. That’s the main, that was where we started. It’s kind of still what we do now.
J: We’re like the label equivalent of a first kiss. You always remember your first.
I: Yeah the first kiss, yeah. And then you move on and like, that’s the learning relationship.
B: What are the roles between you? Is there a diva, is there a dominant one, what are the two roles?
I: Jack’s the diva.
J: I wouldn’t say I’m a diva per-say, met with much ridicule. I am the kind of ideas person, if you’re like, grouping things. I’m like, “Let’s make this”, I’m kind of like the “Hey we should do this” and Isaac’s kinda like “This is why we can’t do this” type thing, which is-
I: I’m the buzzkill.
J: You’re the most kindest buzzkill of all fucking time, honestly like I’ll come to him and be like “Why has this not been done yet?” And then there’ll be like “Oh, like, because of this reason.” Which makes things very easy and very like… He’s the logic and I’m the David Lynch movie y’know like, the creative and you’re the assertive, intellect. Nah let me rephrase that. I think we share a lot of roles, primarily, I don’t think of it as we like, split everything up all the time, I think we do a lot together and it’s a lot of like, someone will lead something and the other person will just make sure that it’s okay or like, double check and be feedback sort of thing, which works really well and makes things very easy to complete when you like, can lead something and then you just have someone over your shoulder going “Yo, are you all good, are you doing okay, what do you think about this and this and this?”
B: So it’s easier to work as a team than on your own?
J: Oh 100%, I think that’s what makes us so efficient and so fucking approachable, is that we share the workload very well.
I: I’ve always described our working relationship with like, the metaphor that Jack is the one who’s going around and addressing everybody and like “Ay what’s up, we got all this going on, we can do all this for you, blah blah blah mean mean mean cool” and then he’s onto the next thing. And I’m the guy who kinda comes up with the note pad like “yeah so whats your number, what’s your budget for this.” Like just basically, you kind of keep things driving forward-
J: There’s the face and the behind the scenes.
I: Essentially, the mum and the dad.
J: I’m the firm handshake and you’re the affirmation.
I: I keep the household running. Which is good. So like, yeah Jack does a lot of like, the big picture stuff like, the this is where we’re going for this year, these are all these ideas for shows I have, he’s the one who’s on the phone to everybody that we work with, talking to artists and stuff, I handle a lot of the logistical work, a lot of the budgeting, things like that basically like, making sure-
J: Making sexy spreadsheets
I: Yeah, making sure we’re just keeping everything between the lines. Its good, it works really well, very yin and yang.
J: People could hear that and be like “Well, Jacks having all the fun, going around and doing all the fun things.”
I: Which is true.
J: I absolutely am more than happy to do the not fun things, I enjoy spreadsheets every now and then as well. Please don’t act like I’ve got Isaac in my sweatshop at the back of the house just, slaving away.
I: Yeah it’s not like that.
J: Not yet.
I: But I mean yeah, literally speaking, if we’re answering that question purely just, that’s kind of how it works. But I mean obviously there’s like, tonnes of overlap.
B: If you were a Wellington venue, what would you be?
I: I mean, we talked about this about ten minutes ago, and Jack said Valhalla.
J: I mean, I said you would be Valhalla.
I: Yeah I’d be Valhalla, ‘cause I got lots of tattoos, I wear a lot of black. No but-
J: Stereotyping.
I: No but it’s, I don’t wanna say like, the well rounded venue but definitely the one that’s very, I mean, anyone who’s dealt with Valhalla and dealt with Ben he’s just like, super approachable, very easy to work with. Valhalla is a very diverse and just good venue for just any kind of artist to work with. And that’s, in the terms of like, my business perspectives, what I kind of strive to put forward. And it’s also, if I was to run a venue in Wellington it would definitely be kind of modelled around the way that Ben runs Valhalla and the way that the staff work. It’s just so great, it’s so easy, it’s so much fun when you go there, you know what I mean?
J: As a show, as someone who’s putting on a gig at Valhalla or like, as a consumer of gigs, it’s great. If I was a venue-
I: You’d be San Fran.
J: Nah I wouldn’t.
I: Sexy and alty, y’know?
J: I actually think, controversially I’d be a DIY house party, that’s the real venue people. I’d be the VV, the Varsity Villas house parties that we threw last year. But nah, I just think yeah DIY, I’m all over the place, I’m a bit unorganised, but I’m a cracking good time after like, three pints. Yeah so I think I’m, yeah, DIY house party is where it’s at. Bit of a doof, yeah. Eventually always gets shut down about 12:00 by noise control, it’s great.
B: Dinner with three people, dead or alive, go.
I: Dinner with three people, dead or alive, okay. Oh man, this is mean, I didn’t even read this question when you, oh shit, I didn’t get-
J: Chris, Jas and Matt, easy.
I: Chris, Jas and Matt, my three lovely flatmates. Yeah three people. I mean like, okay, it’s a mix of like, my idols and then the people that are the most interesting to talk to. In my opinion, Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury and then Van McCann from Catfish and the Bottlemen. I feel like that’d be amazing, I would love that, I would probably cry.
B: What do you two hope to achieve with Dosada in the next year?
I: With Dosada in the next year I was love to implement a lot of the restructuring ideas, just the things that we’ve been discussing over the past couple of weeks, fully implement just our, not rebranding, but just all of our plans, make the record label a little bit more focused, streamline our stuff. I'd love to book a few more artists, that would be great, do a bit more in our like, promotion and distribution work, as opposed to running shows. And I would also, I haven’t actually talked to you about this yet, but I’d love to tap the all ages market because that’s very close to my heart, it’s where I came up and stuff like that. And so, I’d love to extend our support that we offer to like, our Massey artists and things like that to, y’know, just kids who are trying to make it, maybe they need a little bit of direction, like, people don’t know what they’re doing, y’know. I’d love to break into that by the end of the year.
J: Yeah no, very similar to Isaac, he doesn’t have to discuss things with me because I’m always on board with him. Yeah no, I’m keen to tap the all ages scene as well. But yeah, streamlining our business processes in the way we give support to artists is something that we’re focusing on for the rest of this year, kind of creating an easy, interactive way to be like “Hey how do I go about making my releases more successful?” and being like “Okay, here’s a list of things you need to do, we can help you with that, we wanna help you with that, let us help you with that.” And you know, just pushing some really really great, talented artists that we love working with for the rest of the year. And putting on probably a few more gigs this year because we haven’t done any yet, it’s almost like, we’re like, a third of the way through the year, over a third of the way so, gotta get onto that. But yeah like, kind of focusing on distribution and promotion a lot at the moment as well.
B: Do you guys have any advice for people in the music scene wanting to start up their own record label or company?
I: Absolutely. Do it. That’s the first piece of advice. If you have a great idea, you should go for it, you shouldn’t pity foot around. Like just, identify, I mean initially like, foundational tips I suppose, identify a gap in the market. Somewhere you can kind of fill in and like, offer value to people who don’t have that offered to them or that it's very hard for them to find. And don’t be a dick. Like, be approachable, be good with your contacts, be very very respectful. If you’re like, if you’re hard to work with on a promoting standpoint, like, you’ve got a whole plethora of other people in the industry that just aren’t gonna be interested in working with you. So like, y’know, if you pay your artists on time, if you’re easy to talk to, if you do what you say you’re gonna do, you let venues know of anything that’s going wrong, well in advance, things like that, you’re good with your techs, with your designers, with your photographers and your videographers like, everything like that, all communication, be good at that. That’s like the most important part. Because like, your business front can look amazing but you’re the guts of it, and if you’re not good, nobody's gonna wanna deal with that. Because there are options. There are so many promoters and so many record labels in Wellington and then like, in wider New Zealand, like people are just not gonna go with you, so yeah.
J: I think Isaac’s done a bloody good job of basically covering all bases there. But I’ll just add that Dosada started like, properly, rather than just being like a one off release for a uni paper because the industry, you can’t just waltz into the industry, get a job and then ‘know live the rest of your life like, y’know, working for Warner Music or y’know, you can’t just go in and be like “I’m talented, this is how I live now.” Dosada started because y’know, you have to make your own work and you have to y’know, push yourself to y’know, have a career in the industry. I didn’t wanna be stuck y’know, working at McDonalds my whole life, shout out McDonalds. So just fucking get out there and do it. The scene will welcome you, any scene will welcome you if you contribute positively to it. It’s all love and aroha and y’know just, keep pushing yourself. Obviously not too much mentally, just like, look after yourself as well. Good things will happen if you do good things for other people. We love giving advice, free advice, because y’know, we are here for the positivity of the scene!