How people grew their record labels from college dorm rooms

A teenager causing a ruckus in their dorm room is a common occurrence, but how often does it result in a company that rakes in upwards of six figures a year? 

It sounds far-fetched, but it doesn’t have to be – thanks to our post-pandemic digital age, music scenes are becoming more accessible one project at a time. 

One such project is independent label Solfool Records. Founded by Nico Carrera, a native of Aurora, Illinois, the name is a play on the word “soulful,” with the integration of the Spanish word for “sun.”

“So far, most of the artists [signed to] Solfool are of Hispanic or Latino backgrounds,” Carrera said of the name. “I think it’s a cool play on words, and it looks cool as well. I think it was more of a visual appeal than more of a message.” 

The label started as a freelance project for Carrera, where he designed logos for other artists and creatives. Once he began releasing music, he decided to take Solfool in the direction of a record label that now operates from the confines of his dorm room.

“I created a website and soon we started making contracts and signing artists from all over,” Carrera said. “So we have a lot of artists from [the] Chicago area, a handful of artists from L.A., … and we’re planning on signing an artist from the East Coast.” 

Carrera’s story draws parallels to that of Jared Jones, formerly of Evansville, Indiana, who churned a career out of a college house show habit.

Once a student at Indiana University Bloomington (IU), Jared Jones talked about the DIY nature of college music scenes. On campuses across the country, artists can be found playing in backyards and living rooms to gain live performance experiences. Not to mention, such events make for a memorable party. 

“Being from a city that wasn’t like a New York or L.A. the music scene and community was very small, very tight knit,” Jared Jones said. “If you wanted to play a show, you had to set it up yourself.”

Now living in Los Angeles, Jared Jones detailed that he and co-founder Ben Wittkugel started their independent label, Winspear, as students at IU. 

Winspear is home to an impressive collection of artists, including two Chicago-based bands – Divino Niño and Slow Pulp. 

“We started the label in 2015 but I didn’t start doing it full-time until 2019,” Jared Jones said. For the first four or five years, he and Wittkugel had to reinvest all of the money they were making back into the label.

This money fed into a cycle that allowed Winspear to sink its roots into the soil of the music industry. It continues to pay the freelancers that often assist the label in their endeavors.

“Right now Ben and I are the only full-time staff at the label,” Jared Jones said. “We have a number of contractors and freelancers that we work with. A lot of our projects will hire freelance publicists or radio PR folks. Some other labels do it differently where they’ll have people in-house, on staff … I think there’s pros and cons to doing it both ways.”

Many major labels operate with a slew of different departments, including label RCA Records – which boasts artists like Chicago-born Patti Smith. 

RCA employs individuals in marketing, social media management, and artists & repertoire (A&R). Marguerite Jones, a graduate of the City College of New York, began her time with RCA as an intern and now works as an A&R manager at RCA Records, having signed hip-hop artist Latto three years ago.

Marguerite Jones herself mentioned that working with major artists does not have to be inaccessible or unrealistic – one just has to forge their own path, to be a trailblazer.

“I didn’t see anybody doing what I’m doing … or I didn’t see anyone that had the dreams that I had,” Marguerite Jones said. “I think you just have to get out there and be looking into people who did do some of the things that you wanted to do and you know you kind of have to fight and go find the information [that’s] not really right in front of you.”

Carerra’s Solfool Records, chasing that information, is working out the kinks of what it means to run a label – which means seeking out ways to generate revenue.

“We’re not taking any of the cuts from any of the artists,” Carrera said. “But the problem is that it costs money to run all of this. For now, it’s coming out of my pocket.” 

Carrera hopes to start selling artists’ merchandise on Solfool’s website, as well as potentially connecting the label’s artists with brand deals. This can prove to be a tough barrier for a “newborn” label to break. However, once revenue becomes more steady, label owners can begin to reap the benefits of their craft.

“There reached a point where we did enough releases, and our releases were successful enough that we were like ‘Alright, we can start paying ourselves back,’” Jared Jones said. He explained that much of Winspear’s investment money came from side jobs. Once they were doing well with that, they decided they had the financial stability to begin paying themselves a part-time wage, or minimum wage.

Jared Jones mentioned that at one time his and his partner’s salaries were about $30,000 a year – which is equivalent to minimum wage in California. Now, he said, the company is bringing in a gross income in the six-figure range.

Money aside, Jared Jones pointed out the gratification he felt seeing his work pay off, especially now with the reemergence of live performance after the pandemic.

“When you get to go to that show and see the band you’ve been working with for the past year play a sold-out show in their hometown, that feels really special,” Jared Jones said. “It feels like this really physical manifestation of all the work you’ve been doing.”

Marguerite Jones expressed a similar fondness for seeing Latto perform, explaining that it showed a both decorated past and a bright future for music. 

“I think one of my biggest moments with [Latto] this year was BET,” Marguerite Jones said. “When she did the BET performance with Mariah Carey it just felt like it was … two generations kind of coming together and being supportive of women. It was really special that we helped put that record together.”

Header graphic by Magda Wilhelm