Today we’d like to introduce you to Gil Gastelum.
Gil, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My whole journey began in Tucson, AZ my birthplace and residence until I left for LA at the age of 24. Throughout my time at the University of Arizona and subsequent graduation, I worked at a record store across the street from campus- Discount Records.
Truth be told, it’s the best job I’ve ever had and the source of my richest education. I loved every aspect of it. I moved to LA to tour manage/assist El Vez the Mexican Elvis. Amazing show, Amazingly educational while he made you laugh. My end game was to work at a label. I worked at Sam Goody at the Beverly Center and Virgin Megastore on Sunset trying to make ends meet all the while for about four months I was living in my truck. Thankfully both stores had showers.
I was able to get an internship with MCA Sales Dept in Burbank thanks to a local rep Fab Mundo who would come and check on stock and merch up the stores in the area. After Fab departed MCA his replacement, JJ Lord took a shine to me and recommended me for an assistant Product Manager job at A&M Records when it was still on the Chaplin lot on Sunset and La Brea. I was able to land the position, and for two great years, I worked under Scott Carter.
I learned a lot and lots of what I didn’t know which mostly was computers and computer programs. I worked with a lot of developing/new acts which now seems like a sign of what my bread and butter would be later on. After two years there, I was offered a job to be a day to day manager of an indie label with an association with the film director Robert Rodriguez and the group Tito & Tarantula who had been featured prominently in his first few Hollywood Studio films.
I left A&M when you just didn’t leave a major for an indie. I was a one-man band and managed to help the group sell over 30K- again a huge learning lesson having to do everything from tour logistics to radio and retail promotion. In 1999, I had the opportunity to move to Austin, TX to work with a musician/friend Davíd Garza who at the time was signed to Atlantic Records, I went initially to help with day to day and within a month became his manager.
After 9/11 and the merger between AOL/Warner (Atlantic being a subsidiary), they purged an astounding amount of acts including Davíd. Back to square one – spent the better part of 2 years trying to get him signed to another label- the general market labels would come and see him, be impressed and then tell me- Davíd is really really great you guys should meet up with our Latin division.
I would always ask “Uh, he doesn’t sing in Spanish”- I’d go and meet with the Latin folks and they would always say “He’s great but we can’t do anything with him, he doesn’t sing in Spanish”. Finally, one-day Davíd called me and said emphatically “I’m not doing any more showcases, meetings or anything with any more labels. The only way I’ll put out another record is on your label”.
About five months later, I had obtained a first distribution deal with Redeye out of North Carolina, and Garza delivers a 4 CD, 1 DVD, 70-page booklet Box Set! My first release was a box set. I’d love to see if any other labels’ first release was a box set. Two years later, I received my first check for royalties on the said box set.
Thanks to Davíd’s referral, I was able to land Michael Ramos as a management client who had worked extensively with John Mellencamp, BoDeans, and Paul Simon, so the management part of what I was doing grew and he was the first artist I had signed to Peer Music. Then in 2010, I met Carla Morrison and things changed within a few months. She blew up commercially thanks to TV sync we got for a Young Adult Telenovela “Soy Tu Fan.”
So fast forward to now- we still work with Garza, Carla, and have for over five years working with Latin Grammy winner Gaby Moreno, current buzz band’s The Marías and The Red Pears. We’ve signed a publishing joint venture with Peer Music, and I have a small staff who works tirelessly for our artists.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been anything but a small road. I’ve had to work jobs as Admissions Counselor, UPS loader, even had a very unsuccessful stint as a clothes wholesaler all in between huge bouts of unemployment.
It’s always been a struggle to get general market folks and latin folks to care that we do music that is not mainstream in the pop world. These days we have more open ears but it’s still a process of education, enlightenment, and seeing how interested these industry folks are, but at the end of the day, we are in a better position of taking an artist from development to find an audience to the marketplace. It’s still not easy, but we fight the fight
Please tell us about Cosmica Artists.
We have historically been working both sides of the fence- we work with Latinx artists from both the US and from Latin America. Major labels for the most part concentrate on Latin acts coming from somewhere else but ignoring the burgeoning talent in their own backyard. We have never done that. We are afraid to work with developing talent- we chase the talent, not data.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
For as much trials and tribulations I’ve had chasing this dream, I wouldn’t change a thing even being homeless for four months- it’s made me centered and push myself, my team even harder to do the right thing.
Contact Info:
- Address: 901 W. Alameda Avenue Suite 108 Burbank. CA 91506
- Website: http://www.cosmica-artists.com
- Phone: 818-480-7010
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: CosmicaArtists
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Cosmica.Artists
- Twitter: CosmicaArtists
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