Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Ryves.
Jay, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am a co-founder of music company Future Classic with my husband Nathan McLay. We started out in Sydney Australia in 2004 – putting on dance parties and releasing a few records for friends while we both worked other jobs – Nathan in a day job for a music distribution company and DJ by night and me working as a graphic designer at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Our business grew until we ended up opening a second office here in LA in 2017.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For many years Future Classic was a passion project for us – we loved music and art and this project facilitated the lifestyle we enjoyed. We got to travel the world and work with artists we admired. This was great but money was always a struggle. As we grew, we became more financially minded and business focused. Having kids really precipitated us taking this all a bit more seriously!
Please tell us about Future Classic.
Future Classic started out as a record label and touring company, eventually we dropped the touring and events side of things and began managing artists alongside the label.
In Australia, we are a well known independent label. In the USA, we are probably best known as the team behind Flume – a Grammy-winning Australian music producer.
Our business is not really exactly like another because we offer a range of services to our clients. For some, we are management, some we are the label, some we provide publishing services or any combination of these things.
We are really good at getting our hands dirty and really working with our artists to realize their creative vision. Our unique offering is that we have the ability in house to help with all aspects of the artists work – I head up creative direction and we have 2 in house designers and content creators who can help. We also have a great a&r team, recording studios here in LA, publishing and licensing services in house and Nathan to run the business affairs side of things.
I’m proud of the work we do – our artists and their many achievements are our best business card! Also, the great team we have put together – all our people are passionate about music and the work we do. They are energetic and onboard with all the ambitious ideas Nathan brings to the table. We all socialize together, exercise together and our team really feel like family.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My childhood home is beautiful old wooden house filled with treasures on the Lane Cover River in Sydney. I have so many memories of this very special place of sewing with my mother and sailing with my father, feeding the rainbow lorikeets and just growing up in such a peaceful paradise just a short ferry ride from Sydney city.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://futureclassic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futureclassic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/futureclassic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/futureclassic
- Other: https://futureclassicshop.com/
Image Credit:
John Liwag, Matsu, Maddie Cordoba
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