Today we’d like to introduce you to Wyatt Blair.
Hi Wyatt, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started a record label when I was 18 years old in my garage. The goal was to be able to promote my band and friend’s bands in the area since no one else was & I felt passionately about championing unique and unheard music that I felt was f*cking awesome! It was eventually named Lolipop Records & with the help of friends and local artists, we opened our official record store/HQ in 2013 in Echo Park right under the Sunset Blvd. bridge. Since then, the label has been a team effort between Ignacio Gonzalez, Henry Stotsenberg & I (the owners of the business). We dedicated our full-time efforts to our roster, releasing hundreds of cassette tapes for artists around the globe, vinyl, merchandise, tour booking, licensing, distribution, our own music festival & all! We eventually started the recording and producing for our own bands for the label all in house & that’s where the idea of building out a studio and going all-in on in-house producing came to be.
In 2017 we moved into a warehouse in Boyle Heights where we built out two studios, completely custom to our wants & needs. We run the label upstairs in our office and now can give access to our studios to our artists to be able to make the album they’ve always dreamed up, with no constraints on time, money, or safety. Being in a larger space also came with the benefit of being able to offer our artists a place to rehearse whenever they’d like & a giant room to make music videos and photos in! It really is a “compound” an all-in-one concrete island for creativity. Everyday… records, videos, rehearsal, writing, collaboration, shipping, meeting of minds are at play & we feel as if this is a one-of-a-kind establishment that will break all the rules of the music industry! Putting the power into the artist’s hands, working with them on the ground level, every day, achieving what we set out today 1: champion & support awesome f*cking music!
Alright, 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?
Nothing is ever going to be a smooth road. There were many hurdles along the way. For one, we didn’t even know how to use bar codes at first and the early batches of cassettes and vinyl records we didn’t even have any on them, which we learned greatly affected the ability to be in stores. Some other aspects of graphic design content management have been difficult in learning. Keeping up with all of the changes in the music industry in regards to streaming, publishing & social media has been equally interesting as it has been a challenge.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Lolipop Records and Savannah Studios?
Lolipop Records started officially in 2013, with the emphasis on releasing unknown artists on cassette tape & vinyl. We are still going strong today after having released over 300+ albums from artists around the globe. We have an amazing team (Aubrey Shepherd, Rae Dodge & Jon Sidel) who we couldn’t do it without! What sets us apart is our outlook on how a record company should operate. We now have two recording studios (Savannah Studios) and our label HQ all under one roof. This allows us to produce the music we release in-house! It also allows us to give access to these studios 24/7 to our artists without the stressors of being on a time constraint, having enough money, safety, or the worry of a label having control over their creative decisions. We are most proud of the fact that we hold very strong, unbelievable loyalty to our artists & are able to give them everything they need to succeed in the music industry without it hindering their art or livelihood.
How do you keep yourself happy outside of work?
Surfing! Simply because it connects me to the “real world” & somehow time seems to be irrelevant when you’re out in the ocean having fun.
Pricing:
- $350 per day to rent one of our studios
- $600 per day to rent a studio with a Savannah engineer
- $25 an hour for band rehearsals
- $50 an hour for filming on our soundstage
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.savannah-studios.com
- Instagram: @savannah_studios_
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/lolipoprecords
- SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/lolipoprecords
Image Credits
Sheva Kafai, Ignacio Gonzalez
