Today we’d like to introduce you to Wyatt Blair.
Wyatt, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The label was created as a way to release my own band’s record (Mr. Elevator & The Brain Hotel) and promote our friends in the area. Cassette tapes were what we were primarily releasing at that time because it was affordable to press and affordable to buy. Bands could sell them at shows for $5 and people would be able to afford and take a chance on buying the bands album. There’s also something special about playing an album on analog format, it forces you to listen to the album as a “whole” as intended by the artist. We were hand making cassettes, hand numbering them, hand packaging & shipping them around the world and that’s what sparked us to doing more and more releases. We eventually had a storefront in Los Angeles in Echo Park right under the Sunset Blvd. bridge where we’d sell our own releases and have in store performances, and also a studio to produce the bands we were releasing, where it could all be done under one roof, start to finish. We did many Lolipop shows & tours across the country and have since released hundreds of records. We moved our operation to Boyle Heights in 2017 to build a bigger, better recording studio to produce our bands in, as well as a place for bands to stay, rehearse, create videos, podcasts, conceptualize their art & perform in a safe and creative environment.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Me & my partners started this label with no experience what so ever, but we knew that the industry/label business was in turmoil & we could be the ones to re-ignite a new way of creating & releasing music. As a result we have grown from the mistakes we’ve made. We launched a lot of bands first releases & weren’t prepared to take them from a smaller act to a much bigger act so quickly.
Please tell us about Lolipop Records.
Lolipop Records primary goal is to grow our artists to the point where they can live a great life through their art, a label of first opportunity, we want to curate a sense of community & transparency within the music community. All artists we work with will have access to the new Lolipop “Savannah” studios to record, rehearse, perform, connect, try out new ideas & such. Our artists can stay at the Lolipop compound for weeks if they need to to finish an album, we’re fully equipped with beds, showers & safe gated parking! If you’re here at the right time, maybe you can get some BBQ at our broken drum cookout… You can’t beat it!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had done something differently, I would have focused more on our label growth from the beginning, rather than the growth of our record store. Looking back, we probably didn’t need a record store at all & could’ve used it as more of a creative space for the label and our bands.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2826 East First St.
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(construction is set to be complete September 2019) - Website: www.lolipoprecords.com
- Phone: (949)280-6580
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @lolipoprecords
Image Credit:
Sheva Kafai Urban Outfitters
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