Today we’d like to introduce you to Melvin Dillon
Hi Melvin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In short, I was working around the clock at the day job. My boss pulled me aside and was sharing that I needed something else in life to keep myself from the eventual burnout. So naturally….I decided to start a record label.
But not just any record label, but one that disrupted the industry.
It all came back to this point – what would I want from a label as an artist? I pulled ideas from friends who were in the industry who experienced pain points with releasing their music to craft a label that was artist first and artist friendly.
We’ve grown so much over the years! We are now up to over 100 releases on vinyl where we upfront the cost of manufacturing vinyl for our artists while splitting revenue 50/50 with our artists.
To this point we have never taken a penny from the label. The money goes back to our artists and what is owed to the label funnels into supporting another project. A true passion project that’s been going for 10 years.
We’ve pressed over 150,000 vinyl records and have shipped records all over the world with the support of our Distro partners over at Secretly Distro.
We will continue to fight the good fight and release the best independent music we can discover as long as our fans continue to support us back with purchasing and sharing the music from our artists.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Too many to count!
With any business you attempt to try and stay one step ahead of the changing trends. Making vinyl is a delicate and intricate process and over the years we’ve seen challenges in cost of manufacturing, issues with supplies, and incredibly long turn around times. Not to mention the changes that a world-wide pandemic can create!
It’s easy to sit back and think, “If I can get this to a certain level – the pain points will start to subside…”
Truly the pain points do not subside, they evolve. So we’ve attempted to evolve with them over the years.
It’s easy to get frustrated and to feel defeated. But attempt to embrace those challenges and more often than not, you will innovate a way to move forward.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our business plan is certainly something that sets us apart. A not-for-profit record label? It’s a wild idea in an industry that can be challenging to stay financially afloat. When the ultimate goal is releasing the best music possible instead of profit I know that I’ll make the best decisions for our artists and their career.
That’s what keeps us going. When I started Soul Step, I wanted it to stand out. Not only because I think we have the best lineup of artists that span just about any genre of music, but a home for artists to feel safe and comfortable working with us.
We’ve had many artists get discovered and picked up to a major label, and we’ve had artists reject those deals to stay with us. No matter what, we remain our artists’ biggest cheerleaders no matter what direction their career needs to go.
Another thing Soul Step is known for is having some of the most beautiful vinyl around among the indie labels. So much time, effort, and detail go into the music – and that same passion needs to shine through the design of these albums – all the way to how the vinyl itself looks.
It’s really a great way to help someone make that impulse purchase and discover an artist that is new to them. We always are thinking through the lens of what would it take for a random person to take a chance on this album.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Seeing our artists succeed. That’s it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.soulsteprecords.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulsteprecords
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soulsteprecords
- Twitter: https://x.com/soulsteprecords
