The Label – Perfecto Records

VMM Interviews the team behind Perfecto Records the iconic dance music label owned by the prolific award winning UK Born DJ Producer Paul Okenfold. We ask the incredible Perfecto team how did Perfecto begin and what’s in store for the rest of 2010 and beyond with new releases that we can expect to hit the dance floors and download portals from this summer.

The Interview:

Hi guy’s we hope we find you well!

QVMM: Can you tell us the story about how Perfecto Records started and become one of the worlds quality dance music labels today?

PERFECTO A&R : Back in the mid 90s Paul was at the top of the DJ game and coming across so many hit records that it was just a natural progression to start signing all this music and putting it out ourselves. And then years of signing great artists and great tracks led us to become the well known brand we are today.

QVMM: Can you tell the VMM about some of the artists that are currently signed to Perfecto Records?

PERFECTO A&R : Besides label boss Paul, we have a number of the top acts in the industry like Hernan Cattaneo, Sandra Collins and Infected Mushroom, Jan Johnston and we are developing some of the next breed of superstar djs and producers including on our core team Robert Vadney, Kenneth Thomas, Adam White, Nat Monday and Atlanta’s Joey Modus.

QVMM: For the new listener that is just discovering Perfecto Records for the first time can you describe the labels sound today, and what genres do you feel fit your label imprint in 2010?

PERFECTO A&R : Although Perfecto over the years has been most closely associated with more emotional sounds like progressive trance and house, we are open to all sorts of different genres. If its a good track or good album, if it stands out from the crowd but is still marketable, we are interested. For us, its always been about good music. Music we believe in.

QVMM: Can you tell the VMM about what a typical day would be like for a member of your Perfecto Records A&R team?

PERFECTO A&R : Our A&R team sees 150+ demos a week so usually we start out going through the new emails and downloading tracks. On top of that we also need to go through all the promo emails that are sent to our inhouse dj team and Paul. That is another 500+ emails a week. So a lot of our day is just downloading new music and filtering out the sub-par tracks, and we get a lot of sub-par stuff. Out of the cold demos we receive we probably only consider signing 1 in every 300 or so, maybe less. And out of the new promos we are sent from other labels only maybe 1 out of 100 makes the cut and makes it into our dj sets. So thats a ton of time just going through music. Other than that, there’s always more things on the radar to get done. Our A&R team are also producers, engineers and djs so they also have to allocate time for those other areas as well. Its definitely an 80+ hour work week for us here behind the scenes.

QVMM: Paul we know you started out in the music business as an A&R consultant for Profile Records and Def Jam so the VMM would like to know if someone wanted a career in the Record business as a member of the Perfecto’s A&R team what do you look for and who should they contact?

PAUL OKENFOLD : In general if someone were looking to get more involved in scouting music or getting involved in the music business they should have a good basic understanding of business. A few courses on the basics of the music industry is a good place to start. Going to shows and concerts regularly and exploring what’s hot and what’s not in the scene at the moment is a great way to gauge what the market is like. Ultimately though, the key to being a great A&R is having a great ear for music. Knowing what’s going to be hot around the next turn, putting your finger on what the next big thing is!

Now, for us as a label, although we aren’t looking to add anymore fulltime guys to the A&R team, You can always reach out to our main two guys, Kenneth Thomas at kt@perfectorecords.com and Tariq at Tariq@perfectorecords.com. They would love to hear from you and hear any tracks you’d like to send our way. If someone were to discover something, brings it to us and we end up signing it, there is always room for that person to make something for their find!

QVMM: Can you tell the VMM what releases you have coming out in the coming months on Perfecto Records?

PERFECTO A&R : This year is stacking up to be a big one for us! First up we have Oakys new album, Pop Killer featuring Pauls’ collaborations with Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkley, Ryan Tedder from One Republic, Infected Mushroom and the massive Red Hot Chili Peppers collaboration. Also in the mix, Kenneth Thomas is working on his first full-length “Perfecto Presents” CD release. We are teaming up with another very large dance label to co-release that project with the idea to relaunch the hugely popular “Perfecto Presents” series giving our main artists that compilation platform once again as we did in the late 90s with that series.

Also on the radar for Perfecto Digital, Robert Vadney latest album “Dance 4 Death” will see a release this summer as will Susy Del Vecchios’ Mesmerized. That has been seeing some massive buzz for the past year. Another project we are lining up is Mexicos’ Dezarate who has had a few singles and remixes out with Perfecto Digital already. His latest is the vocal tune “Soul is in The Air”. Paul has been supporting that on his podcast for a bit now and the buzz on that has also been fantastic.

QVMM: Can you tell the VMM all about your Perfecto Las Vegas Nights at Rain NightClub who are your resident dj’s what’s the vibe of the Night?

PERFECTO A&R : Our night is every Saturday inside Rain at The Palms and is something we are all immensely proud of. There really isn’t anything like this in North America for dance music. We combined the best aspects of custom visuals, sound, Cirque du Soliel-like performers and performance artists, brought them all together and present them in a way that doesn’t take away from the focus that is the music. Paul plays a couple times a month, KT, Joey Modus, Zen Freeman and the rest of our team make regular stops to play but we also bring in all the other top names in the industry as well.

QVMM: The VMM would like to know about the Okenfold perfecto Vegas is this a compilation of tracks hand, picked from your perfecto Las Vegas Nights or is it an artist album for Paul. Also when is the album released and hitting download stores?

PERFECTO A&R : The “Perfecto Vegas” CD that is out now is a dj mix compilation compiled of some of Pauls biggest records at our night as well as some of the top tracks we have put out on Perfecto Digital over the last year. Now, Pauls next project, “Pop Killer” is a complete artist album, that will be out later this fall.

QVMM: Can you tell the budding DJ producer what do you look for in a track that you may decide to sign to Perfecto Records?

PERFECTO A&R : As I mentioned a little earlier, we are looking for stuff that stands out to us. We really aren’t looking to follow the exact current trends, but looking for stuff that takes those current trends to the next level. We want to sign music that looks forward, stands out and says something. Something unique, yet is also commercially marketable. Its a delicate balance, but any new producer should be trying to find his or her own sound. Any computer these days can become a full studio so everyone is a producer now. So a new artist really needs to find that special aspect in themselves that makes them stand out from all the rest.

QVMM: Where can we best buy your Perfecto releases from?

PERFECTO A&R : Everything is up on Beatport.com and iTunes.

QVMM: The VMM would like to know where can budding up and coming dj producers send there unsigned material for you’re A&R team to hear ?

PERFECTO A&R : As mentioned early, you can reach out main A&R guys, Kenneth Thomas and Tariq at kt@perfectorecords.com and tariq@perfectorecords.com respectively. We would love to hear from you!

We wish you all the best for 2010 for all your releases and Perfecto projects around the globe and thanks for speaking to the VMM.

Bex Hazard ZiRENZ MEDiA PR

Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Posted by Bex | Features, Interviews, The Industry, The Label

1 Comment

nancy
08 Aug 2010, 11:28 pm

I’m usually excited to go to this blog in the evenings.Please keep on churning out the content. It’s extremely entertaining.

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