cd: Please tell us the story how R.A.N.D. Muzik Recordings was born.

Reece Walker: The label was born out compassion (pity) from the good people at the R.A.N.D. Muzik vinyl pressing plant toward a not-really-that-young Australian who moved to leipzig with a pocketful of dreams and very little else: no experience, no skills, and certainly no plan.
That Australian was me. Instead of them giving me a real job (wise) they let me start the R.A.N.D. Muzik Recordings label. Like a shark, famously unable or unwilling to swim backwards I decided to give it a go.

cd: We know it's hard to talk about music if you could just simply listen to it. But how would you describe the sound of the label?

Reece: Talking about music is like dancing about architecture. That’s a simile I have just come up with, and I expect it to be attributed to me from this point forward. What I’m trying to say is that some concepts don’t translate well between art forms. Describing the label’s music in words is about as effective as a dancer trying to explain a building through interpretive movement. But it's mostly house music.

cd: What are your 3 tips from successfully running a dance music label you could give to someone who wants to start their own label?

Reece: I want to say you should get rid of your phone and start connecting with people in real life again. But without your phone you’ll end up spending even more time on your laptop, and you might not be able to contact your friends or figure out where the party is. This is a problem, because you need to be going to the party to stay up to date with whatever hot tunes are currently being played.

But be careful—this is the first test every label owner faces. The music at the party is going to be terrible. It will have been concocted by corporate elites who are intent on dismantling our institutions brick by brick via the DJs they’ve selected to feed us their mediocrity.

Once you realise the party is just a diversion, you’ll want to move on to the afters. There, you’ll find yourself surrounded by some of the most intelligent free-thinkers ever to bless a room, and as the day drags on you’ll notice everyone agreeing with each other more and more. This is the perfect moment to tell everyone about your label idea so they can give you the confidence you need to move forward.

cd: Imagine the following situation: you agreed with an artist to release another EP on your label. 2 tracks are already finished, so 2 are still missing. How do you work with the artist to finish the record?

Reece: This is the point where you need to take out the big proverbial label-head-whip and get cracking *Wuupschhh*. I would usually start by confronting the artist with something like this: „Hey, how’s those 2 tracks going? Think you can get them done? this record is gonna be bangin!“

Here you’ll quickly figure out if the artist really wants to release on your label. Or simply suffers from a pathological inability to say no. If they get the last 2 tracks done, nice one! They might genuinely want to release with you. If they stop replying. Well, they probably aren't interested.

cd: What makes the B2 position on the record so special?

Reece: We all know market forces don’t just run politics — they sneak into every part of our lives, even how we make records. The B2 is the exception to this where you can put the songs no one would want to buy.