Gorillas has launched Pedal Records, a one-of-a-kind cultural initiative that empowers their talented crew to express their creativity and passion in music.
The on demand delivery service Gorillas has pursued the mission of supporting and promoting musicians and creatives from its own crew since day one. In partnership with MNF, a Berlin-based record label, the company will offer professional experience to their employees to enter the music industry and to receive support during the release process.
“Since day 1, Gorillas has been committed to building a people-centric organization, fostering a culture with creative expression at its heart. Whether in the form of custom murals in our warehouses, personalized notes to our customers, or live DJ sets to energize the work environment, we encourage our crew to live our values and to be bold and authentic. Together with the Berlin-based indie label MNF, we launched Pedal Records to cultivate our employees' artistic talent and passion for music. Starting a professional music label is an exciting step for us in expanding our creative culture and I'm looking forward to the world discovering the many talents of the Gorillas' crew.” says Deena Fox, Global Chief People Officer at Gorillas.
About the new label and the benefits of being an artist at Pedal Records
Since January 20th, Gorillas employees have been able to submit their tracks to Pedal Records. The A&R team, consisting of music industry professionals with many years of experience, checks all incoming songs. Even if not every submitted piece of music is released - or every artist signed - all Gorillas artists receive a response with feedback and an opportunity to re-submit their tracks.
The Pedal Records platform also functions as a mentoring tool: Once a track has been selected, a professional team is on hand to support the artist throughout the release process. Mentoring includes for example help with relevant topics, such as mixing and mastering the songs. The tracks are subsequently released on all relevant distribution platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc.
“Growing up, I always wanted to do something extraordinary with my life. The only way I knew how was through my music: I wanted to encourage, inspire and have a positive impact on people's lives.” Nana A. J, Rap Artist at Pedal Records.
In January the first tracks have been released. Since then many more have been submitted by artists from different markets. You can listen to the released music of the Gorillas-Creatives Nana A.J, r0ben, Sardonique and Balwako here.
Marc Hansell, General Counsel at Gorillas, had the original idea to start a music label at Gorillas and still oversees the project today. He is happy to talk about the “making of”, the distribution and the mentoring model of the label and how Gorillas wants to facilitate the entry into the music industry together with MNF. We are also pleased to provide supplementary statements from Marc.
