Mattia Esposito
Chief Operating Officer
Rehegoo Music Group
Years with Company: 2.5
Address: 166 Mercer St., Suite 3F, New York, NY 10012
Phone: 917-261-5078
Web: rehegoo.com
Email: [email protected];
[email protected]
Clients: David Young, Sabre, Jhonny Boy & Torway
BACKGROUND
Centered around digital-only publishing, Rehegoo Music focuses on new and undiscovered talent. The New York- and London-based organization’s recently founded label, Q&R Music, is a joint venture with Quincy Jones Productions.
Rehegoo
I started with Rehegoo when I was offered a position by the founder of the company, Marco Rinaldo. We met in London. The company was shifting from being a small publishing house into a more established label for young, up-and-coming artists and also expanding their distribution deals with digital platforms. I took the position because I saw the potential in the label and the vision Marco had for the future.
The Digital Advantage
The new label came about when we were fortunate enough to be introduced to the people at Quincy Jones Productions from a mutual connection we have in the US. Straight away, something sparked. Obviously, Quincy Jones Productions is a super well-respected label. We were honored to even think about them working with us, purely because we’re much younger compared to their establishment.
But they were really interested in the way Rehegoo had managed to make a stamp in the digital industry. The way we managed to evolve with all the digital platforms kind of interested them. Naturally, they were like, well, if we can work with a company like Rehegoo that’s already established in the digital industry, we’ll be able to offer many more opportunities to artists.
Passion Recognizing Passion
The passion from our founder is imprinted in the company. [The team loves] working with up-and-coming artists, really giving the space to new producers, musicians and young talent. We have a really big team and everybody’s so passionate. [Quincy Jones was inspired by] our [drive] to do things differently compared to the traditional way of nurturing talent and managing a label.
We’re very young and have so much to do. He recognized the passion but, at the same time, [saw] that we have a very good team and our sales are growing really well. Some of our producers and artists have really good numbers in terms of revenue from streaming platforms.
Talent Young and Old
When we say young talent, it doesn’t necessarily mean young people. We’re targeting new, up-and-coming artists, which can be somebody who started at 17 years old or somebody who has been doing this all his life but didn’t find a way to do it full-time. And I believe that, with digital stores, anything is possible. With social media and online platforms, everything is possible. We don’t target specific groups or music genres—what we care about is finding good producers and quality music.
Your Talent Should Already Be There
Everybody who applies to us goes through our A&R department. Our A&R works very closely with the A&R at Quincy Jones Productions. We want to find talent that is producing good music by themselves and they just need that extra expertise. They need help with their mastering or some sort of adjustment in the production. Let’s say 90% of the product is already done and good. There’s loads of talent like that today.
Discovering and Developing Talent
We’re looking constantly to online music platforms and music communities to search for new artists. We don’t just sit and wait for people to contact us. But we ask [artists] to send us demos.
We evaluate [the demos] and then, if we believe there’s talent and the music is good, we [may] ask you to send us more. If you have enough to produce your own album, we’ll help you with that. We support you with the creation of the album, the concept, the artwork and so on. Together, we pick the names of the songs, name of the artist, everything that needs to be done in order to launch the project.
Exclusivity
We offer exclusive contracts and non-exclusive contracts. We don’t go by length of time or number of songs or albums. We just work with whatever material is delivered to us once we’ve [reached an agreement] and we can market it. Then, we [discuss] a royalty fee based on exclusivity; with non-exclusivity, it’s a lower fee. Everything the artist earns will be paid directly to them the month after.
Transparent Payments
We don’t do money up front like a traditional label will. We just say [we] like your music—deliver as much [as] you want to and we will market it, promote you on social media and online, do everything in our power to make you grow and become more visible. Everything you earn will be paid to you directly. We’re very transparent.
Giving Opportunities
We like to give opportunities to the types of artist who’ve been knocking on many doors [but] nobody’s opened up for them. Maybe they didn’t promote themselves enough. Maybe they didn’t break the ice with the right people at a label or management company. But these people are talented [and there are] people who want to listen to their music. These people deserve to be musicians and doing what they love for the rest of their lives.
Quincy’s Mission
For the artist to be able to work with a person like Quincy Jones is an unbelievable opportunity. This is the first time Jones has had a joint venture with another company. And he still looks for new talent. He’s not just about leaning on what he’s done; he’s really passionate about producing and working with new talent.
Grabbing Their Interest and Doing You
Focus on your passion and talent. Be yourself and don’t try to be somebody else or produce music that somebody else will like. Just do what you like and what is in your heart. And present it the way you want it to be.
However, don’t expect that because you sign with a label affiliated with Quincy Jones that everything will come to your plate. You need to work hard, even if we support you. You must really push your [musical] boundaries and also everything else. Even if you have us marketing and promoting you, you need to do the groundwork yourself. You need to get [out there and get] your own gigs. You need to get people talking about you. Because the more you combine [the label’s work and the work that you do,] the more you’ll be able to break.
Proprietary B2B Streaming
We’re launching a platform that promotes our musicians in the business-to-business market. The platform’s for background music for stores and venues. We’ll be streaming and creating curated playlists dedicated for hotels, luxury bars, stores and hospitality in general. [Our musicians can] become better known because someone in a hotel in New York City will listen to [their] music and discover a new artist.
Blockchain and Innovation
Blockchain technology can help us in regulating copyright and music royalties. This is something we’re developing at the moment. We’re going to implement blockchain technology within our own platform and this will allow us to pay our artists fairly, transparently and immediately.
We’re constantly looking at innovation and we want to embrace [it] but we want to do it our way and the best way we can. It might take some time, but we believe we’ll get there.
