Date Signed: April 2021
Label: Nettwerk Records
Type of Music: Electronic / R&B / progressive jazz
Management: Alec Steinfeld – InPlay Partners, inplay.partners
Booking: N/A
Legal: N/A
Publicity: George Chammas – Nettwerk, [email protected]
Web: anomaliebeats.com
A&R Rep: Adam Popowitz and Rachel Cragg
Several pieces had to fall into place before Montreal-based producer, engineer and artist Anomalie (Nico Dupuis) was able to lock in his deal with Nettwerk. In many ways, it was like building a castle in which he now lives: the foundation had to be poured, craftsmen had to be recruited and finally the slabs had to be laid. He learned many valuable lessons along the way and is now poised to drop his new album Galerie in April. His world tour will kick off in May.
“I changed [my name] to Anomalie when my first EP dropped in 2017,” the artist recollects. “Since then, I’ve worked closely with the same manager and we progressively added people to the team. As the operation began to scale up in 2018, I started to reflect on the next chapter and we realized that it was time to have one central operation with more resources. We’d already been contacted by Nettwerk, which was amazing. We evaluated our needs for the album and saw that they were the best partner we could hope for. We’ve already released two singles and I couldn’t be happier.”
But being courted by a label is the hope; it’s the dream of countless artists that few actually achieve. Anomalie and his team transformed this aspiration into reality by working tirelessly on stage, in the studio and on social media. “One of my biggest tracks is ‘Velours,’” he explains. “I know that [Nettwerk A&R rep] Rachel [Cragg] really liked it. I don’t know if that’s the one that made them discover me, but it was through social media—mainly Instagram.”
Management is a substantial asset to any artist, especially one in the early stages of his or her career. But it’s often as much of a challenge to secure as is a label deal. “In 2016 I’d posted a cover of Gramatik’s ‘Chillaxin’ by the Sea,’” Anomalie recalls. “He reached out and asked if I’d like to be his live keyboard player. Through that, I met with C3, which handles his management. Alec [Steinfeld] at C3 and I hit it off. Five years later it’s still going strong.”
