In the beginning…

Five years ago, I had an idea—an idea to separate ‘art’ from the ‘industry’. I had grown tired of dealing with poor practices in the electronic music scene: unanswered emails, music being purchased for little to no money, and rude and inappropriate conduct. The list could be a mile long. I decided to launch my own imprint and include everything I would like a label to represent from the perspective of an artist.

Sitting down at a local brewery in Toronto, Yasmine Najib (our visual director) and I wrote down what would become the basis for what is now Ocean Dark. I had noticed a rift happening between artists and their outlets, and it was growing wider every day. Unique productions were being waylaid for products. Artists, pushed to their limit by social media, were desperate to garner the attention of a major label that would give them a second glance. With the industry being flooded by music, influencers, and celebrities turned DJs, I noticed that the genre had started to become stagnant. Artists I was a fan of or looked up to were being left on the sidelines in favor of cookie-cutter music, and that was driving me absolutely mental.

This is the actual brewery we went to: Woodhouse Brewery in Toronto.

The intention for Ocean Dark was to be a place where artists could be their true selves. They could write the exact music they wanted to, even if it didn’t fit into the majors. Music that might not be trendy now but comes from a place of raw devotion for the craft. One of the first artists I had in mind for the label was Notsure. We had chatted a few times up until that point, and I saw Notsure was having trouble finding a label to call home. However, I felt that for a strong foundation, I needed to put my best foot forward to show I was committed to the beginning and continued growth of the label. So the first release to come out was my two-track, Nocturne / Wintermute. (I also really wanted to have ‘established 2020’ in the label's bio).

We never meant to become a major player in the scene, but to bolster an artist's catalog with music they cared about that didn’t seem to get the traction it deserved. We wanted to bring like-minded people together who made cool art regardless of what style some random A&R thought was going to be the next big thing. Ocean Dark is meant to be a fully transparent label. We sign stuff we think is cool and unique to the artist. It’s pretty clear when somebody is pandering to what they think we’ll like (we dive deep into artists who submit). If you’re passionate, technically skilled, and having a hard time finding where to go, Ocean Dark might be the answer. We also encourage artists to self-release or make their own imprints. In the digital age, it’s easier than ever to release your music and own your rights. The days of the middleman are coming to an end. Ocean Dark contracts vary, but our staple is that artists receive 75% of the royalties. Ocean Dark takes a 25% cut essentially for accounting purposes. Contracts have an opportunity-to-withdraw clause. Don’t want your song up anymore? Want the rights back? No problem. Just ask. I hate the idea of trapping people’s music, as so many labels have done that to me. They all seem to talk the talk, but nobody walks the walk.

This has been the biggest year for Ocean Dark yet! We’ve almost doubled the catalog this year and are showing no signs of stopping. We also partnered with Studio Octave in Montreal to offer sync opportunities to our roster. Moving forward, later this year I plan to expand Ocean Dark to a larger entity. Blog posts on music we like, high-quality short content sharing music from artists, explanations on how to excel in the industry, start your own label, etc. As well as long-form content like artist interviews, potentially Ocean Dark Radio, and more.

We at Ocean Dark want to be an outlet for musicians and visual artists, a place where they can exhibit work that is emotional, introspective, and cinematic at its core. We hope to curate a group of artists that work in unison to push boundaries within the industry and within themselves. At Ocean Dark, it will always be art over industry.

Cheers,

Jon