London house and tech imprint Motek Music have amassed an impressive list of names across their first dozen releases, which have pushed a synth-heavy, techy, progressive-tinged sound. The likes of My Favorite Robot, Gab Rhome, Maher Daniel, Silky, Kiki, Jay Tripwire, Eric Volta, Brodanse, Matt Fear, Namito, Forrest, Miguel Puente, Jonny Cruz and Jon Charnis are just some of the artist who have provided originals and remixes for the label so far. Clearly, they’ve got a keen sense for A&R and spotting emerging talent. We speak to Motek’s Matt Navitas to hear more about this fledgling crew for the latest in our label services feature series.
What’s the story behind your label? How did it come into existence?
We were running parties for a few years in London and wanted to find a way to push our brand to the next level. The natural progression was to do this via a record label. This allowed us to host Motek events around the world, since the Motek brand is now spreading far and wide!
How was the name chosen?
The name was originally a play on the word techno. We came up with a lot of interesting names but many were taken by other companies or had too many search results on Google. The name Motek came fairly quickly to us and was an instant hit. All the URLs were available so we went for it. We later found out it is a term of endearment in Hebrew and means something along the lines of ‘cutie’.
What is the label’s ethos, and has it been that way from the start?
Deep house, techno and everything in between. Our ethos is simple: we release the music that we like, regardless of the genre. Our taste in electronic music is very broad and it was never our intention to pigeonhole ourselves into one specific sound, but more to release music under a wider spectrum to represent our taste in music as a whole. We are also big on promoting talented up and coming artists, trying to find the next generation of underground stars or give a platform for talented artists who we feel don’t get the attention they deserve.
How did you go about sourcing and choosing your first few releases?
Since we were running the events for a few years before the label launch, it made sense not only to involve some of our previous headliners but also to involve artists whose music we play in our own sets. This way it comes around full circle and truly represents what we are about musically.
What have been your most successful releases?
Adi Shabat & Eyal Cohen ‘Much Too Much/Shadows’ with remixes from Fabio Giannelli and ThermalBear has been our best selling release, but overall our sales are pretty consistent from one release to the next, which we think shows the consistent quality of our releases.
What do you think the most important elements of running a label successfully are? What advice would you give someone setting up a label of their own?
We have a long way to go to reach the kind of success that we are aiming for, so it’s probably a bit early for us to be giving advice to others. For us, we have some hefty goals and it all starts with full belief in the music we sign. Quality over quantity always. Along with this, good teamwork, and being respectful with the artists and the people we work with.
Which other labels do you really admire and why?
We really admire labels like My Favorite Robot, Pampa, and Inside Out Records. Their music isn’t necessarily from the trendiest names in the industry but they are always thinking outside of the box and not releasing that cookie cutter deep house sound that most labels are going for these days. Also we have respect for bigger labels like Life and Death and Innervisions for showing us what level of success can be achieved with a quality musical output.
What’s the benefit for you of working with MN2S’ label services team?
For us the key benefit is a great working relationship. Whenever we have enquiries, they are always very prompt and helpful. It is also fantastic to have MN2S behind us as they help with release features on the key online digital download sites and opening channels with labels when looking to reach other artists. Finally and crucially they create a professional working environment which represents our values as a label.
Which artists would you love to have on the label?
It would be too easy to just list all the big names, but this isn’t what we’re about. We like artists that are doing something different and on top of that, they have to be a good person. We prefer to work with good people. We always listen to demos regardless of the status of the artist and we love talking to people and getting to know them before we sign them up.
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