Mal Harper: Magic Formula Release Strategies, Micro Licensing & Safe Dance Space

In this episode, Greg talks to Mal Label boss Mal Harper. They open the episode by listening to the song "Evil Aria" by Illexxandra on the latest Mal Label compilation Space Opera. Mal talks about putting the compilation together, and how they brought together a diverse lineup of both up and coming and established artists around a common stylistic theme. Greg and Mal then mention the live stream scheduled for later that day featuring some Mal Label Artists, and how they want to continue to work together on events and look for talent among Pyramind students.

They then talk about the origins of Mal Label in the live events and music promotion space. Mal talks about how she Met Label Mate El Diablo and The Genie, and how they put on their first shows, as well as the band Mal was in around 2008. Mal also talks about how events like Burning Man inspired her and other event companies in the Bass Music scene to add more visual and art elements to live events since she started doing events with Mal Label. After this Mal talks about how she decided to go back to school at the SF MRI school to learn Music Business and Marketing, which allowed Mal Label to transition from just an events company to a fully-fledged record label.

Getting Back to the topic of events, Mal mentions how two events that she feels inspired by are Shambalah and Bass Coast in Canada, Both because of how fun the events are and how they work hard to create a safe dance space for their patrons. Mal and Greg then discuss the meaning of safe dance spaces and how important they are for the scene, as well as how much progress has been made in general especially at underground events to create Safe dance spaces.

Circling back to the record label, Mal talks about how Mal Label now has over 250 releases. They talk about how the label has gotten to this point by focusing on putting out material from up-and-coming artists, as well as prioritizing women and POC artists. Mal also talks about how the label has recently moved from putting out releases in rapid succession to focusing more on creating curated compilations in order for each release to get the proper time devoted to marketing. She also talks about leveraging their large catalog to a music library that focuses on micro-licensing to things like internet ads and home-exercise content, and how doing so has created a consistent revenue stream for the label and its artists.

Finally, they listen to another couple of tracks from Space Opera, first "The Dragon" by El-Diablo and Nim-1. Greg and Mal talk about the crossover potential between Bass Music and Hip Hop, and how it's been done so successfully over the years. Finally, they close the Podcast with the closing track from Space Opera, "Space Coast Boogie" by Bukkha.

Mal Label: https://www.mallabelmusic.com

Send Demos to demos@mallabelmusic.com

Space Opera EP: https://open.spotify.com/album/0C3Iukpu3ksSKuw5MwgPbP?si=h9c9qclyQjKw0tyR7-XvVw

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