What are some of your musical influences and what is your personal musical history?
I used to go to a club in the south of England that kind of got me into the whole dance music scene. Ever since then I’ve followed it, for the last 15 years really, and it’s taken me a while to appreciate where it’s all come from. The inspirations go back all the way to the disco scene that started in America and I’m still trying to research it all today and I’m finding out all this stuff that I’ve missed. But the inspiration comes from going out as a young boy.

Are there any artists that come to mind as influences?
People that I really like now and have changed the way I look at music are people like Theo Parish, people from the label like Stevie Kotey and Mark Seven, and a lot of DJs out there that stay true to their roots and don’t necessarily play music that will be commercially viable. They just play good music. That’s what I’m trying to achieve by doing the label.

How did you take the step from being a dance music fan to starting your own label?
I’ve always worked with music. I left university and, it took a while, but I kept banging on the doors of record labels and I got a job working for BMG. I’ve worked for labels for 10 years and I’ve always done the business and finance side of things, but I’ve always been interested in putting on parties and the music as a kind of social thing. I started putting on parties, proper parties, about four years ago. We used to do warehouse parties in London’s East End, and from working with people who we booked as DJs, it was like a natural progression. There’s only so far you can go doing a party and the label was something I wanted to do and I could put my skills to use from working on the business side of it. It just kind of got started from there and I really enjoy doing it so I’ve kept after it.

Can you tell us what it’s like operating a record label in a time when the economy is struggling? What is the scene like in London as far as people going out to parties, buying records and so on?
It’s really, really hard. Most people told me that I was crazy for setting up a label and only through being very, very careful with the way that I do things have I been able to make a little bit of money, but by no means enough to live off. So it’s a labor of love, definitely, but it brings credibility, you know, it shows people you have a passion for it. At the moment it is very, very hard. Five hundred records is the, sort of, “golden number,” because a few years ago you used to be able to sell thousands, but now people are struggling to get rid of 500. People are even talking about doing special 300 deals because people even find it hard to do 500. But people, especially the younger generation, they’re not interested in buying vinyl. They want digital and I think if you have that area covered it’s good. You have to chase up all leads to make sure you’ve covered everything to get as much income as possible.

Are the sales of vinyl still relatively strong for Electric Minds or do you do more CD and digital sales?
Well I’ve only done vinyl so far, but I’m just doing a CD now, a CD with Stevie Kotey, but I don’t know. Apparently you can maybe sell 500 or one thousand or thousands of CDs. You can, I think, make some money out of CDs. As for records, I’ve always pressed 500 and I pretty much get rid of those all. There are definitely still people out there to buy vinyl, and I think there always will be, but the days where you sell a few thousand of each release are definitely gone.

Have you considered or had any success with different marketing techniques? Have you had to take drastic measures to improve your sales?
Well my marketing budget is zero, really. I try to do things that don’t cost me much money like creating a mailing list, using forums, blogs and making sure I work with little distributors all around the world. I do it all myself so I send stuff to Australia and Japan, to key distributors, and I align their skills to push the product in order to sell it. I just don’t have the money for a marketing campaign, unfortunately. I think viral and Internet-based advertising is probably my strongest area.

Can you tell us the timeline of how Electric Minds got started and who the artists were who helped put Electric Minds on the map?
I’ve worked closely with Yam Who? and he’s got a good following around the world, really. If it wasn’t for him then the label wouldn’t have got started. He shares a studio with Stevie Kotey, so through Yam Who? I met Stevie Kotey and we also have a Chaz Jankel track, which is Chaz Jankel from the Blockheads. So without him, none of this would have happened, so we try and help each other out as much as possible. But yeah, definitely Andy from Yam Who? would be the one that got it started.

What can we expect from Electric Minds in the near future?
Next month I’m going to release a 12-inch and single by Ilija Rudman who’s based out in Croatia and he’s had quite a lot of success recently. His tracks have really kind of blown off and he has a metro-area style track for the A-side and for the B-side he’s remixed a Chaz Jankel track called “You’re Too Funky.” That’s the next one and then for the new year, in January, we’re going to release a CD under Stevie Kotey’s alias, he calls himself Afrobot, and also Stevie Kotey’s second EP in February.

What advice would you give to an aspiring digital music and dance music fan who wants to start his or her own record label?

The main bit of advice would be, if you’re going to do it, do it because you love doing it. Also you just have to be really organized. There is so much that needs to be done to get the music out there and actually have the finished product. If you’ve got some passion and organization, you should go for it.

That’s all we have for you. Do you want to add anything?
Let me mention another label I work on. There’s a label called Ambassador’s Reception which is a label I’ve been working on with Stevie Kotey that is basically disco re-edits from people like Loudy that’s worth checking out. It’s a different side of things…