Black Box is the label everyone is talking about at the moment, along side it’s sister label Box Clever. Pushing music from a number of established artists as well as newcomers, they’ve rapidly become the front running label of the Dubstep scene. We managed to catch up with Diccon, the label creator and owner for a quick chat and an insight into the workings of this front running label.

Ez Diccon, firstly thanks for taking the time to speak to us! Could you give us an insight into the ideas behind Black Box, where did it all begin and what inspired you to create the label?

I’d run a label (Reduction) before, to varying levels of success – it’s hard to give a label the attention it needs in your spare time. I knew that I was capable of signing & releasing quality music though. Nowadays, I work at Chemical as a music buyer, and I was offered the chance to launch a record label and run it as part of my day job.

In terms of ideas/inspiration, I just wanted to build a reliable, quality brand. I want to release records that people can buy and keep in their record boxes/CD wallets for ages – trusted tunes that stand the test of time.

Also, I wanted to create a label that would work hard for its artists. I know how hard it is for people to get their music heard, and to capitalise on that in order to build a proper career. The top priority for me is to make sure that artists have their creative work represented as well as possible, and to look after their interests at all times.

Who else is involved with running the labels? in about 18 months you’ve had over 30 releases, you must be a busy man! Running a label and being a music buyer at one of the biggest record shop going must be hectic.

Yes I do have help! Ian Blackacre is my label manager, so takes care of all the boring stuff like manufacturing, contracts etc, which leaves me to pick the tunes and handle the artists. I still spend a fair amount of my spare time working on/thinking about the labels though, which drives my girlfriend mad sometimes!

We do pump the releases out pretty quick, but there’s so much great music coming in, and I like to keep the time between signing & releasing tracks as low as possible.

Truth – Birds feat. Dutty Ranks by blackbox-boxclever

You’ve signed some fantastic artists, like Biome, Benton, Kryptic Minds, DJ Madd, N-Type, Cyrus, and RSD just to name a handful. Who can we expect to see future releases from?

The biggest projects over the next few months will be from DJ Madd & Seven, they both have their albums pretty much ready and the material is really strong, plus there’s a dubstep/D&B LP project from Data which will come out partly on Black Box. I’m very excited about the new Finnish artist we’ve signed called LAS – he has a fresh take on the dubstep/bass sound which I’m really into, so he’s got 2 records signed and hopefully more to come.

Killawatt has two releases forthcoming (with Ipman), and there’s more from TMSV including some of his collaboration tracks. Truth have a seriously heavy 12″ to come, and I’m chuffed to have the first Headhunter release in years lined up for Black Box 20. There’s other stuff that I’d like to do, but I can’t really talk about things which aren’t signed yet!

What I can say is that I’m really pleased to have a great ‘family’ of artists around me – the guys that have committed to the labels like DJ Madd, Seven, TMSV, Synkro – these are the people that help define the vibe of the labels through their music, and also as they bring in new artists & music. Without the artists, the labels would be nothing.

Vinyl seems to be a strong part of what you do, every release has been pressed, all we seem to hear now is how vinyl sales are ever declining. Is this not the case for you?

Both as a label and as someone who works in music retail, I can say without doubt that the market is shrinking for vinyl – at the end of the day, you have a whole generation of young people, who are a big part of your customer base, who have never had a pair of decks or bought a 12″. Why would they? Digital technology is much cheaper and easier, so it’s a bit of a no-brainer. That said, there is still a committed section of the public who love vinyl as much as me, so as long as they keep buying records then I’ll keep pressing them!

Also, I see the long and costly process of releasing a record as a kind of in-built quality control threshold – you commit a lot of time & money into pressing vinyl, so you have to be satisfied that the music is as good as possible. Largely, that threshold doesn’t exist for digital-only labels which has lead to vast amounts of poor releases swamping the market.

Vinyl is my shopfront – it advertises what I do, and it communicates to the public that I’m seriously committed to the music I release.

What’s the thinking behind the Black Box logo?

It was just something created by the in-house Chemical designer at the time we were building the label. I had loads of different ideas based around the name but the box is such a simple, effective design that we had to run with it.

Did you ever anticipate how successful and respected the labels would become? And where do you picture the label in a years time?

Not really, no! I’m genuinely delighted that so many people are into what we do – a lot of people have been generous with their praise and it definitely motivates me to do more. As for the future, I just hope that the label can continue to grow in an organic way and support talented musicians.

There seems to have been a flood of new Record Labels in the last few years, the majority only seem to last a release or two, what do you think has been your key to success?

As I said above, vinyl sales are down compared to years gone by, so competition is fierce – if you’re just starting out then it’s hard to attract customers as they haven’t heard of you before. Unless you have some unique selling point or a massive anthem on your hands, it’s almost impossible to make an impression.

I can’t tell you why I’ve managed to succeed, but I would guess it’s a combination of everything I’ve mentioned already – I spend some of my working week on the labels, the brand is strong, my quality control is high and there’s a tight family of artists producing great music.

Can you offer any advice to budding producers? How should they go about getting their music heard?

Honestly, I just wish that more people would take time, years if necessary, to develop some real production skills before they bother sending out demos. It’s so easy to download Fruity Loops and some sample packs, bash some tunes together and upload them to Soundcloud. I am bombarded with tracks which are just crap, and it drives me mad! People seem so impatient these days to get any kind of recognition that they won’t wait for their music to be at a level where they make a real statement.

I just love hearing a new artist who has clearly worked hard allowing their skills and their sound to develop behind closed doors, and then just appears on the scene with some amazing music that blows you away. In terms of my label, people like Lurka, Commodo, Kahn, LAS, TMSV – all these guys appeared to come out of nowhere! On a bigger scale, look at someone like Joy Orbison – he debuted with a track like Hyph Mngo and is now a big name. If he’d been putting half-decent tracks on his Soundcloud for years, maybe it wouldn’t have happened the way it did.

Biome – Space [clip] by blackbox-boxclever

What other labels and artists do you like, any particular ones you’re feeling at the moment?

Erm, not sure really! To be honest, I’m always listening to music either for my label or for my job as a music buyer that I listen to much less as a consumer – my ears & brain are too tired!

I’m loving Mosca right now, Bax is obviously a riddim and he’s got some forthcoming bits which are wicked too. Commodo is at the top of the game right now, making more interesting beats than a lot of people out there.

Hotflush can do no wrong. Project: Mooncircle put out some of the best hiphop/beats these days – their LP releases by Long Arm and Joe Kickass are sick. The underground house scene in Bristol is really strong right now, lots of good artists bubbling under.

Finally, is there any releases coming soon we should know about? Any sneaky clips we can hear?

Pretty much covered my forthcoming stuff earlier in the interview! Most of the stuff I’ve got signed is known to people by now – and I don’t like to publicise releases too far in advance in an effort to keep the music fresh. People can follow me on Twitter and Soundcloud, sometimes little bits of info slip out here & there!

Kryptic Minds vs Emika – Make You Sleep [clip] by blackbox-boxclever

Any shout outs and thank you’s?

Just the people that buy the music and take time to give feedback. It gives a sense of purpose to what I do!

about the author: DRTY