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4/3/2006 Interview with Founder and CEO Devin Horowitz What's up Devin? Everything is cool. I'm feeling good. What was your background in music before starting Nature Sounds? First and foremost, I'm a fan of music, but I've done it all at one point. I've been an MC, DJ, producer, music journalist, A&R and now a label exec. About five years ago, I helped High Times Magazine start a record label. That was how I really cut my teeth on the business side. Then I jumped ship and started doing projects on my own. Over the years I met a lot of artists and learned a lot about the industry. I built relationships with certain cats and some of them were frustrated with the way the music industry was going and they were tired of working with major labels who didn't get it. Once I started Nature Sounds, I felt I was able to offer them an environment different than the other labels. We obviously couldn't offer them as much money, but we were able to give them full creative control. How much creative control do artists really have on Nature Sounds? At the end of the day, they have 100% creative control. I'm always going to give my input and I'm always going to make decisions that are going to be best for the business and best for the company. Nine times out of ten, I think the artists feel that I have enough sensibility about the music that I won't do anything to hurt their credibility or the ability of the project to succeed. A lot of the deals we do are joint ventures. As partners, we both have equal say in what's going on. They can tell me they don't like something about my marketing plan and I can say I don't like this beat or that verse. It's a give and take on both sides, but at the end of the day, they have the final say on how they want their project to sound. What were some of the challenges in getting Nature Sounds off the ground? Being an independent, it's tough. We don't have the resources that the major labels have and we can't make the impact that they can. We spend less than 10% of the money that the majors are spending, so to make an impact and have your record stand out in the music world where these other guys are spending millions and millions of dollars is difficult. It's very difficult to break an artist, so we try to work with artists that have already been developed but didn't receive the attention they should have when they were at a major label. How did you and MF Doom start working together? We first started working together when I started the High Times label. I put together a compilation back in 2001 or 2002. I did a song with Doom for that compilation. I actually produced the track. Before that, I met Doom when I was working as a writer. I had interviewed him back in the KMD days, right around when they were getting dropped from Elektra. The music and interview never came out. Ten years later, we linked up for that song on the High Times compilation, and we've been in touch ever since. How do you and Doom work together? We always communicate and stay on the same page with what's going on. He likes to share his music with us and get our input, but it's best to give him his room to be creative. We're confident in what he does. He doesn't need us breathing down his neck. He has his own creative vision and we respect that and give him his space. You've released a lot of instrumental albums lately. How come? I think there is a different market for those albums aside from people who want to rhyme over them, There are a lot of people who love the music but can't relate to the lyrics. These can be successful in a world outside of the Hip Hop realm. The music is great and it can stand by itself. Do you see instrumental albums becoming a trend? I think so. We are definitely doing it. We have an instrumental album coming out from Mathematics. It's a double-disc album. One disc is new beats and another disc is his classic beats. I think the demand is definitely there. I don't know if these things will ever sell like their vocal albums do. They're good for DJ's to make remixes and people who want something more mellow to listen to…I see a lot of people doing it. I don't know if it's successful for other people, but it definitely works for us and the fans seem to be responding well to it. How's Ayatollah's project doing? It's doing real well. 'Tollah is one of the most underrated producers in the game. He's incredible. A lot of these producers don't get as much shine because they're not out there hustling their beats. Selling beats is a full-time job. If you're not out there networking all the time, your beats may not get picked for certain projects. Instrumental albums give producers an outlet to get their music out. 'Tollah likes to stay in the lab working. You don't meet a lot of A&R cats doing that, but after he puts out an instrumental album, I'll bet every beat on that album gets sold. It works as a beat-tape and at the same the fans can hear the music as well. How's Masta Killa's album coming? It's coming together incredibly. I'm a big Masta Killa and Wu Tang fan and to me this album may even be better than "No Said Date." Killa knows what the fans want and he's not caught up in making songs for people who he knows aren't his fans. The album's coming along great. Do you feel like you helped break Masta Killa as a solo artist? You could say that, but really a lot of labels were interested in Masta Killa before we came around. He just didn't want to jump into a situation that he wasn't comfortable with. Honestly he really helped to put Nature Sounds on the map. His album is our best-selling album to date. I never understood why he never dropped a solo record before. I always thought he was one of the most underrated MC's in the game. What's up with Pete Rock's album? It's called "New York's Finest." It's kind of in the vein of "Soul Survivor." I don't want to name any names, but it's kind of like a who's-who in Hip Hop, from the cats who have number one commercial hits to the most respected MCs in the street. It's all across the board. Pete did an incredible job on the beats and getting everybody that matters in Hip Hop on this record. I think people are going to be blown away when they hear it. What else is in store for Nature Sounds? We're going to be putting out a Strong Arm Steady album called "Blast For Me." Strong Arm has a huge LA following. They are the mixtape kings out there. Plus they make some great commercial records and are incredible song writers. We're definitely excited about that project. That'll probably come out this summer. What do you want people to think when they see a Nature Sounds album in stores? If it's a Hip Hop CD, I think you'll know that it's authentic Hip Hop. Without sounding corny, look at our name; it's natural music, natural Hip Hop. A lot of label exec's like to stroke their ego and think that they make an artist, but we are different. We know how important it is to let them do their thing. You have to allow them to be creative. You know you're going to get the artist's vision when you see a Nature Sounds project. It's not something that's going to be manipulated by a suit in a corner office. What advice do you have for labels on the come-up? I think you have to find your place. This goes for artists also. You have to find your place in the game. Not everybody can be a 50 Cent or Def Jam. You have to be successful at what you do. You have to know who your market is and cater to them. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing and what MTV is playing, because then you're going to be chasing something that's not yours. I'm sure you get a million demos a day. What do you look for? Obviously, the music and the talent are important. But to be honest, what I look for more is professionalism and an understanding of the business. If you just want to be the hottest MC on the block, that's one thing, but to be the hottest MC in the stores is an entirely different hustle. The game is oversaturated right now and there are a lot of individuals that I have to turn down, not because they're not dope, but because they forget at the end of the day that a label needs to make money to survive. How hard is it for a label to break an artist? We don't have the money to compete with the majors, so we have to make up for it with hustle. The difference with indie's is that an artist can sell over a long period of time. Major labels frontload their records to try to make the biggest impact for first-week Soundscans. What people don't see is that a lot of those records get returned because they're not selling. You see an upward trend on an independent level. Each week can be as big as the last because it's a slow build and money gets spent over time instead of all at once. It's hard to compete on the level of majors, but it's a whole different philosophy when you're dealing with independents. How important is an artist's appearance on an independent level? Have you ever seen RA the Rugged Man? (laughs) I've never asked RA to get a haircut. I've never asked RA to put on a shirt that doesn't have holes in it. I've never asked RA to take a shower before he does a show. He's one of the illest MC's I've ever met, and people like who he is. He doesn't compromise his appearance for anybody, and I would never ask him to. I think on an independent level, when you don't have money, all you have is integrity. Fans can see through marketing gimmicks and see talent a mile away. For someone to do something that's not natural to them, any real fan can see through it. I don't think appearance makes a difference. What do you want to say to everyone? There is going to be a lot of noise coming from our camp for the next twelve months. I'm not one to blow up my own shit, but we've spent the last three years building up for this year. The Natural Selection compilation we just dropped will give you a taste of many of the projects we have in the works. We have the Pete Rock album, Masta Killa, Strong Arm Steady, then of course the much anticipated Ghostface and MF Doom album. We have so much talent that we've been fortunate to work with and so many crazy releases that will appeal to the truest Hip Hop fans that love that real Hip Hop. There is no one that has their foot in the underground like we do that's really delivering quality street music. I think in the next twelve months, people are going to see that.

By Brian Kayser

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