Time flies. 7 years ago, I started my own artist management and music publishing company after leaving a mythical record label I’d had the privilege to work at.
UNICUM Music‘s unusual name was inspired by what the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Joseph II said in 1790 when he gave the eponymous liqueur its name : « This is an Unicum », something unique he could not describe otherwise. Notice he did not qualify his experience, he defined it.
This is important because this is how I feel when I discover music I fall in love with and passionately want to share with the world. I care about what makes it unique, less how it would generally be categorised. Besides, I don’t really believe in sticking to a single type of music, even more so for financial / rational reasons. Quite the opposite.
Also, I left a great job and a stable situation at the time to enjoy the luxury of working with whom I wanted, to defend the artists and values I’ve always held dear and have the freedom to act swiftly upon any idea or inspiration.
So as this 7 year cycle ends, another, bolder and even more exciting one, begins today : I’m starting my own label. WOOOOT ! (Whut?)
To say I’m proud and excited is an understatement. But why now and what for, do you ask (and I’m sure you do), especially in this day and age of doom and gloom ?
There are many reasons, amongst which these, in no particular order :
- Some amazing music hadn’t found a home yet
- Coincidentally, I really wanted to release it and have developed a clear idea of how it should be done
- I spend the half my days either training artists and their teams or teaching students about the music business, about how they can’t ignore all that has changed and continues to evolve daily (heck, I even wrote a whole book about it), so I am just itching to practice what I preach, all the more so for recordings that simply cannot go unreleased
- I miss the process of releasing records (for real)
- Last but not least (and this one is dedicated to the pessimists), if we’re all so screwed anyway, we might as well have fun experimenting new things instead and try to embrace change, don’t you think ?
Now about the logo. The previous one reflected UNICUM Music‘s initial activities : management and publishing being more behind the scenes roles, the old logo was dark blue and featured a lighter shade on the inverted « N » and dot on the « i » to focus on the artists being in the limelight.
Starting the record label is a step further with a more visible role, so it was time for a image overhaul. Enter the new logo with a simple brief : to reflect the singularity of all the artists in the UNICUM Music family and my obsession with celebrating their uniqueness by cutting through the noise, providing them with transparent advice and a clear frame of work.
I want to give a huge shout out and thanks to Sotheara Khem at SOZO Unlimited for his amazing work. The logo is way better than I even imagined it could be and I can’t wait to see it everywhere.
In the last 7 years, I’ve been blessed to meet and work with incredible people : unique artists and special partners, some of whom have been there since the very beginning of this roller-coaster of an adventure, namely Maxime Lenik, Emilie Chick and Mademoiselle Sane. Here’s to the next 7 years with 7 times as much awesomeness (is. that. even. possible ?). The most incredible music is on its way very soon : keep those ears open !
Emily Gonneau 