IMPALA Launches Young Independent Label Spotlight

As part of its fifteenth anniversary, IMPALA is launching a new monthly feature to put the spotlight on young independent music companies across Europe. The project will shine a light on the work of a set of unique labels 15 years young or younger.
Five labels will be announced every month under the campaign name “FIVEUNDERFIFTEEN”. Starting with the first five today, features will appear in The Independent Echo including playlists, interviews, and snippets of the local music scene across different countries.

The first FIVEUNDERFIFTEEN gets going in Estonia where Tallinn Music Week is starting this week. The festival is a great supporter of independent music and has nominated local label Porridge Bullet. I Love You Records from Latvia and S1 Warsaw from Poland are also featured. To complete this month’s selection, IMPALA takes us to Sweden to meet Despotz Records and then to Finland to be introduced to Soliti.

Tallinn Music Week is hosting the first IMPALA Young Label Spotlight event on Saturday 2nd of April, with a panel featuring all five labels, followed by an award ceremony.

IMPALA Executive Chair Helen Smith commented: “We want to shine a light on the deeper and wider story of the independent sector. It’s great to start with the panel in Tallinn Music Week with five young labels all telling their own stories. And this is what real music fans are interested in. They want the whole picture. Where their music comes from, what it stands for, whether it’s fair, what a label’s work tells them. All artists are born equal and these labels underline the importance of making sure that means something.”

Helen Sildna, founder of Tallinn Music Week, added: “Highlighting the work of young labels in different countries is very important and we were delighted to put forward Estonia’s Porridge Bullet for the campaign. Estonia has a very dynamic independent music scene and IMPALA’s bid to shine a light on the work of Porridge Bullet and others is a fantastic initiative. We are delighted all five labels featured in the first campaign are here in Tallinn to talk about their work.”

The labels featured had this to say about their work and their local music scene:

Siim Nestor – Porridge Bullet (Estonia):
“The Estonian music scene, and the underground music scene, isn’t different to the scenes in other countries. There’s some really boring stuff and there’s some really good stuff, sounds and ideas which expand your idea of your music. You just have to dig in.”

Rafał Grobel – S1 Warsaw (Poland):
“After years of isolation Poland is at its peak of musical enthusiasm. You can experience emotional reactions incomparable to any mature market. Yet the offer is satisfactorily advanced.”

Bruno Roze – I Love You Records (Latvia):
“The thing I really like about most of our bands is that I can’t really compare them, which underlines the whole local scene.”

Carl-Marcus Gidlöf – Despotz Records (Sweden):
“Despotz Records aim to be one of the best alternatives for Swedish artists looking for an international setup.”

Nick Triani – Soliti (Finland):
“The indie spirit in Finland is more than alive and thriving. The scene is pure and plays for the love of it (as it should be). The indie scene here might be harder to find, but if you look and listen closely, you’ll discover some of the greatest music around. Really.”

This young label campaign is for labels the same age as IMPALA or younger, i.e. established in November 2000 or after. Over the coming months, IMPALA will continue the campaign with The Independent Echo, as well as Westway LAB Festival (Portugal), Primavera Pro (Spain), Tallinn Music Week (Estonia) and Midem (France).

Source: IMPALA