EG had the opportunity to speak with Title Recordings and discuss their debut EP ‘The Signs’ release featuring Balad and Murray James, as well as their upcoming projects.
EG: Hello Mazen aka. Balad! It’s an absolute pleasure to have you here with us. How have you been? What have you been up to?
Title Recordings: Hey guys! Thanks for having me and for this opportunity to talk about Title. It’s been a busy couple of years, both personally and musically, built a proper home studio which has been great creatively for me to experiment a lot with my own sound and hopefully showcase that sound in the coming months!
EG: First of all, congratulations on the launch of your own label, Title Recordings! You must be very excited to finally launch this project with Balad & Murray James’s ‘The Signs’ EP!
Title Recordings: Thank you! Yes, we’re both super excited about the launch of the label but also for ‘The Signs’ to be released, which has been a labor of love for over 3 years now! Murray and I started working on the track back in 2020 and we’ve continuously refined and tweaked the idea till we felt like it was time for us to put it out!
EG: So, how did ‘The Signs’ come together? When did the two of you connect?
Title Recordings: Murray and I met through a mutual friend, and we immediately clicked. Since then, we’ve been working on different projects together, I did the production on a song for Murray’s album, ‘Lonely Astronaut’, and he did the vocals and guitar work on our debut collaboration, ‘The Hours’.
Murray James: Although our musical backgrounds are very different, I love the challenge of thinking about what I can bring to the tracks that Balad is working on in a style that’s a bit out of my comfort zone! With ‘The Signs’ Balad sent the instrumental with the title of the track, I then spent a few days listening to it, thinking about the theme, and working melodies over the top. I don’t intentionally think about lyrics, as they start to come together and form naturally over the rhythms. I also try to keep the lyrics quite open to interpretation so that people can connect with them in their own way.
EG: Was the idea of having your own label always there? What’s the purpose and the message driving Title Recordings?
Title Recordings: I think the idea of having my own label really came about naturally, I like to think that I have an ear for music that touches people, either emotionally or meaningfully, and I’ve always showcased that through my sets and productions. As my own sound and taste has evolved over the years, I’ve found that it’s shifted away from the typical genres and styles to more about the feeling that the music evokes. That is the ethos behind Title recordings, in essence, it’s about the connection, it’s about the first time you hear a record, and it reminds you of a special time and place. If we can capture that in the music, then our job is done!
“It’s about the connection, it’s about the first time you hear a record, and it reminds you of a special time and place”
EG: And why did you decide to go with ‘The Signs’ as Title Recordings’ first release ever? In which ways does it represent the sound that will come out of the label?
Title Recordings: I think ‘The Signs’ is the perfect example of what we are trying to do with Title! It captures the emotional drive and meaning, through the lyrics and melodies that Murray and I have created. It’s a song that people can relate to.
EG: How will you go about selecting music for the label? Is it just about the music, or do you guys consider the artist behind the piece as well? Is it hard to make it just about the music when the industry pushes us to look at numbers as well?
Title Recordings: Selecting and signing music is a special process, and it’s important for us to respect that process, so to start, I’ll only be releasing my own productions on the label, this will give us time to learn and grow from these early days and see what works and what doesn’t, once we’ve established ourselves we can start opening it up to signing other artists so that they can trust putting their music in our hands. For us and the purpose behind Title, we are more focused on the artistry than the commercial aspects of having a label, I think most people that get into running their own label do it for the passion of the music not necessarily to try to make a profit.
EG: How much research did you guys have to do before you felt like you had a good grasp on all the items required to launch a label? Did you talk to any colleagues in particular?
Title Recordings: Having had exposure to the way that labels operate through friends who have their own, as well as direct access to promo distributions, it wasn’t all that hard to get a good grasp on what’s needed. There are really 3 core things you need, a registered business (this varies country by country so do a bit of research), a distributor (someone who will get your music published onto music platforms), and a lawyer (to produce legal documents, especially for signing new artists and their music). With Title, we decided to go with Proton as our distributor as they take care of the full suite of tools you need to manage your label including release scheduling, royalties, promo pools, etc. My friend and fellow Aussie producer, GMJ, as well as the whole Proton team, made it so seamless and smooth to get Title set up and we were quickly scheduling in ‘The Signs’ straight after!
EG: In your opinion, what does the future look like for labels in the next few years? Will music still be the main commodity?
Title Recordings: The main commodity in my eyes is the brand and the culture you create around it, if labels can build a loyalty that goes beyond just the music, where people come together to create a sense of community that there proud to be a part of and want to represent than I think naturally that will be more important than just the music. In essence, it’s important for labels to have a clear purpose, an underlying theme, and the right story they want to tell through the label, if that is super clear you have a way better chance for longevity than solely going off just the music.
“it’s important for labels to have a clear purpose, an underlying theme, and the right story they want to tell, if that is super clear you have a way better chance for longevity than solely going off just the music.”
EG: What else can we expect from Title Recordings in the future? What plans are in store for the rest of the year?
Title Recordings: As our focus is on quality, we are hoping to have one more release out before the end of the year, which will be another very special record I’ve been working on. We’ll be also rolling out merchandise on our website to celebrate the launch of the label so be on the lookout for that in the new year!
EG: Thank you so much for your time! We wish you and Title Recordings all the best for the future!
Title Recordings: Thank you so much! We appreciate you giving us this opportunity to showcase our label! ‘The Signs’ EP from Murray and myself (Balad) is out now on all music platforms, we would love the support on the release!
Balad & Murray James’s ‘The Signs’ EP is out via Title Recordings. Download here.
Follow Title Recordings: Website | Soundcloud | Instagram
