At MySphera, we're always searching for unique labels, artists and musical genres.
We spend a lot of our time digging online blogs, SoundCloud, Spotify and YouTube in order to find music that'll please our ears, luckily one of these discovery tours led to us discovering Dubophonic - A truly unique dub music label with a very distinct vision.
We reached out and quickly got a response from label owner - Savvas.
Shortly after we scheduled a short interview to learn about what is Dubophonic, why dub and how artists nowadays should use the digital space to promote their music.
Enjoy!
Tell us a bit about yourself:
My name is Savvas Thomas from Cyprus. I’m the owner of Dubophonic label, a radio broadcaster and a dj. Since I was a child music had always been a big part in my life.
As a child the music I was mainly exposed to was mainstream Greek music and western pop via radio, That changed when I moved to Germany for my studies, there I started expanding my musical horizons - discovering Jazz, World Music, Indie Rock, Electronic music and Reggae.
Reggae became a passion of mine, I started investigating it, learning all the different aspects of it and Dub felt like it brought every music genre that I loved together.
Cyprus is not the first place that comes to mind when you speak of Dub or Reggae, how did you come up with the idea of opening a label dedicated to these genres?
At the time I was djing alot abroad, so I was always searching for new music.
When I came back to Cyprus,I founded a radio station with a friend who was producing music He told me to open a net label, I did not know what it was, luckily the internet was there to help - and learned how to operate a record label.
The idea for a Dub label came as I felt that Dub had a lot of affect on other genres, like electronic music or world music, and my goal was to explore the genre borders though the music I release. After my vision for the label was clear I created a site and started Dubophonic.
Production style, Digital or Analog are you preferring one over the other with the artists you sign?
Digital / Analog does not matter!
Our goal is to focus on the art of Dub music and the many diverse forms it can be made in.
We at Dubophonic love all the forms of Dub, from modern takes, to roots and classical dub.
Exploring the borders of dub music is one of the things we really love doing, there are so many influences.
Could you name three musical influences on your label?
Only three?! No way! Can I pick three scenes instead? The UK scene, The Jamaican Scene and the early jazz scene. Sorry it’s just impossible to pick only three artists.
How do you discover new music?
Soundcloud is a great tool for discovery, I regularly visit there and search for new dub.
Whenever I find something that fits my taste I try and contact the artist and we hopefully continue and work together.
Another way I get new music is through social media. We often post from the label profile that we’re searching for new music and many artists reply.
Which streaming service you feel is the doing best for your music?
I really like Spotify is a very good service and there was another great service from Japan that I forgot the name of …. I think it was called BounDEE
Besides them, there is Bandcamp.
It might not be a conventional streaming service but it’s a great place to buy, sell, download and discover music.
Being a relative veterans in the music games, how do you feel about the role social media is taking in shaping an artist / label future?
With social media you get a lot more music, the distance between the artist and the fan, or the label, had decreased significantly. With this in mind more and more people are making music - for us it’s good and bad. The good; we can use platforms like FB to promote our music in a targeted way. The bad, a lot of the music nowadays does not fit our taste :)
Besides that, as a dj I can promote a lot of the music I personally love through my sets on Mixcloud.
Do you feel the role of a label had changed since you started Dubophonic?
The label started as a free download service, we wanted to spread music not to earn money. In the last few years we started offering paid downloads as well, not for our earning but only to maintain the label itself ... we still have the free download service. So for us, the role hasn’t changed we still focus on spreading quality dub music to as much people as possible.
Any tips for young creators taking their first steps in the music game?
First thing first, Don’t imitate! Do your own thing and be consistent.
Secondly, Use music to express yourself - this should be your motivation, rather than trying to get rich off it.
With these two points in mind you should learn how to use social networks and upcoming technologies to your advantage. It’s much easier to find someone’s contact now then it was 30 years ago, use it! A few strong connections can take you a long way.
What's next for Dubophonic? releases / albums / artists?
the next one is on the 26th July 2018 by The Manor - Walk With Jah and then we plan (but date is not confirmed yet) the following artists:
Dubwegians [UK] - South Of The River Clyde (EP), Kama Dub [France] - AYI GIRI NANDINI (EP) and also new music from Hermit Dubz (UK), Red Star Martyrs (UK), Dub Riots (GR) a new artist from Japan ROOTS MASASHI and from France OBEAH and last but not least a new album by FOSHAN ROOTS (UK).
This will keep us busy till the end of the year or start of 2019 :)
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