We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jarrett Van Ollefen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jarrett below.
Jarrett, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I think starting my record label was a risk. I didn’t have much support, didn’t have many connections, and really had to start from the bottom. I invested money into branding and music distribution services, totally unaware if any of my efforts would be fruitful. I don’t have any formal knowledge of the music industry or marketing, but I pay attention to what other labels and producers do. I had been wanting to do this for so long, and the only fear I really had was of failure. The risk to jump into this, try my best, all to just fail was something that held me back for so long. I cared too much what others thought, and I didn’t believe in myself enough. Although this isn’t my full time job, I also knew that there would be a risk involved with dedicating time to this, even while working a regular job. It all boils down to a fear of failure in the eyes of others. Once I conquered all of these fears, I realized that failure was the only thing I was really afraid of all along. Once I got over that- things started to grow and build far quicker than I thought they would. You just gotta believe in yourself, and never give up- even if its a risk.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I run an electronic music label specializing in the genre of drum and bass called Urban Hell Audio. I have a team of artists, DJs, and producers that I work with on a daily basis, and the vision of the label is simply to get this music out there for people to listen to and enjoy. We’re based in the United States, where drum and bass isn’t as popular as it is in other places in the world. My goal is to provide quality tunes for the people out there who love this music, and to contribute to this scene. I love the friendships I’ve made along the way, so just being a part of the drum and bass scene has made me happy. It feels great to put out your own music, along with other producers’ music that sounds fantastic. I’ve met people from all over the world and speak to people from all different countries about this music that I love, every day of my life. This label has become a staple in my life, it is something that I take great pride in.
We have a discord chat (basically like a fancier group chat) where we share works in progress, offer each other advice on how to improve, create cover art, master tracks, and more. Many of us on the label are in touch with each other every day, and we are constantly coming up with new ideas. Urban Hell Audio functions as a team. Without the team behind me, the record label would be nothing. We have people with so many talents on our team. I really would be nowhere without them – shout out to Sigjir, LGI, Ansible, GorillaFist, DI, Meridian, Gautz, MR E, Quatrah, Albino Rhino, and many many more- if I missed you, you know I love you!!! I work with some great people who put out great music, and we all build each other up and push each other to become better at our craft. We are a positive label and try to spread positivity as much as we can.
We also have a merch store where you can grab all sorts of Urban Hell Audio merchandise. I’m planning on releasing some holiday ornaments for the holiday season, and I have a bunch of new t-shirt and sticker designs coming. Our merch store will soon be expanding and becoming more of a presence in the label.
If there is one thing to know about Urban Hell Audio, it’s that we are 100% about drum and bass music. We provide the listeners with a quality experience that reaches the soul and the spirit. Nothing means more than drum and bass to Urban Hell Audio.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Support the artist- that’s all you need to do. Give the tracks a listen, read the book they published, go see the art gallery. Give their page a follow. Comment on something if you really enjoy it. That’s all folks need to do. You don’t need to throw money at Urban Hell. We make music to make music. If you like what we are doing, a comment or a subscription means so much to us. Way more than you think.
Go watch a video from someone who only has 54 subscribers. Check out a track that has 100 listens. Go to a local show at a dive bar and check out some local music. Come early to check out the supporting DJs or the opening bands. The hidden talent has to be discovered somehow. Go into everything with an open mind. Remember, putting your art out there is actually really stressful- you have no idea if people will love or hate it. Getting hate comments is something that all artists go through, which makes the positive comments even better.
Support and always respect each other. There’s no need for drama when all we wanna do is share our art.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I have always loved making music, and having people enjoy it makes me ecstatic. I never thought I was “good” at making music, until I started putting myself out there. Getting comments here and there from listeners telling me that my tracks were good made me feel so good. Like I mentioned earlier, all it takes is a bit of support to make an artist happy. Knowing that there are people out there dancing to the music I’ve made, as well as released on the label, is extremely rewarding. One of our tracks, “U Drive Me Crazy” by Meridian has over 20,000 plays in less than a year on Soundcloud, and has been downloaded over 450 times! Urban Hell Audio tracks get played in livestreams, at raves, and in DJ mixes. The most rewarding thing about Urban Hell Audio is that people dig the music of all of our artists, and that our music is out there for people to hear. I love knowing that there are people out there dancing to our tunes!
Shout out to our amazing artists on the team, including but not limited to- Sigjir, Meridian, Gorillafist, LGI, Gautz, DI, Ansible, Quatrah, Albino Rhino, and all of our other artists and DJs! Look our for all the newcomers we have in store as well…
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/urbanhellaudio
- Instagram: instagram.com/urbanhellaudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088059139213
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTlB-3qQSz1RJlVYXtn1-PQ
- Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/urbanhellaudio
- Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7cocTBd9T844vfPyT72W3j?si=cd0d9f9fe0f84fa6
Image Credits
Sigjir, Meridian, LGI, GorillaFist, Gautz