We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Luis Correa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Luis, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I Have ALWAYS BEEN INTEREST AND INVOLVRD N THE MUSIC BUSINESS, in Junior high i discovered what later would be hip hop. with the help of my friend Eddie we bought a turntable a ealistic radio shack mixer and a cassette deck, we djd small house parties with that setup the summer of 83, We started a small dj crew, thena promotional crew, then we started doing biggr back yard parties and even ventiring into halls and clubs. by 1990, the music started changing and we grew out of our dj phase and 2 years later met Ray perez who wanted to do ska shows in back yards with live bands, i was ompletely ready to go. We started in back yards with a makeshift stage, sold cups and had kegs of beers, we were shut down by cops more that once, then in 1993 we started doing shows out of the hong kong cafe in chinatown. it was a good ru from 93-95, in dec of 95 Ray and I split and That is when Steady Beat started unofficially. produced amny shows and also started the label around that time to showcase the bands that I was booking. things were running good til napster came, then the label suffered from lack of sale and all product was returned to me when tower blockbuster etc.. shut down. I had to go back to the work force and earn a living that way. in 2008 i started doing shows and producing music again while working a day job, in 2021 i left the day job and opened steady beat records store.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I speialze in local traditional Ska Music, the jamaican style oppsosed to the popular punk ska style on the airwaves. I produce and release not only Ska but reggae, tropical funk, cumbia chicao soul and even salsa funk via vinyl 45s on the label, ll musi is also available on all streaming platforms. As a label we are one of the only independent Los Angeless labels serving the Los Angeles Area with La artists. I have been constantly elevatiing the Los Angeles music scen with showcasing new bands and releasing their music.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

it was 1998 and sales were down, the shows i was producing were not yielding the type of income i needed to survive, the bands started splitting up because members grow up and get married. bills stared piling up and rent was due, the music inustry was in the dumps and streaming was not a thing. i had to take a job at a furniture manufacturer. this was so hard to get used to after running your own cmpany for 2 years. a very humbling experience, nonethe less i workd hard and was the best purchasing guy they had. for the next couple of years friends and aqcuantenses would ask when is the next show or release, i would just shrug and say i dont know. after a whle i kind of dropped off the scene and concentrated on my family life, until 2008. when i started doing shows again.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Ever since i had to go back to the workforce in 1998 there was always the desire and the push to be back in the owners seat again, howver probably not in the same capacity. i knew it would take a lot of money so i started saving up . in 2015 the company i was working for was sold and and i wss looking at some good severence pay and cashing out vacation and stock in the company. i planned to use that and open a record store /restaurant/ bar/ live music venue and studio in the back. I also planned a trip to mexico and just relax and plan how to execute my next move, however within a week i started getting aclls from other manufactuers and wanted to hire me. i was an exprinced manager in the wood working industry, i speialized in wood species selections, veneers, solid wood case goods and seating. inventory etc… justa general badass. i really didnt want to take on a job but the compensation was extremely good and the day to day was less over all. . i saw an opportinity to save more money so took the job and the plan waitied another 6 years. The company was hemerging money after covid and laid alot of people off. i took the severancence and found that opening a bar restaurant after ciovid was amore time consuming than previous. i would probbly would have to pay retnt ona location for aover a year and still be able to open until permits have been secured, so i toned down the idea to a record shop. ipsent the next 2 months buying close to $20,000 in record collections and just generally accumulating records another 15,000 was used for giving the spot some razzle dazzle and furniture of course bins etc…. I was let go in June 2021 and by Sep. 2021 I had opened a store.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.steadybeat.com
• Instagram: steadybeatrecordings
• Twitter: steady beat recordings
• Youtube: youtube.com/stedybeat