Founder and A&R of Barbur Room channel and Barbur Music label, Marco Barbiero splits the time between his homeland, Puglia and Berlin, after some years living in the german capital, where he founded his underground music platforms.
Barbur Room hosted international artists such as Charlotte De Witte, Deborah De Luca, Chus & Ceballos, Riva Starr, Anfisa Letyago, Giorgia Angiuli, Juliet Sikora, Fatima Hajji, Anna Tur, Hito, Nakadia, Simina Grigoriu, Niko Schwind, Hector Romero & many others.
Eclectic as few, Marco’s music culture is truly impressive. His sets move between melodic, deep & techno sounds, often wandering in many shades of electronic music, but constantly finding those classic old-school house music songs that are “the icing on the cake”.
EG caught up with Barbur to learn more about his new Berlin Techno Music project, his other labels, and future endeavors.
EG: Hi Marco! Welcome to EG. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. How have you been? Where are you based right now?
Barbur: Hey guys, thanks to have me again. All is good here. After the pandemic, I went back to live in Italy in my family’s hometown, in the south, in the awesome Puglia and I’m based here now. But I often go back to Berlin, where some of my collaborators work.
EG: So, it’s been a couple of hard years since we last spoke. What have you been up to?
Barbur: Oh yes, it’s true. Two horrible and difficult years, you know. As I told you, I moved to Italy, opened a digital agency here and I continued to carry on my music channels and my labels.
I started to manage the Berlin Techno Music channel at the end of 2020 and now it’s the time to grow and open the label too.
EG: Congratulations on this new project, Berlin Techno Music! What is your goal for this label and how does it differ from Barbur Music?
Barbur: Thank you so much! Berlin Techno Music was a small channel of Berliners that just couldn’t get off the ground. They contacted me in 2020 to help them to grow, and so we integrated the Soundcloud channel and were fully taken by my group. After two years of good work, and several demos arriving every week, the channel grew and we decided to open the label as well.
It differs from Barbur Music in terms of musical genres, mainly. Barbur Music is more focused on a melodic techno sound, deep and sometimes even ethereal, giving space also to young talents.
Berlin Techno Music instead will focus on pure techno, also open to experimentation, with a load of energy and trying to bring back the typical sound of the German capital. We would like to make a few releases, but from artists that we respect and follow.
“Berlin Techno Music instead will focus on pure Techno, also open to experimentation, with a load of energy and trying to bring back the typical sound of the German capital”
EG: And Berlin Techno Music kicks things off with your new single, ‘Darkside of Me’. What has the initial reception been like? Have you been able to play this one live?
Barbur: Yes, I played it live last summer during some gigs in Italy, an adrenaline rush for the dancefloor, especially the main drop. I made this track some years ago, but I was waiting for the right moment to release it and it has arrived.
EG: What can your fans expect to find in ‘Darkside of Me’? Is there an inspirational trigger to this one?
Barbur: A lot of energy, for sure! The biggest inspiration is always the energy that I like to create and give to the people on the dancefloor, and that they give me back. It’s the same thing that I always try to provide through my music, my productions.
EG: And, as we know, you also run a Soundcloud channel named Barbur Room, where you feature regular mixes from various techno exponents. How has it evolved since the last time we spoke?
Barbur: Barbur Room is always evolving and growing. As well as hosting artists from all over the world in our three podcast selections, we promote the premieres of the releases of labels and artists that believe in our work, also using our blog/magazine that we created 3 years ago.
In the last year, we have added the BRM Management area, with which we promote and manage artists, boosting their music on Soundcloud and Spotify, using our channels, playlists, and our network. We also run social media advertising campaigns to promote music and manage the digital image of artists working with us.
EG: And Barbur Music? What can we expect on that front for this year?
Barbur: Barbur Music is growing like other projects. It’s not easy in the music industry, you know, but I’m doing my best. In the last year, we have had big support from Beatport and Ampsuite, our distribution, and I’m also trying to give space to young talents like we already did in Barbur Room’s “New Talent” section.
For this year I’m planning some remix EPs, inviting great and good artists to believe in this project, as I did in 2021 with the remix of my ‘Lowliness’ by Julian Wassermann. But there are also a lot of very interesting upcoming releases for spring/summer, so stay tuned!
“In the last year, we have added the BRM Management area, with which we promote and manage artists, boosting their music on Soundcloud and Spotify, using our channels, playlists, and our network”
EG: What challenges have you faced while running your labels and how have you overcome them? How do you see the music industry evolving in the next 5 years, and how do you plan to adapt and stay ahead of the curve?
Barbur: Certainly it’s not easy to survive today in the music industry. We don’t sell many copies of records (even if it depends on the tracks), but thanks to streaming, we are able to make it work and I believe that in the future it will really be the only way or one of the few ways to monetize the music.
At the moment, our main promotion channel for the labels is Spotify. We are investing time and energy in the playlists of the three projects, Barbur Room, Barbur Music, and Berlin Techno Music, as well as my personal one, and in any case, we push the releases a lot on streaming channels, including YouTube and Soundcloud of course, where we were already present.
EG: Can you tell us something about you that very few people know about?
Barbur: I’m an excellent home chef (what Italian isn’t?)
EG: What’s next for Barbur? What particular milestones are you looking forwards to this 2023? Where can your fans catch you next?
Barbur: I’m planning some releases and remixes, in this moment of my life and music “career”, I’m wandering between melodic and techno sounds and I’m waiting for some releases on very cool labels.
Of course, my fans and future fans can catch me on Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube, and Instagram, where I’m more active. I hope to see them also somewhere on the dancefloor very soon!
EG: Thank you so much for your time, Marco! We wish you all the best for the future.
Barbur: Thanks to you, guys, for this nice chat and your support. All the best to you too. Ciao!
Barbur’s ‘Darkside of Me’ is now available via Berlin Techno Music. Stream and buy here.
Follow Barbur: Instagram | Facebook | Soundcloud | Spotify
