Ritchie and Rob, the duo behind ARRVL Records, have reached a milestone with their 50th release. What started as an event along the River Thames has grown into a label known for its progressive and melodic sound.
Photo credit: ARRVL Records – Official
From juggling fatherhood with music to establishing a clear ethos and brand identity, Ritchie and Rob share their insights on the evolution of ARRVL Records and what’s ahead.
In this conversation, Ritchie and Rob open up about the label’s origins, their approach to balancing creativity with commercial expectations, and their plans for the future.
EG: Hi, Ritchie & Rob, welcome to EG! How have you been? What have you been up to?
Ritchie: Thank you for having us. I’m doing really good, thank you. Feeling excited about getting to the milestone of 50 releases with the label and to continue building on it this year. I’m sure I speak for Rob, too, but life for me is the continual balance, full-time work, being a dad, which is amazing, doing some of my own music, and then putting as much focus as I can into building the label.
Rob: Yes, similarly to Ritchie, I have a 2-year-old, so it’s a juggle between being a dad to a crazy toddler and fitting in music around that, which is a challenge but loving every minute of it.
EG: What’s the initial reception been like for the 50th release?
Ritchie: Big excitement for the 50th release. It’s been really cool looking back at the music we’ve released over the last four or so years, and an honor to have featured so many great producers.
Rob: Reception so far has been really positive, and I think for those not familiar with ARRVL, the compilation will give them a pretty good idea of what we’re all about and the breadth of prog and melodic we feature on the label.
EG: What have you got in store to celebrate?
Ritchie: So the compilation is the main focus, as it brings together 20 tracks from across the 49 releases we’ve had to date, so many top producers too. We’ll also do some more features via our Bloop Residency and work towards some more events later part of the year. Watch this space!
EG: How did ARRVL Records come to be, motivation, background?
Ritchie: A bit of tale of two stories here, how did ARRVL start, and then the kick-off of the label. ARRVL started life as an event. Right back in 2018, we did a collaboration boat party on the River Thames, 300 strong, it was very fun. A small group of us did the events, so a big shout-out to our good pals Dan Smith and Conor McGovern. Dan also designed the branding and what we think is a very cool and unique logo. We then went on to do more and more events across London, bigger and intimate venues, from E1 to Horse and Groom, with the ethos of supporting local talent, as well as headliners like Anii, Death on the Balcony, Dave Seaman, Just Her, Danny Howells, and many more.
Rob: After a couple of years of some great parties, we felt the next logical step was a label, a platform for us to showcase our own music and that of other artists.
“We wanted to do things properly, to honour the work that these artists put into the music, and to honour the music itself”
EG: What were your expectations?
Ritchie: I don’t think I personally had any. I had an ambition to showcase music I like on my own label and create a home for other producers. Do things the right way from a label perspective, as we’re releasing others’ time, work, and passion in production. So I was just happy to go with the flow and see how the label progressed, and we’re very much still in the building stage, if you ever actually get out of that.
Rob: The only expectation I had was that it would probably be more work and harder than we first envisaged, if it’s done right, of course. There are a lot of corners some labels can cut, and we wanted to do things properly, to honour the work that these artists put into the music, and to honor the music itself.
EG: Where is the label now, and how has it evolved?
Ritchie: I think we’re still very much building. We’ve established what we feel is a very credible brand, music ethos, and a strong reputation. We certainly have so much growth to do in terms of reach and recognition of us more widely. As mentioned previously, our evolution has been expanding from events to showcasing music through the label, and our branding and style, we feel, has a unique vibe to it.
EG: How do you balance artistic vision with commercial success?
Ritchie: Simple answer for me here. The label is a labor of love. So artistic vision, releasing music we like, and growing organically is primary. What we get from streams and track sales perspective comes over time as you stay true to the label’s ethos and vision.
EG: Best advice for someone starting a label, what are the obstacles you’ve faced and how did you overcome them?
Rob: I would say, be prepared to do it for the enjoyment first and foremost, and ensure that you’re releasing music that you love, rather than tracks that you think will sell, or people want to hear. The electronic music scene is saturated, and to be blunt, there’s an awful lot of mediocre music being released, but plenty of other top-quality stuff as well.
Also, have clear objectives in mind from the start, branding, mastering, music style, and ethos, to ensure that over time, your audience is clear on what you’re about. Branding is really important. As Ritchie mentioned earlier, Dan Smith designed the logo and initial event and release artwork, and more recently our graphic designer Chris Kentish of Fade In Digital has built on Dan’s solid foundation and created a consistent and standout design across all of our releases which we’re really proud of, so big up Dan and Chris! Taking the music quality seriously, and therefore investing in great mastering. For me is one of the most important factors to ensure the music output is consistent and quality throughout. Books has been our resident mastering engineer for ARRVL for most of our releases, and his attention to detail and perfectionism has enabled us to maintain the highest quality. We’ve also learned a lot from him, and he’s not afraid to ask artists to fix issues with the mix downs, no matter how small, and we’ve had lots of feedback from artists saying how refreshing this is.
“The label is a labour of love. So artistic vision, releasing music we like, growing organically, is primary”
EG: Looking ahead, what can we expect from ARRVL Records, what’s coming up? And what would your dream achievement be with the label?
Rob: We’ve so much great music to come on the label, and a stacked schedule for the rest of the year. We want the label to continue to build and build, so I’d say expect more quality music, and lots of newcomers to the label.
Ritchie: We’ll also be looking to throw some more parties towards the latter end of the year onwards. Dream achievement for the label? I think being even more widely recognised and a go-to for many more producers to release with us, and those looking out for new music. Personally, I’ve got a few releases on their way and some exciting collaborations too.
EG: Thank you guys, wish you the best on the 50th release and the others to come.
Ritchie and Rob: Thank you so much for having us. It’s been cool to share more about the label with you and your readers.
‘Arrvl 50’ compilation is now available on ARRVL Records. Stream and download here.
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