Beachside Records was founded in 2013 by Abner Abdhala, with the aim of bringing the best to the dance floor. After two years in business, the label has signed remarkable artists worldwide, with several appearances on Top10 and Top100 Charts in different stores such Beatport, Traxsource, iTunes, among others.
Today, Beachside Records has made a lot of achievements, maintaining a confident fresh look. The label’s much-appreciated artworks and defined concept reinforce a very well-established brand in the music industry.
We caught up with the label boss, Abner Abdhala, to talk about their history, vision and 8-year Beachside anniversary release.
Electronic Groove: Hi, Abner! We’re excited to have you down with us for a chat. How have you been holding up? Congratulations on Beachside Records’ 8-year anniversary!
Abner Abdhala: Hello, friends. Thank you for this opportunity, well I am with mixed feelings, this pandemic has hit us hard for the loss of many very dear friends and family, but we move on, thank you for your congratulations, we are very excited for these 8 years of uninterrupted work.
Electronic Groove: 8 years is quite a milestone. Let’s dive into its history. How was Beachside Records born? How did you get involved in the music industry?
Abner Abdhala: Well, the history of Beachside is very curious because the idea was proposed by my dear brother Ian Urquizo, in 2012. I had a very small electronic music web radio, and that’s how I met Ian, and one day I considered the idea of creating a record label and we started. In the beginning, there were many sleepless nights looking for artists, requesting demos (many times without receiving an answer (laughter), but always with the joy of knowing that the love of music was our main driver.
Electronic Groove: What’s the electronic music scene like in Peru? What does Beachside Records bring to the table?
Abner Abdhala: The Peruvian scene is very intense, full of many parties and always featuring quality artists, but I must be honest, I’ve only been to a party once (laughter). What do we contribute? I believe that we contribute beyond the excellent selection of artists, quality music always thinking about the dance floor.
Electronic Groove: How would you describe the label’s sound? How has it evolved throughout these 8 years?
Abner Abdhala: What a good question! What we are looking for Beachside is a sound that evokes the freshness of the beach, the rhythm of the sea, how the waves come and go, a very fine sound with a lot of groove, and the joy of sharing friends when dancing. We have evolved from the sounds of deep house and nu-disco in the beginning, but now we are more focused on the dance floor with a very fine tech-house and minimal deep tech sound.
“What we are looking for Beachside is a sound that evokes
the freshness of the beach”
Electronic Groove: In line with the anniversary, Beachside Records is releasing its ‘Big Timers Vol. 1’. Can you tell us more about this dazzling compilation? For how long has this been in the works?
Abner Abdhala: Uff! The truth fills me with emotion talking about this. It has been several years since we released compilations. We were excited in the office by this great event of 8 years, and we thought about what to do to celebrate it, we decided to make a compilation with tracks from the members of our family of artists. The process lasted more or less 7 months, so we talked with some of them, and we were pleasantly surprised by the joy of wanting to participate in this holiday. So, the project that started as a single compilation, became 4 volumes that will be released one each week of the anniversary month.
Electronic Groove: You’ve got quite a special month ahead for the label. Can you anticipate anything?
Abner Abdhala: Sure! We are like crazy doing the last coordination so that everything goes the way we like it: always giving the greatest exposure to all our artist brothers. Tracks are coming, that we are sure will set the dance floor on fire, you will see it when it comes out in all the stores!
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Electronic Groove: What do you specifically look for in a demo? What is the selection process like? How many people work with you at Beachside Records?
Abner Abdhala: We always want the tracks to excite us, to make us think: what would be the reaction of the public when listening to it in the club, in the office, in the car, or your room, no matter the moment, it always has to generate emotion, we look for tracks timeless, it is very exciting to listen to our tracks from years ago and feel that emotion as if it were the first time.
Right now, we are 2 people who are in charge of carrying out this beautiful project. My wife Julisa, who is in charge of contracts and administration, and I, who am in charge of A&R, public relations, and many other things. We are a family label looking to grow a little more every day.
Electronic Groove: What advice would you give to someone starting their own record label? What advice would you give to artists who are looking to get signed by a label?
Abner Abdhala: In these times where it is now very easy to open a record label, my main recommendation is to be very serious when working and to be very consistent, to always seek excellence (we are still looking for it), remember that beyond the fascination To achieve success as a label, or to be famous, the work and dreams of an artist are in our hands, that deserves our respect and more than our honesty, that must be translated into always having them, the artists, like the stars of this show, they are the ones who should always shine and we as a label should only be the showcase where they will show themselves to the world, if a label is not capable of doing this; and even more so to give the artist the treatment he deserves, he is doomed to failure.
Regarding the advice for artists, I tell them that they always seek to send demos to labels where they are not just another number, that give the maximum support to their music and give it the proper promotion, they are not artists who collect labels, but rather that they select labels where they can feel that they work based on their talent.
“My main recommendation is to be very serious when working and to be very consistent”
Electronic Groove: What’s in store for Beachside Records for the rest of 2021? What new milestones are you are looking forward to?
Abner Abdhala: Thank God we have great releases for the rest of the year and part of the next, with great artists, some well-known and as always new talents that we are delighted to make known, it is our main mission and we are sure they will shine soon.
We are also finalizing the details to launch our new sub-label called Beachside Limited focused on minimal house and micro house, where we can show more new talents and great artists.
As another novelty and always looking to offer the best service, we are implementing our own web platform for sending promos, it is still in the development stage, which will be exclusively used for our labels in the first stage, and then it will be released on the market.
Electronic Groove: Thank you for sitting down with us, Abner! We wish you all the best for the future!
Abner Abdhala: Thanks to you, guys, for your patience and for the interview. I can’t finish this without saying our battle phrase, “See you at the dance floor!”.
Various Artists – Beachside 8 Years – Big Timers Vol. 1 is now available. Stream and buy here.
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