Soulection Logo

Soulection is a Los Angeles-based music collective that serves as a platform and community for artists, musicians, and fans from across the world. DJ Joe Kay and artists Guillame '96' Bonte and Andre Power collaborated to establish the brand in 2011. Today, Soulection exists as an Apple Music 1 radio show on Beats1 Radio, an independent music label, festival, world-touring concert and clothing line.[1] The brand defines itself as uniting a "borderless, genre-bending musical movement".

Founders

Joe Kay

Joe Kay is a Southern California native.[2] He is a co-founder and current CEO and Head of Artists and Repertoire of Soulection.[1] Kay started a musical compilation podcast out of his grandmother's basement known as "Illvibes" in the summer of 2007.[3] Joe Kay transferred to California State University, Long Beach in 2011. A meeting with the program director and general manager of the university's radio station, KBeach Radio, secured Kay radio time that very same day.[2]

Andre Power

Andre Power is a co-founder and current creative director of Soulection. Power attended art school in San Diego and was a listener of Kay's Illvibes podcast. After participating in the event as an artist, Power became involved with organizing San Diego's Art in the Park. In 2010, Power invited Kay to DJ at Art in the Park and soon after made Kay a resident at the event.[4]

Guillame Bonte

Guillame Bonte is a French artist known as "96". He is a co-founder of Soulection. Bonte was an Internet friend of Joe Kay and Andre Power. Bonte is accredited with creating the Soulection logo.[5] His initial role in Soulection was art director.[2]

Early stages

Kay and Bonte initially conceptualized Soulection as a blog and platform for the community to arts and culture. After growing impatient to website development delays, the two created compilations of music they liked.[5] Soulection ultimately formed as an extension of Kay's podcast, Illvibes.[3] Kay envisioned two sides to Soulection: a radio show and original material released by Soulection. On January 24, 2011, the first show of Soulection Radio (Show #1) aired for an hour on KBeach Radio. The first Soulection compilation was released on the same day as well. With only a splash page and zip file of the radio show, they received 5000 downloads in their first compilation all through organic outreach.[6] The release was a compilation of 29 different artists.[4] After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Soulection was contacted by Australian producer Ta-ku. Ta-ku proposed that the beat tape he had recently made within 24 hours, be released through Soulection and the proceeds of the release be donated to tsunami relief. Their second release, 24, was released for free on Bandcamp with an option for donation.[4] Soulection's fifth release, Mood by Evil Needle, became its best-selling release to date. The fourteen song album was released on October 31, 2011.[7] Joe Kay says it was around the time of this release that the Soulection team decided to seriously pursue the expansion of the Soulection brand. Soulection continued to release music under the Soulection label, releasing over 30 albums by 2015.[5]

Apple Music and Beats-1 Radio

Beats1 Radio Logo

In June 2015, Apple announced its streaming music service, Apple Music. Apple Music's first broadcasting station was called Beats 1 Radio. Beats 1 Radio was led by DJs Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden, and Julie Adenuga[8] and was contributed to by artists such as Drake, Q-Tip, Pharrell Williams, Dr. Dre, and Elton John.[3] Soulection was among the list of names chosen to serve as a tastemaker for the broadcast. The first Soulection radio show broadcast on Beats 1 Radio on July 4, 2015.[4] The show aired their 500th episode on April 11, 2021.[9]

The Soulection brand

Independent music label

Soulection has released 78 records including albums, singles, EPs, and compilations since 2011.Artists such as Sango, GoldLink, Sam Gellaitry, Monte Booker, IAMNOBODI, Tom Misch, and even popular streetwear brand Stüssy have worked to release music with the label.[10] 2021 releases under the Soulection label include Ari PenSmith's City Girl: Acoustic Performance, Jayla Darden's Exhausted My Options, Phabo's Soulquarius & Slippery, AYLØ's Clairsentience LIVE and three works from Lou Val: Tayo and the Dreamer, Eternal Sunshine, and Cruel Silence.[10]

Experiences

Soulection also functions as a touring festival and concert attraction. The brand holds a monthly event, The Sound of Tomorrow, in Los Angeles.[4] Their festival, dubbed "Soulection Experience", hosts a variety of artists and genres.[11] The group has been commissioned to perform in a variety of venues, as well. In 2013, Coachella invited the group to perform at the southern Californian festival. In 2015, Soulection performed to a sold-out crowd in the "Whale Room" displayed in The American Museum of Natural History in New York.[4]

Merchandise line

Soulection has also developed a merchandise line of clothing apparel and lifestyle items. Around the time of their 2014 music compilation, Stüssy and Soulection collaborated to release special edition t-shirts.[12] In March 2015, they worked with Dutch brand Daily Paper to design and create 300 limited-edition windbreakers.[13] Soulection estimates that about 60-70% of their overall revenue comes from merchandise and about 20-30% comes from selling music.[4]

Current team

Soulection Team[1]
Name Position
Joe Kay CEO

Founder

Head of A&R

Andre Power Co-founder

Creative Director

Sahar Habibi Director of Soulection Records & Operations
Dom Prieto Chief Operating Officer
Andres Javier Uribe Director of Worldwide Bookings & Production

Discography[10]

2011

Title Artist Release Date
Compilation Soulection January 23, 2011
24 Ta-Ku March 31, 2011
Sankofa AbJo August 21, 2011
The Sound of Tomorrow BMB SpaceKid September 26, 2011
Mood Evil Needle October 30, 2011
Luck & Love Insightful December 26, 2011
Balanced J-Louis February 21, 2013
Gradient ESTA March 7, 2013
Pictures on Silence Atu March 21, 2013

2012

Title Artist Release Date
Trust Me Sango February 28, 2012
Outputs 3 Koen March 26, 2012
They Soulection Pheo March 29, 2012
Endless Fro Kings May 14, 2012
Wasser Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie May 21, 2012
Attoseconds Sunclef May 31, 2012
Sunwalk Modlee & Vlopper June 4, 2012
Da Rochina Sango June 14, 2012
Esoteric LAKIM August 6, 2012
Night Driven Tryezz August 27, 2012
Moments Koloah September 6, 2012
Bootyleg Nangdo September 20, 2012
Never Too Late Staycen x Koen October 14, 2012
The Shy Lanterns Glow Insightful October 21, 2012
Pick Your Own Poison Waldo November 23, 2012
Wohlklänge EP Melodiesinfonie December 3, 2012
Opera Harrisson BlackOldman December 13, 2012
Anagoge AbJo December 27, 2012

2013

Title Artist Release Date
Balanced J-Louis February 21, 2013
Gradient Esta March 7, 2013
Time In Between Soulection April 4, 2013
North Sango July 22, 2013
In Bloom Dpat August 26, 2013
Elevated IAMNOBODI September 30, 2013
Soulection White Label: 001 LAKIM November 1, 2013
Soulection White Label: 002 Da-P November 14, 2013
Steps Jo Def November 18, 2013
Thank You Soulection December 1, 2013
Soulection White Label: 003 Jarreau Vandal December 12, 2013
Soulection White Label: 004 starRo December 26, 2013

2014

Title Artist Release Date
Soulection White Label: 005 Zikomo January 9, 2014
3 Years of Soulection Soulection January 23, 2014
This is Her LAKIM February 24, 2014
Soulection White Label: 006 MIKOS DA GAWD March 6, 2014
Soulection White Label: 007 Losco March 27, 2014
Soulection White Label: 008 Tom Misch April 10, 2014
Unbound Dpat April 23, 2014
Soulection White Label: 009 AbJo April 24, 2014
100k Soulection May 13, 2014
Constructive Interference Evil Needle & Sivey June 23, 2014
Soulection White Label: 010 J-Louis August 14, 2014
Stüssy Collaboration Soulection September 5, 2014
Soulection White Label: 011 Pyrmdplaza October 16, 2014
Soulection White Label: 012 Singularis October 30, 2014
Soulection White Label: 013 oriJanus November 26, 2014

2015

Title Artist Release Date
Soulection White Label: 015 Chris McClenney January 15, 2015
Short Stories Sam Gellaitry February 17, 2015
Hours Spent Loving You SPZRKY & Sango March 8, 2015
Love is King Soulection March 17, 2015
May (feat. Ravyn Lenae) Monte Booker May 30, 2015
Soulection White Label: 015 Louie Lastic July 23, 2015
Soulection White Label: 016 Monte Booker October 29, 2015
Soulection White Label: 017 Sivey December 11, 2015

2016

Title Artist Release Date
Soulection White Label: 018 ROMderful March 14, 2016
Summatime Fine Mars Today August 12, 2016
Mona Lisa Monte Booker & Naji December 2, 2016

2017

Title Artist Release Date
Promise Once More Soulection January 29, 2017
To Me Bowtye & Avalon Young February 11, 2017
Soulection White Label: 019 DKVPZ March 16, 2017
Dreaming Bowtye April 13, 2017
buries Che Ecru April 24, 2017
Soulection White Label: 020 Foisey August 17, 2017
Unite Soulection October 11, 2017
Soulection White Label: 021 j. robb November 3, 2017
Might Just (feat Krs. & Kingbmjn) Naji December 2, 2017

2018

Title Artist Release Date
Soulection White Label:022 Jared Jackson May 17, 2018
Soulection Black Label: Hablot Brown Hablot Brown July 29, 2018
1997 Tay Iwar August 25, 2018
Soulection Black Label: Devin Tracy Devin Tracy September 30, 2018

2019

Title Artist Release Date
Gemini Tay Iwar March 29, 2019

2020

Title Artist Release Date
Fufu & Grits Juls & Sango May 28, 2020
Tesuto Mansur Brown July 9, 2020
City Girl Ari PenSmith & Jonah Cristian September 10, 2020
Da Rochina 4 Sango September 24, 2020
Romantic AYLØ October 7, 2020
Soon As You Get Home Rose Gold October 14, 2020
LNF Phabo November 18, 2020
GEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE Elujay & j. robb December 3, 2020
Clairsentience AYLØ December 19, 2020

2021

Title Artist Release Date
Clairsentience LIVE AYLØ March 26, 2021
Slippery Phabo April 9, 2021
Cruel Silence Lou Val May 7, 2021
Eternal Sunshine Lou Val May 7, 2021
Tayo and The Dreamer Lou Val June 25, 2021
Soulquarius Phabo July 16, 2021
Exhausted My Options Jayla Darden August 26, 2021
City Girl (Acoustic Performance) Ari PenSmith September 10, 2021

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Soulection". Soulection. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  2. 1 2 3 "Ten Years Later, Soulection Is Still The Standard for Music Discovery". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  3. 1 2 3 "Soulection Brings The Sound of The Future To Beats 1". Billboard. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Meadows, Kieran. "Inside Soulection: How An Unusual Music Startup Found The Sound Of Tomorrow". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  5. 1 2 3 "Touching Bass: Soulection". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  6. "Joe Kay Believes Soulection Is a Way of Life". HYPEBEAST. 2019-08-13. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  7. Mood by Evil Needle, 2011-10-31, retrieved 2021-10-22
  8. Popper, Ben (2015-06-08). "Apple announces its streaming music service, Apple Music". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  9. "SOULECTION on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  10. 1 2 3 "Soulection". Soulection. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  11. Soulection Experience 2019, retrieved 2021-10-22
  12. "Soulection". Soulection. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  13. "Soulection x Daily Paper 2015 Spring/Summer Coach Jackets". HYPEBEAST. 2015-05-07. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
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