Electric Social Records, a local label company for regional talent, aims to deliver the city’s artists to its listeners.
Founder and manager of Electric Social, Christian Yañez, a sophomore computer information systems major, said the label attempts to not only to give local artists a stage to perform on, but also a chance to network with other artists and gain popularity in a fast-evolving music industry.
“El Paso’s music scene has changed a lot from when I started in it,” Yañez said. “We’re fortunate enough to have bands that bring their respective audiences, all diverse in genre. So long as you can get people out of their comfort zone, you’ll see them walking out of shows with the band’s albums and T-shirts.”
Yañez began Electric Social after gaining experience booking shows for some of his earlier projects in 2013. After playing empty shows due to bad promotion, Yañez took it upon himself to promote his own show and the shows of other local bands. “The idea of a label came to mind, but it took a while for me to figure out what I wanted,” Yañez said. “After signing bands, I was more familiar with shows.
I knew what I wanted was more of a network of musicians and music business experts.” Electric Social is not a major label, meaning it doesn’t provide recording studios or mass production of albums.
Instead, it is considered a community of cross promotion and support that helps book and staff shows.
“We take care of their booking, marketing strategies, staffing for the shows,” Yañez said. Some artists under the Electric Social label are Acid Pie, ANiMALSOUL, Trost House, Stan Z and If We Were Turtles, all of which come from different musical styles and genres.
“If you take a look at the Neon Desert lineup this year, you can find all nine of our bands performing,” Yañez said. Daniel Rivera is the drummer for Kilo and the Dew, one of Electric Social’s newest signees.
He said Electric Social does a lot for the band. “It has not only helped us network with other people in the scene, but also introduced a whole new audience to our music,” Rivera said. The bands that sign on the label can’t leave their jobs and trash hotel rooms on the weekend, but it is a huge step forward for their music careers.
Aside from Electric Social, I go to school part time at UTEP to study computer information systems, work full time in the school’s (information technology) department, a program director for RIOS radio and also the drummer for The Other Half,” Yañez said. For more information on Electric Social and their bands, visit electricsocialrecords.com.
Mike Vasquez may be reached at [email protected].
