By Nate Follmer

Edited by Erica McNatt

Nate Follmer recently sat down with Nightfall Records CEO Brandon McCaslin to talk about how Nightfall Records is helping to shape the music scene in Pittsburgh and how the music scene is helping to shape Nightfall Records. They also discussed why an artist still needs a record label in the new age of streaming and self-promotion and also some exciting new spaces and services that are coming to the Pittsburgh area through Nightfall Records.

Nate: Give us a little background on how you got your label started and what inspired you to start Nightfall Records.

Brandon: Initially, I wanted to start a streetwear brand, and we made a brand called Nightfall Entertainment. We made a bunch of shirts and started taking them to live shows and pop-up events. I met a bunch of artists like that and found I had a love for the back end of the business. I found that there weren’t a lot of people doing management or really helping these artists out in any kind of way. I had some success in doing this. I took a deal to Interscope Records and then had one with a residency in Vegas. I decided to start a management company from there and just kind of kept growing and found that there was a big lack of knowledge for the industry in Pittsburgh. From there, I decided to take a bunch of artists under our wing, and it kind of just grew from there. I’ve always had a love for music, so it just kind of worked out like that.

Nate: What are some of the struggles you face as a record label today, and how do you overcome them? 

Brandon: Oversaturation of the market. I think that with how streaming is now and with how social media and the internet are, anybody and everybody can start creating content, and that’s a good and bad thing. I like the accessibility because it lets people who wouldn’t otherwise have it, have that opportunity. But I think that there’s a fine line between making commercial content that’s good for a wide audience and maybe just small niche stuff. But, I think filming is kind of another thing that comes into play with that. Obviously, there’s production costs involved with creating very high-quality productions. Competing with some of the bigger labels is something that we’re trying hard to do with a much smaller budget right now, and it’s about being efficient. Doing a lot of good data analytics and consistency is really the biggest thing.

Nate: How has streaming changed the way labels operate, and why do you think an artist would even need a label now that they can self-promote and self-distribute their music?

Brandon: I think streaming has changed the whole landscape entirely. Nobody’s focused on physical anymore. I think it is actually, in a way, like I said, made marketing harder, but it’s allowed us to get a lot more creative with our marketing too. I think that’s why an artist should use a label because you need—not even necessarily a label; let me say a team— because we’re a very specific kind of label. We offer a full stack of services, and we’re very focused on entrepreneurship and teaching our artists the business. You should have a team. A team that’s very supportive of your business endeavors. One that can help you with creative ideas, one that can help you with your productions. If you look at any of these top 10 artists, there’s a credit list a mile long. If you’ve ever watched a movie and seen the credit list, it’s a mile long. There are a lot of people involved in this stuff at a high level because it takes a lot of brain power and different opinions to culminate a product that is as good as the market needs it to be right now.

Nate: What are some of the services that your label provides?

Brandon: Pretty much everything from artist development, visual and audio production, distribution, and publishing. We also provide tour and booking management and merchandising. Everything from A to Z that an artist would need. 

Nate: How has your label helped grow the Pittsburgh music scene, and how has the Pittsburgh music scene helped grow your label?

Brandon: We’re very big on bridging the different music communities in Pittsburgh. They’re kind of very clique-y here and always have been. Something that we’ve tried to do is get involved with each one of them and bring them together. Show them that we need to really have a stronghold here and be a powerhouse for the music industry. We don’t have a singular entity to look to, so what can we do in this aspect? We’re trying to build that bridge and also provide very professional and safe spaces for everyone. 

We’ve been trying to provide affordable access to industry-quality production. We’re doing a whole lot of stuff, like providing infrastructure for live shows to allow artists to perform for a profit. We’re not doing things like selling slots or running those silly contests you see out there. 

We’ve partnered with a couple of the bigger promotion companies in the city like Drusky and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. We’ve been doing a lot of shows with them to provide opportunities for smaller artists to open for international artists. That’s also how the scene has helped us grow in turn because, you know, by partnering with all of these different people, we’ve been provided with a wonderful network of individuals that have seen our vision and are trying to help us grow too. Especially with Drusky and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, they’re very on board with what we’re doing, and Drusky does 1,000 shows a year, so that’s really helpful to get a lot of artists on stages.

Nate: You covered this previously, but what are some of the things your label does that set you apart from other labels?

Brandon: We do have an in-house audio and visual production team. Some labels may have that, but we have it so that any genre of artists, you can come into our studio. We can do a full-blown production for you. And you’re going to walk out of there spending a fraction of the cost that you would spend in an industry studio and get an incredible product. We’re using a lot of different cutting-edge audio and visual technologies to do that and make that happen. Dolby Atmos is one of the big things in the industry right now. Atmos mastering is being paid more per stream on Apple Music. We’re providing access to Atmos mastering and trying to make that easier for the artists here in Pittsburgh. This is something very few studios in Pittsburgh are doing.

We’re very artist oriented. We have a big focus on our artists, and that’s something that sets us apart because we’re very strong together, and we’re very supportive of each other. Everybody is going to each other’s releases and events and sharing everything. It’s a really beautiful thing to see. We’re focused on developing entrepreneurs and their brands instead of one-hit-wonders or things like that.

Nate: Can you share a few success stories or any notable accomplishments that have been achieved by your artists? 

Brandon: One of our artists, Lexa Terrestrial, she actually just took first place in the hip hop artist category for best of Pittsburgh in the city paper this year. We just took another one of our artists, Trilly Es, to Atlanta to do an interview with a podcast called “Off the Porch,” which is one of the leading hip hop industry podcasts. We have an artist in St. Louis named King Cash Beatz, whose album, MIDAS, has over 5 million units sold, which is pretty crazy. There’s a whole bunch of cool stuff going on with our artists.

We’re doing a show at the end of this month with Lil Xan, which I’m very excited about. We’ve got five artists on that show. We have some cool stuff planned for that.

Nate: How do you actively discover new artists and talent for your label?

Brandon: We have a couple of A&Rs that are going out to the local showcases and shows and seeing if there is anybody opening that we don’t really know. We get a lot of demos, which is really nice. I love listening to all the music that we get. That’s one of my favorite parts of my job. So, keep sending in demos. We’re also going through Instagram and Tiktok to find artists.

Nate: So what are some things that you plan to do in the future with your label?

Brandon: We’re definitely in a big period of scaling right now. We have a studio in Allison Park, and we’re looking to open a new multimedia facility. In it we’re going to have several different production rooms. A really nice audio-visual production suite with an infinity wall to be able to shoot commercials and music videos. We’ll have spaces for artists to stay with showers, kitchen areas, and a very nice lounge area. We’re actually getting into E-sports. We have a sports team competing in the NHL league right now. We want to get them a space in the facility. It’s going to provide a really nice multimedia space for Pittsburgh because we don’t really have that here. 

Nate: If an artist is interested in joining your label, how can they get more information, and who should they contact? 

Brandon: So, our website, nightfallrecords.com; our Instagram is where we post the majority of our audio and visual stuff; and they can contact us through our website.

Nate: Is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap up this interview?

Brandon: We’re doing a really cool free show somewhere in Pittsburgh this summer. We’re going to stack the bill and try to make it a four-to-six hour event and try to have a ton of people come through. It’s another thing we’re doing to give back to the city.

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