IDOL Insights: meet Heavenly Sweetness

Heavenly Sweetness, founded in 2007, made a name for itself on the French music scene, not least thanks to a deal to reissue the prestigious Blue Note catalog on vinyl. This opportunity has played a key role in the label’s international development and its reputation among vinyl lovers everywhere.

While paying tribute to the giants of the past, Heavenly Sweetness has enriched the current scene with artists such as Anthony Joseph, Guts and Laurent Bardainne. Thanks to a bold artistic direction and a determination to perpetuate the spirit of jazz, the label cultivates an eclectic aesthetic that blends bluish harmonies with soul, electro and tropical and African sounds.

Heavenly Sweetness has since expanded its catalog with contemporary artists such as David Walters, K.O.G, Léon Phal and, most recently, Ludivine Issambourg. In fifteen years, the label has built up a solid reputation, appreciated by jazz purists and fans of new sound experiments alike.

In 2007, in the middle of the record industry crisis, I left EMI as part of a redundancy scheme, with a business start-up grant. At the same time, I bumped into my partner at the time, Antoine Rajon, who had already released two EPs on a new label called Heavenly Sweetness, and I offered to develop it together.

During my years with a major label, I worked on projects that didn’t always suit me musically, but that guaranteed me a salary at the end of the month. I saw the creation of this label as a way of saving my soul. It was a compromise to clear my conscience.

From the outset, I’ve always tried to keep a sense of pleasure and love. In 2007, we set up a jazz label, but instead of creating a chapel in the middle of many jazz chapels, we decided to release albums because we like them, regardless of style. Notably Blundetto, the Radio Nova programmer’s project, released in 2010. It wasn’t jazz, but we love the album.

We also wanted to specialize in vinyl, meaning that for each album, if we didn’t release it on vinyl, we would make a 45 rpm with an extract from the album and a remix – which enabled us to work with electronic artists. For Doug Hammond’s album, a cult drummer for spiritual jazz, we chose an artist who wasn’t very well known yet for the remix: Four Tet.

All our industry pals thought we’d sell two LPs! In the end, we had to repress 5 times our set of 500, so we sold 2,500, many of them in Japan. It’s like anything else, when you set up a label, if you don’t believe in it, nobody believes in it for you.

It’s people who enjoy life in general and who like to have a good time… A bit like me! The most important thing for me is to work with artists I love.

When I was on a major label, the artists were more or less friendly, so with Heavenly Sweetness, I wanted to work with artists who were glad to work with me. I want to work with joy and trust. That’s not to say there aren’t any problems, but they’re problems we try to solve together.

I work a lot on a whim, and 2 years ago I signed an artist called Kham Meslien, a solo double bass project. I listened to it out of politeness and actually liked it a lot! It wasn’t an easy project, but I took the risk, because this artist also has a great personality. And we were all taken by surprise, but it worked out really well. It’s not an accident because we worked hard, but it’s one of those pleasant surprises.

What I like about this job, even if it’s not easy, is that you never know how things are going to turn out.

Before Heavenly Sweetness, I was a marketing project manager for major labels, at the heart of projects that sold hundreds of thousands of records. But when I started my own label, I had to learn a lot of different trades, like manufacturing, sales, finance… It taught me a lot of humility.

The main challenge is financial, because in the early days, resources are limited. There’s a kind of vertigo involved in putting €15,000 into a record… That’s the entirety of my social plan! That motivated us to come up with ideas to make it work.

In the beginning, there was less pressure because most of the artists had a job on the side, they didn’t rely on music to make a living: Anthony Joseph was a university professor, The Rongetz Foundation was in finance, others had a career as a professional musician.

Now Heavenly Sweetness has grown, there’s obviously more at stake financially, and the artists rely on us and their tour managers to make a living. But we try to keep this notion of pleasure above all.

You have to be passionate and realistic, but also a bit crazy. As a producer, I take artistic and financial risks, but I have to calculate the risk as best I can so as not to jeopardize the whole business.

It also takes a lot of energy! If I had to do it all over again, I don’t think I’d be able to do it. You have to hold on to the conviction – bordering on madness – that it can work. In 2007-2010, we really lived through the worst hours of the record industry: every year, the record market lost 10-15% and labels couldn’t find any investors…. Thanks to streaming, thanks to IDOL, the skies have cleared.

Heavenly Sweetness is like a delicatessen: there are only different, quality products, and above all we stand up for what we love. After fifteen years, we’ve created a catalog with a real DNA, linked to jazz, groove and world music, with timeless albums that are not marked by an era. It’s this catalog that makes people trust us. And they’ll listen to a K.O.G. album, even if it’s not necessarily the music they’re drawn to. It’s all down to the strength of our artistic choices, and that’s also part of our longevity.

The industry is also evolving, and habits have changed a lot. Our target audience has changed too: now there are people of all ages, and we have to know how to appeal to everyone. Jazz is basically a more adult music, but when I do Léon Phal concerts, there are 20-year-olds in the audience, and they’re dancing too! What’s more, IDOL helps me a lot to keep up with these trends, to understand them and to evolve our way of working. It’s important not to have any certainties, and to be able to revise your working methods on a regular basis.

Producer Guts was always sending me lots of artist projects. As I didn’t have the time to listen to them all, I suggested he create a label within Heavenly Sweetness. He takes care of the artistic side, recording the albums and supporting the artists. And we take care of marketing them, making sure the projects work. Via Pura Vida, we work with Pat Kalla, K.O.G, as well as Guts’ compilations.

Guts is one of the artists on the label who has enabled us to keep going, and to continue working only on projects we like, without any financial objectives. This label is a great opportunity for him to work with the artists and projects he likes.

Pura Vida (Pure Life) is his way of saying goodbye in Costa Rica, and I think it’s a good way to live.

I first got into the record business in 1998, and in 25 years, everything has changed. Music consumption in particular has changed, but the fundamentals remain the same: it’s still artists making music who share emotions with a more or less large audience. We still listen to new albums and singles, go to concerts and become fans of artists.

What’s really changed is that, as a music fan, I’ve never had access to so much music so easily. Before, at a party, you had to ask the DJ for the title, otherwise it was impossible to know! And then you’d still have to find the record, which could sometimes take years. I think the times have never been so exciting!

It’s the price of freedom. An independent label is free to make its own choices, whatever they may be. Sometimes it’s materially difficult, but personally it’s much more fulfilling. The biggest reward is the artists’ loyalty to the label.

We’ve been lucky enough to have successes that have kept us going, and when times have been a bit difficult, there’s always been an album that has worked or a synchro that has helped us bounce back. It’s a story of passionate people, but it’s still fragile.

I really like working with IDOL because there’s a state of mind, a little extra soul. Of course, there are always constraints, sometimes economic, sometimes in terms of development or access to certain media. That’s why it’s important to be able to rely on people who understand you and are there to help you. So yes, it’s a real collective strength.

If we’re still here, it’s thanks to IDOL, thanks to the whole team. Since we started working together, it’s always been really motivating to see how enthusiastic the teams are. That’s what gives you so much energy, and makes you feel less alone. The artists also feel supported, so they trust us. It’s a kind of virtuous circle.

I hope it lasts for a long time to come.

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