Tiger records is officially the number 1 Electronic Music label in Germany according to the annual Deutsche Dance Charts that were released last week. The label had an incredible year with many smash hits including the UK Top 40 anthem Doctor Who by Tujamo & Plastik Funk feat Sneakbo. Tiger Artists are Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Twoloud, Martin Garrix , Plastik Funk, Spencer & Hill, Yello, R.I.O., Manuel De La Mare, Sander van Doorn, Bingo Players, Federico Scavo, DJ Falk, Tujamo, Ostblockschlampen, David Jones ,Alex Kenji, Kurd Maverick , 2Elements, Mauro Mondello, Nervo, Phunk Investigation, Robbie Rivera, Tradelove, Groove Phenomenon, Dave Kurtis , Dave Rose, Viktor Mora ,Jay Frog and many more.With wide variety of styles from deep house and techno to progressive house and festival house Tiger records releases reflect what is going on at the moment right at the heart of the global dancefloors and biggest festival arenas. For instance on the latest Tomorrowland festival compilation there were many Tiger records tracks including the beloved all time classic Fragma - Toca Me. The label has its own radio show on the biggest electronic music station in Germany Sunshine Live presented by the one and only dj Falk. For those who can not catch it on Monday evening they can listen it on soundcloud and mixcloud Tiger records official pages.
It's big pleasure and honour that Gottfried Engels, Tiger records CEO accepted my request to do an interview about Tiger records achievement to reach the number 1 position at the very influential DDC charts that are compiled by the most important djs in Germany. Gottfried is the mastermind behind various Electronic Music projects including Fragma , Paffendorf and Bellini - Samba de Janeiro that was re-released in 2014 as Sambo Do Brazil from Polydor / Universal Germany. Enjoy his great answers on this very informative interview.
UPDATE 26/8/2015: Unfortunately Gottfried Engels has died unexpectedly at the age of 66 years. His life was dedicated to electronic music as club- and record store owner, producer and label owner. This interview that I have conducted with him at the beginning of this year is dedicated to his memory and his beloved wife Andrea Engels. He will never be forgotten. His music legacy will stay alive for ever. Electronic music family will love him forever!
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| Gottfried Engels has in his hands another Tiger records anthem ready to cook for djs |
Dimitri: First question is of course how do you feel that Tiger records reached the number 1 position at the DDC charts and why you believe that this happened? It was matter of the quality of the releases, better marketing, bigger support from djs or any other reason?
Gottfried Engels: It feels good! It is a nice reward of the hard work we did. It is not the first time, in 2010 we made it already, so this is our 2nd time that we made it on the #1 spot. I think the reason is the mixture of our releases, we are not settled to one genre or style, we release the music like and love. Of course without the big support from the DJs this would not have happened.
Dimitri: Tiger records had an incredible year covering all the colors and shades of house music. Would you like to pick up your Top 5 Tiger records releases of 2014 and give us a short comment about each of them or any background info on how easy or hard was to sign them?
Gottfried Engels: Puh that's hard, we have so many great releases. We just finished a "Tiger Records Year Mix 2014" with over 75 tracks and 4 hours of music. And that was not even all, we could have made it even longer and it was hard to kick tracks off the selection. Catching now 5 tracks is nearly unfair, but if I have to choose e.g. you for sure check this ones:
Mike Mash feat. Isaiah King - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
-> When we heard it the first time we were directly hooked from the arrangement and voice.
Shaan - Mumbai
-> Shaan is an upcoming artist from India with a really cool sound. Some friends from the Netherlands send us the demo.
Plastik Funk feat. Grandmaster Melle Mel - Don't Push Me
-> The funny thing is that we counted on the club mix but in the end everybody loved the House Versions.
Mass Digital - Breathe
-> Really talented guy from Serbia. We heard him first on BluFin Records and now he is a fix part of the Tiger family.
Lunde Bros - Boomba
-> 2 brothers from Sweden with a cool sound.
Dimitri: Tiger records has a wide pool of talented artists from all over the world. Would you like to tell us about the A&R selection process? When you listen to a demo what elements makes you to want instantly to sign the record?
Gottfried Engels: Actually A&R is not so easy. We get so many demos every day that we don't have the man power to listen to them all. So they are no key elements what a demo should have. Mostly a recommendation from other producers would help a lot. Then the track should stand for it's own, the 20th track that sounds e.g. like "Martin Garrix - Animals" we don't need. It's hard as now days a lot of stuff sounds the same as a lot producers using the same sample packs and "everybody" wants to sound like the big names. But in between we also find some talented producers.
Dimitri: Are there any records that you decide not to sign them and someone else signed them and became hits and you regret that you didn’t got them in the first place?
Gottfried Engels: "Fade Out Lines" by "The Avener" we licked much but we were not sure, now it goes big everywhere.
Dimitri: Which platform is most important for your promotion? Soundcloud? Mixcloud? And why you decided to be less active on YouTube? In the past you uploaded teasers on YouTube but at the moment you seem to stay away from Youtube or other similar video services.
Gottfried Engels: We are using Soundcloud mostly and Mixcloud for our weekly radio show and podcast "Tiger Weapons". We used Youtube in the past, but we are also licensing a lot of tracks from other labels and countries and this always gives problems with the rights situation at Youtube, what in the end is more paperwork then anything else.
Dimitri: 2014 for many was the year of melodic deep house. Why you believe that deep house had such an enormous success this year and do you think will continue in 2015?
Gottfried Engels: I think DeepHouse was so successful because a lot of people were sick of the EDM tracks which sounded a lot like each other and got harder and harder. The deep stuff was groovy and a good opposite to the hard festival stuff. At Tiger we decided to deliver both, EDM and Deep music.
Dimitri: Tiger records has its own radio show on Radio Sunshine Live with Dj Falk. Why you decided to start this radio show and are you satisfied from its growth and success?
Gottfried Engels: DJ Falk is already a Tiger Artists since years and he also worked already on Sunshine Live for years. We got the chance to catch a spot on Sunshine Live so there was no questions for us to start the show. We just had episode 150 done and the reactions are really good with the listeners. The show gives a good overview on the current and upcoming Tiger Releases as well as some nice guest DJ Mixes.
Dimitri: Tiger records sister techno underground label Blu Fin had a great year as well. Would you like to choose some of the most successful tracks for Blu Fin that our readers should check out?
Gottfried Engels: BluFin HOT 4 !!!
DJ Hildegard - Take A Breath EP BluFin Records
Koen Groeneveld 741 (Original Mix) BluFin Records
Toni Rios -WHIZZER (Original Mix) BluFin Records
Phunk Investigation - Raining Noises (Original Mix) BluFin Records
Dimitri: One of the strongest element of Tiger records releases is the amazing artwork you use and simply blows you away with the strong visuals. Can you tell us who is responsible about the artwork and if you design the artwork after listening the track or if you have certain library of photos and from there you choose the one that represents the content of the record? Which artwork of Tiger records was your favorite?
Gottfried Engels: Since the digital marked grew more and more, every day are coming more and more music into the shops. So for getting attention for your music you need a good artwork as well, that's why Tiger is also investing in good artworks and not like other labels just copying their logo in different colours. The artworks are made from our graphic department. They listen to the tracks and also talk with the producers if need and then start working.
Dimitri: 2015 is around the corner, would you like to give us a taste of some of your releases and artists that you have signed for 2015?
Gottfried Engels: One slogan from Tiger Records is "Directly from the studio to the club". We are no fans of planing a release a half year in advance like it was some years ago. From the demo to the first release are mostly not more then a few weeks. We are planing now the releases for the Winter Music Conference. Of course you can expect again tracks form long time Tiger and for sure some new talents as well. We uploaded already some early 2015 stuff on our Soundcloud. So stay tuned.
Thanks so much to Gottfried Engels for taking some time out of his hard work for the label to reply on this interview.
Enjoy great music and news about Tiger records