As the nature of the evolution is to step into the future, the proper of the advised man – the entrepreneur - is to look beyond. DJ, producer, label manager and co head of Soulfuric Records label and SFR distribution company with Marc Pomeroy, Brian Tappert has (also) given birth to the much sought after traxsource.com website whereas those into fresh sounds are up to find a whole bunch of newies via legal downloading. He provides us with a ride into this new adventure…

Hey Brian,long time no spoken (I mean interviewwise) ! At the time – something like 1996- 7ish, you was doing noise along with Michael Procter under the UBP guise on AM :PM ! ready to have your own label disttributed by the defunct Northcott company. You then launched your own distribution company. I guess it has been something of a help prior thinking about traxsource… How long has it taken to sort everything out ?

Marc and I began the process of developing traxsource almost 3 years ago. It’s been an extremely long process which was VERY challenging in every way. There was no model for it so we really just focused on what we thought would work.

How many people are working for traxsource ?

We have a fantastic team at present and we’re extremely happy to have each and every one of them. All together there are 10 full time people on the team but that includes Traxsource, Soulfuric, and SFR Distribution. There is myself and Marc Pomeroy then we have Sheldon Prince who is Head of Operations, Megan Szatmary - Financial Manager / Business Affairs, Mike Waldhorn – Technical Director , Ryan Mishkin – Operations Assistant, Patrick Green – Operations Assistance, Scott Prieto – I.T. Operations, and our office assistants are Liz and Megan Merchberger. Kurosh Nasseri also functions as our Business Advisor for all legal affairs.

What is your answer to people telling you that MP3 kills the vinyl ?

We say they’re right but remind people to make the distinction between the good kind and the bad kind. Free illegal downloads = bad, and Paid Legal Downloads = Good. Not to mention that we have been in the vinyl game since 1993 so we know the score… Presently SFR distribution presses and distributes 13 vinyl labels, and we have no intention of stopping. Vinyl is still alive… no doubt.

Are the ones currently picking up downloads on your site buying vinyls as well or are they different customers ? In other words, could this initiative be taken as the promo’s answer to today’s situation ?

From what we have seen there are 2 different groups of people : vinyl people and then the rest. The only people who still buy vinyl are those who love it and no MP3’s legal or not is going to stop them from purchasing the black stuff…. and that’s cool with us. The ones who buy downloads are all types of people from working DJ’s to fans of house… Some even buy both depending on timing etc.

Nevertheless, it looks like you’ve set up the perfect weapon /answer to tomorrow if not today’s situation… Is it in the sense of what’s currently going on and is vinyl finally to disappear ?

We believe the digital market will continue to grow and evolve… It’s really just early days. We also believe vinyl will be around for a long time, although it will become a trickier game to sell and get paid.

It seems like we are in the middle of a drastic change nowadays. How long do you think it’s going to last ?

The only thing that stays the same is that nothing stays the same…

What has been your pick month so far and how many downloads does it represent ?

We’re starting to see certain titles reach well over 1000 + units. The thing about traxsource is we have the “buy whole title” feature… So in essence, a track with 4 mixes that has 500 buys 250 of which are for the whole title would equal 1000 units by the standards of itunes etc.

How do the labels react so far ?

They are all very happy. We’re very picky about which brands we have selected…. We truly believe there is something special about being a part of traxsource and we hope everyone else does too.

What about Soulfuric ? Have you noticed and evolution (+ or -) on your sales ?

Yes. In the last months since traxsource has started, we have seen an increase in our vinyl sales.

Has this experience with traxsource reached your former expectations ?

Yes, and beyond in every way. The main thing is we underestimated how much work and effort it would take to run the day to day operations. It’s a LOT of details, thank God we have a fantastic team.

What’s next to appear on traxsource ?

All the Miami Bombs ! The thing about it is you have to check in every day because many little gems come in and out quick as labels test the waters with the promotional aspects of traxsource. Don’t sleep !

Do you yourself DJ with MP3 ?

If you mean on a computer…no. I am about 95% CD now…and sure, lots of those are sourced from MP3 files. As an A&R person, I use MP3’s in development of projects all the time and will play tracks sometimes a year before they are released from MP3 demos. Plus all labels and producers these days all send each other MP3’s of their latest for years now… The digital revolution is here to stay.

What do you expect from Miami this year ? It has also changed very much from the good ol’daze around the Fontaibebleau poolside til now ?

Hopefully, we will have a great party and hear some inspiring music. It’s all about the parties and your friends… The old poolside networking is still there but not like the old days. Now you have to make appointments etc… It’s all gotten pretty boring.

Isn’t that somehow a non sense to have everyone having events, parties and so on aside, meanwhile not having a sole space where we could be altogether at the same time like yesteryear ?

That would be great… But it’s grown so much I think that’s out of the question for WMC. We all miss the days of Magic Sessions at Warsaw or Danny at Groove Jet. Waow, what great memories !!!

Thank you for your contribution and see you there. Peace,

Respect…and thanks for the support. See you in Miami ;)

More info : traxsource.com

Catch Soulfuric & Friends Tuesday 03/22 @ Miami Crobar from 09:00pm, featuring Brian Tappert, John "Julius" Knight, Jask, Ron Carroll, Grant Nelson and Sheldon Prince + live P.A.’s by Shawn Christopher & Melba Moore.