Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Allen.
Joshua, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always known my calling was to help others and the gift I’d been given to accomplish this was music. My life has revolved around this concept for as long as I could remember. In college I decided to become a music education major but I didn’t really know what avenue I wanted to go about educating. After graduation, I moved to Dallas and began to collaborate on an artist showcase project called Reverb: An Unplugged Event where we featured musicians in the DFW area. The event was a success we wanted to keep the idea of propelling the music culture in Dallas alive. That’s what sparked the vision and birthed 808 Entertainment. Since 2016, the team and I have helped dozens of independent artist and ignited the music culture within the city.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest struggles with creating a music label in an era where record labels have such a bad reputation is building credibility. When an artist comes to us they want to know that they’re in the hands of a label that understands the industry and that can propel them to where they desire to be. We always strive to align ourselves with honest hard-working members within the industry so that we can pass that contact over to artist.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about 808 Entertainment – what should we know?
808 Entertainment, LLC is a music label in Dallas, TX that specializes in artist development. Our team hosts a series called Protools which is an artist development course. In this we give music artist the ends and outs of the industry from their branding to production even down to how they spend their finances. Of all of our projects, the educational aspect of Protools is one of the collest aspects of the brand, in my opinion. The other projects we work on under 808 include Reverb which is our unplugged concert series and Playlist which is a Hip-Hop Street series. We interview contestants in Deep Ellum, ask Hip Hop related questions and get the entire experience on film. Out of these projects, and a few others that we’ve helped to cultivate, it’s hard to say which one is my favorite because each of them have a specific niche that I love about the industry. One thing that I believe sets us apart from other labels and brands is our intent to help our artists. We create each project with the intentions of the artist at heart. The music industry can be a shady domain; We Do Music Differently and our artist can sense that.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Humbleness and a burning desire to help others has taken myself and the brands I’ve worked with to another level over the years. An Arthur Ashe quote that I live by is “Start where you are, use what you have and do what you can”. Discovering your gifts should be a daily quest and I’ve learned to take joy in it.
Contact Info:
- Email: 808dtx@gmail.com
- Instagram: @808dtx
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/808dtx/
- Twitter: twitter.com/808dtx
- Other: Personal Instagram @106ndark
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