We Are E is a well-known artist management located in Amsterdam, representing a lot of interesting Dutch artists like Rauwkost, Daniel Sanchez, Oliver Weiter, Johanna Mercker, Joey Daniel and Arjuna Schiks. They are just celebrating their 2nd anniversary, time to take a closer look! An Interview with Kelly Peelen:
First, as always, describe yourself in 3 words:
Driven, self-opinionated and curious
Now congratulations to We Are E! You are just celebrating the 2nd birthday! Tell us, how did everything start?
Pieter Ridder started Squz Agency back in 2008 and started to represent the Dutch techno prodigy duo Rauwkost and some other artists.
In the same period Frenk Wiersma and Tjeerd Bijnsdorp (Evotions) were looking for new experiences in the dance industry and Rauwkost’s success got them in contact with Pieter and eventually We Are E was born. As usually start-ups mean lots of things to be done and therefore I joined them shortly after.
How did We Are E develop in the two years?
Well we started as a small agency with both young promising and a bit more arrived successful artists. In two years I can really say we as agency as well as our artists all have grown a lot!
We spent the last two years building on a solid foundation for the brand and our artists by organizing regular parties, unique photo shoots and videos and the use of social media.
This also resulted in the fact that successful artist like Darko Esser and young talented artists like El Mundo & Satori and Bas Amro joined our agency recently.
Fundamentally and personally for me nothing really changed/improved although things got easier due to the combination of the hard labour Pieter and I put in and better contacts we have nowadays.
For example on the phone it doesn’t take as much introduction as it used to be two years ago because people start to recognize us as an agency.
Current projects include setting up a label and releasing records. So there is plenty of more to come in the near future so stay tuned…
Nice! So how do you select new artists you want to manage? What qualities must they have?
Based on the popular and well-known X-Factor We Are E searches for their own unique E-Factor which is also indescribable but fairly recognisable when an artist is talented.
As an agency we find it important that an artist adds value to our little corner of the world called Dance music. We organise this by shifting emphasis between for example producing and releasing records or hosting their personal events. What ever suits them best.
Describe your functions at We Are E.
Fortunately there’s hardly a dull moment in the music industry and therefore my working day or week is hardly ever the same. Bookings take up quite a large proportion of my time so does the day-to-day management and the communication with the artists. Getting in touch with them especially on Monday or Thursday can sometimes be a mission impossible! ☺
Besides that I’m responsible for the promotion of the We Are E Brand and our artists, so you can say I’m looking for new opportunities to promote both of them on a daily basis.
On a periodic basis I do organise our two-monthly We Are E party in Studio 80 in Amsterdam.
As mentioned above I recently started to assist Frenk Wiersma from Evotions with our upcoming label called “We Are EP”.
Soon the electronic music festival season starts in the Netherlands. Which are your favourite festivals and why?
For sure my Dutch festival favourites include Source Festival and Costa del Sol!
Source Festival has a great musical program, but also pays a lot of attention to different types of art like photography, theatre acts, live paintings and has really cool decorations.
Costa Del Sol shares these kinds of art but most of all is a festival, which has a really great vibe and loads of pretty people!
Going abroad I absolutely love NACHT DIGITAL near the east German Border for basically everything that little charming festival has to offer!
Please write spontaneously a short comment for each of the following terms:
Amsterdam: ♥
Rotterdam: cold city
Social Media: I like!
Loveparade: terrible what happened last year…
Best Club: Trouw Amsterdam
Best DJ / Producer: Marcus Worgull / Apparat
More information about We Are E:
www.wearee.nl
www.facebook.com/wearee
www.soundcloud.com/we-are-e
We Are E is celebrating the 2nd anniversary on 4th February in Club Studio 80 in Amsterdam!
Interview by Joe Landen
More interviews here!
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