Dance music’s success has been seen on the charts this year, from a variety of artists like Kylie Minogue and Dirty Vegas. One of the biggest successes came off of an independent label that not only has a staff of about eight people, but also only focused full-time on dance music about two years ago.
Robbins Entertainment is home to artists like Rockell, whose first albums placed three songs on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as such imports as Ian Van Dahl and DJ Sammy. It was with the latter artist that they saw their biggest success so far this year, with the song becoming a top 10 smash and causing many dance labels to release 80s covers of their own. On top of that, another song, “Something,” by Lasgo, has been inching up the charts, currently positioned at number 80 of the Hot 100, even while “Heaven” is still on the Hot 100, even in its 27th week.
The secret to their success lies in where they focus their energy. Despite the small staff, they have certain ideas and plans on how to make their releases a success. John Parker, who not only aids in the mixing duties as one half of The Happy Boys, but is also one of the label’s top people, said that they “look for the best record, no matter how they come across our desk. We’re looking for commercial dance records, no matter what genre.”
Parker noted that Robbins looks for tracks that would fit into radio and listeners’ habits well. “I think we’re focused on really being a commercial label,” he said. “Some labels don’t focus on that. While they may have a commercial hit once in awhile, they may focus on being an underground label or a DJ label.”
Robbins uses the success of its collections, many of them mixed, to be able to be ambitious with its label’s efforts to release music. As Parker noted, “[The] compilation business has been tremendous. That funds us to be able to do more singles.”
Robbins’ successes haven’t been limited to solely this year. They’ve had success with a dance remake of “How Do I Live,” which was made popular in the late 90s by LeAnn Rimes, and they also had success with Jellyhead’s “Crush” during that period, along with the three Rockell singles.
Parker says that the release of singles is important not only to Robbins, but the dance genre as well. “People definitely aren’t looking for singles anymore because the major labels decided to kill the singles years ago,” he said. “[To chart on] Billboard you don’t have to release the single. If labels aren’t putting out the singles, and stores don’t have the sections anymore, naturally you’re going to have less singles sales. We feel it’s important. Dance music is a singles business.”
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