We started in the backyard in suburban Seattle. In 2003, Derek Hoiem founded Rain On Me Productions, the parent company of Save the City Records. He began working with various musicians around the Northwest, recording them, and helping them with their indie careers. Along the way, he met a talented artist named Brandon Bee, who was a widely recognized young producer in the Northwest. Together they decided to team up and formally launch a national label and in 2009 they introduced Save the City Records. Save the City records officially started with the release of Brandon Bee’s freshman album “This is the Revolution” in 2009 to critical acclaim, and soon after they expanded their marketing and PR efforts. This got the attention of Provident Distribution, Sony’s division in Nashville, which led to a distribution deal. Along the way Save the City Records helped develop albums for, and launch, artists such as Mr. Talkbox (5 Grammys with Bruno Mars), the R&B crooner Allen Stone, Dove-award winning rapper Je’kob, American Idol and The Voice artist Jeremy Rosado and many more. STC artists have been featured on the Apple iTunes home page, played on national radio, appeared on national Billboard sales and radio charts, and featured at national music festivals.
From our beginning in 2009 though the end of 2015, we were experiencing rocketing success as we invested in artists and hired experts from around the industry, with our primary revenue being from download sales. We knew that streaming would take over the industry, but after Spotify came ashore in fall of 2013 that it started to hit our bottom line. By the end of 2015, download sales had dropped off precipitously and streaming platforms were not generating enough revenue to make up the difference. So we took a hiatus from releasing music and focused on building our artist management services though Rain On Me Productions. But now we’re back.
Today, we’re living in a golden era of content creation with game-changing technology, allowing us to “take it straight to the people”. In the era of metrics, our speciality has always been in our ability to see “beyond the numbers” to find and develop new talent, long before a blip shows up on anyone’s radar. These values of supporting grass roots movements, embracing technology, creating positive change, and creating a community for artists and fans are at the heart of what we do. This is how we’re “Bringing a new sound to life.”
If you are interested in having our artists play for you, contact booking@savethecityrecords.com