Major label A&R veteran Rich Castillo has launched his new independent venture Lionbear Music Group with a mission to serve as an "incubator" for artist development.
Current Lionbear projects include former No Guidnce member Ebubé, as well as Dring and Joe Devlin, William Hargreaves aka Hargs, and Jorday.
“Lionbear is going to be the incubator for development," said Castillo. "I think we can fill a massive gap where there isn’t the opportunity to develop artists at majors. When you plug into a big frontline label, the artist needs to be defined and developed so it’s very clear what the proposition is.
"Our job will be to find [acts] that are super-talented and have character and that are allowed to define what they are before they go on to that bigger journey. We will plug into majors at some point, but our mission is to define each artist and allow them to express themselves properly before they get put under the scrutiny of having a bigger team trying to navigate what they are."
Castillo has extensive experience at Polydor Records, Atlantic and EMI Records. His tenure at the latter saw him leading the label's A&R team while working on key projects like Olivia Dean, Elton John, The Libertines and Chase & Status. He has also worked with the likes of Stefflon Don, N-Dubz and Tion Wayne.
I think we can find the artist’s true self a little bit earlier than majors can
Rich Castillo
“I’ve been an A&R for over 20 years and my job was always to identify young artists and, once we had signed them, curate rooms where we could get the best out of them," he explained. "It’s about balancing characters and energies to make sure we get the most out of the sessions. But one of the other aspects I’ve learned over the years is to bring creative directors in early so we have a clear picture of what it’s going to look like visually, as well as sonically.
"You can find your character and the things that work for you a lot earlier if you’ve got that in your armoury, and it’s a lot harder for a third party to undo that if it’s defined. I think we can find the artist’s true self a little bit earlier than majors can.”
Speaking in the June edition of Music Week, the Nottingham native identified a common theme in artist development success stories.
“When I look at anything that’s really worked on a bigger scale over the years, there’s a person at the label – whether it’s the A&R or in marketing – that just totally gets it," he said. "With anything I’ve been a part of that’s worked, there have been a few key decision makers that have gone against the grain and been willing to die on the hill for the artist. I think small, focused teams allow an artist to be their purest self earlier and for longer.
"What’s working is people that have a really good relationship with the artist directly, or the artist feels comfortable telling you what they are. What’s not working as much is quick data signings for lots of money. Everyone can read data; I think what’s missing are the brave characters that are willing to die on the hills they fight on.”
The executive joined Charlie Lycett's music company Graduation as head of A&R last September and set up his own label, Lionbear Records, which is distributed via Graduation’s label services arm. Castillo broke down how the arrangement works.
“Charlie Lycett kindly offered me a situation within Graduation where I ran his A&R team for him and in return, they’d distribute my records,” said Castillo. “I use their marketing team, I use their DSP pitching team and Charlie and the team have been really good for me.”
The idea of seeing potential and having the confidence to be super-patient throughout that process is dying. I think that is the opportunity
Rich Castillo
What's more, with Lionbear, Castillo is confident he has identified a "massive gap" for smaller teams in the modern marketplace.
"It’s a scary place because the new age has allowed us to judge things really quickly," he said. "Before, you could go on the road for a year and build your fanbase. But if you see an artist now that has been putting out music for six months, but it hasn’t streamed very well, most people will think there’s nothing there, whereas maybe they’re amazing live and haven’t toured yet? Maybe there are other areas in which they can grow?
"It’s very easy to miss those things in the current environment. The idea of seeing potential and having the confidence to be super-patient throughout that process is dying. I think that is the opportunity.”
Castillo said he had been inspired by the "incredible" efforts of former major label execs such as Ferdy [Unger-Hamilton] at Promised Land, and Christian [Tattersfield] and Nick [Raphael] at NWS.
"They’re now building what I think majors will be like in the future," he continued. “I think it’s a really good time for a bunch of young businesses that have major label experience to help develop the next XL or Dirty Hit. Those labels that we look up to that have strong brand awareness and are self-sufficient, but have been allowed to set the tone in the development stage of an artist without having to sacrifice any of their decision making regarding the integrity of those artists.
"The timing couldn’t be better for a bunch of entrepreneurial people like myself – who have been in the business for a minute – to go out there and build something meaningful."
As well as records, Lionbear encompasses films, publishing and podcasts. Castillo's filmmaker wife Ailish is the company’s COO, with A&R manager Dwayne Stewart, marketing assistant Maggie Mountford and head of creative content Leon Heaney completing the team.
"I’m at the start of a new journey, and I feel reinvigorated," said Castillo. "I’m only going to do stuff that I love and I’m going to try and move very quickly. I’m gassed, I think it’s fucking great. We’ve never had more opportunities to do great work.”
Subscribers can read the full interview with Castillo here.
