Soulection

Soulection

Soulection is a Los-Angeles based music collective that serves as a platform and community for artists, musicians, and fans from across the world. DJ Joe Kay and artists Guillame '96' Bonte and Andre Power collaborated to establish the brand in 2011. Today, Soulection exists as a Apple Music 1 radio show, an independent music label, festival (Soulection Experience), world-touring concert and clothing line. (soulection.com)

Founders

Joe Kay

Joe Kay is a Southern California native (Vice). He is a co-founder and current CEO and Head of Artists and Repertoire of Soulection (soulection.com). Kay started a musical compilation podcast out of his grandmother's basement known as "Illvibes" in the summer of 2007 (Billboard). Joe Kay transferred to California State University, Long Beach in 2011. A meeting with the program director and general manager of the university's radio station, KBeach Radio, secured Kay radio time that very same day (Forbes).

Andre Power

Andre Power is a co-founder and current creative director of Soulection. Power attended art school in San Diego and was a listener of Kay's Illvibes podcast (Forbes). After participating in the event as an artist, Power became involved with organizing San Diego's Art in the Park. In 2010, Power invited Kay to DJ at Art in the Park and soon after made Kay a resident at the event.

Guillame Bonte

Guillame Bonte is a French artist known as "96". He is a co-founder of Soulection. Bonte was an Internet friend of Joe Kay and Andre Power. His initial role in Soulection was art director.

Early Stages

Guillame Bonte and Joe Kay initially conceptualized Soulection as a blog and platform for the community to arts and culture. After growing impatient to website development delays, the two created compilations of music they liked. (Vice) Soulection ultimately formed as an extension of Kay's podcast, Illvibes (Billboard). Kay envisioned two sides to Soulection: a radio show and original material released by Soulection. On January 24, 2011, the first show of Soulection Radio (Show #1) aired for an hour on KBeach Radio. The first Soulection compilation was released on the same day as well. With only a splash page and zip file of the radio show, they received 5000 downloads in their first compilation all through organic outreach. (Hypebeast). The release was a compilation of 29 different artists. (Forbes) After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Soulection was contacted by Australian producer Ta-ku. Ta-ku proposed that the beat tape he had recently made within 24 hours, be released through Soulection and the proceeds of the release be donated to tsunami relief. Their second release, 24, was released for free on Bandcamp with an option for donation. Soulection's fifth release, Mood by Evil Needle, became its best-selling release to date. The fourteen song album was released on October 31, 2011. Joe Kay says it was around the time of this release that the Soulection team decided to seriously pursue the expansion of the Soulection brand. Soulection continued to release music under the Soulection label, releasing over 30 albums by 2015 (Vice). Soulection released works by artists such as Sango, Esta, IAMNOBODI, Tom Misch, Sam Gellaitry, Monte Booker, and even a compilation collaboration with popular streetwear brand Stussy (soulection.com)

Apple Music and Beats-1 Radio

In June 2015, Apple announced its streaming music service, Apple Music. The subscription-based service allowed users access to over 30 million tracks, features, and exclusive content. Apple Music's first broadcasting station was called Beats 1 Radio, a broadcast that was available 24/7 in 100 countries. Beats 1 Radio was lead by DJs Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden, and Julie Adenuga (The Verge) and was contributed to by artists such as Drake, Q-Tip, Pharrell Williams, Dr. Dre, and Elton John (Billboard). Soulection was among the list of names chosen to serve as a tastemaker for the broadcast. The first Soulection radio show broadcasted on Beats 1 Radio on July 4, 2015. Soulection broadcasts on Saturday nights 7 PM to 9 PM PCT. The show aired their 500th episode on April 11, 2021.

Current Team

Soulection Team

Name	Position
Joe Kay	CEO Founder Head of A&R
Andre Power	Co-Founder Creative Director
Sahar Habibi	Director of Soulection Records & Operations
Dom Prieto	Chief Operating Officer
Andres Javier Uribe	Director of Worldwide Bookings & Production