SEVEN has been featured in Beatport's Behind The Label series, the video format that profiles the labels shaping club culture. Co-founder CRYME recorded the voiceover, walking through what SEVEN is and why it exists.
Hi it's CRYME, co-founder of SEVEN. Let's go behind the label.
SEVEN started as a new outlet for music on vinyl, built to support voices that are less represented in the scene. As CRYME puts it, it is an artist and community first label, one that sees artists as people to serve and help across their careers.
That community sits at the heart of everything. SEVEN runs a Queer and FLINTA*-leaning roster on the belief that great music brings people together. "Our goal has always been that all good people are welcome and we are stronger as one rather than being apart."
The label works with artists at the very start of their careers, like Baka G, Ground16 and Ynny, alongside more established names such as Cinthie, Deetron and Andre Zimmer. There is a weekly mix series, a new vinyl release every month, and events throughout the year. The twice-yearly Various Artists compilations are almost entirely focused on fresh talent.
SEVEN has also opened a record store in its home town of Berlin, on Torstrasse, selling a highly curated selection of vinyl with a focus on local talent, small labels and local collectives. The team is almost all DJs and producers, with a first-hand understanding of what it means to be a working artist. Beatport summed up the result as "a label, a store, and a meeting point for people who care about club culture as something lived, shared, and built together."
The shop floor is matched by an in-house production ethos: SEVEN makes its own t-shirts and merchandise in-house, and helps other local labels with their releases and merch. "It's all part of our commitment to the local music scene which we love being part of."
Watch the full Behind The Label feature on Beatport.