Today we’d like to introduce you to Daryl Stewart.
Daryl, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began as a rapper putting out my own music in the early days of music sharing online. I had no expectations just trying to get my music out. I got a lot of attention from people all over the globe. I learned a lot about recording, mixing and crafting albums on my own. It was a lot of work but I loved the process. Eventually, I reached out to some friends who were into music as much as I was and made an album. That led to getting a record made with Molemen Records which I thought was the right move at the time. That relationship ended on a sour note. The process wasn’t the same and I didn’t enjoy making that record as much. I went back to my friends and felt we needed to help artist realize their dream without taking their control. This was the birth of Machine Wash Music.
Has it been a smooth road?
Creating Machine Wash was easy, making it successful is another story. In the beginning, we had struggled with content. We started with basically two acts, Maintenance Crew and myself. Maintenance Crew was a two-man group that did production and rap. They were starting to show signs of fracturing. I was dealing with the disillusionment of a failed experience with a record label. As we were all aging and gaining responsibilities, creating music wasn’t as easy as it had been in the past. There were stagnation and concern about our ability to keep going. We retooled and realized we had to open up to an artist we thought we could help. We added to our roster and have been releasing music at a steady pace for the last two years.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are a record label that specializes in in-house recording, mixing and mastering handled by one of the partners, Alex Jasso. We also have in-house graphic design handled by Chantala Kommanivanh, Zaid Salazar and Rahsaan Hawkins. I handle management, A&R duties, promotions, and social media engagement. We are a collective of five people running the label who support each endeavor fully. We put all of our artists in the best position to take their music to the next level and strive to share success. Our approach is not label center but artist-centered.
I’m incredibly proud of our first foray into producing vinyl for our customers. We released a 45 with a few artists and one of those artists, Conway The Machine, is signed to Eminem’s label Shady Records.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Chicago is culturally a very rich place. There is always something to see or do. This makes it easy to get involved in the music community and creativity. I would recommend starting out here and working with people. I believe people are helpful and want to foster successful events here. Chicago’s musical history is something that is in the streets, the venues and the people. Chicago needs more music business and we will continue to bring something special to the conversation.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.machinewashmusic.com
- Email: machinewashmusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/machinewashmusic
- Facebook: facebook.com/machinewashmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/machinewashchi
Image Credit:
Logo design Chantala Kommanivanh, Photos Phornstarr
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
