Six Degrees Records is an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists.

History

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

, former Windham Hill employees Pat Berry and Bob Duskis founded Six Degrees Records with the intention of promoting new trends in world music. Originally affiliated with

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, an ...

, Berry and Duskis achieved their first major success with the release of London-based

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

player

Talvin Singh Talvin Singh OBE (born 1970) is an English musician, producer, and composer. A tabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with an electronica s ...

's influential compilation album ''

Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground ''Anokha'' is a 1975 Hindi-language action drama film directed by Jugal Kishore. It is one of the first film where Shatrughan Sinha signed as a hero. Cast * Shatrughan Sinha - Ram/Anokha/Shambu Khanna * Zarina Wahab - Sudha Manchanda * A.K. H ...

''. Although Singh was not the only artist featured on the album, he was marketed as the focal point of the release. In this way, the media acquired a poster child upon which to lavish its attention, enabling album sales to approach 200,000 units. Beyond its work with the Asian underground, Six Degrees Records has signed and promoted artists from around the world, placing a great emphasis on the promotion of hybrid dance music forms and innovative cross-cultural collaborations. Standout acts include Algerian-born and San Francisco based Cheb i Sabbah, Malians

Issa Bagayogo Issa Bagayogo (1961 – 10 October 2016) was a Malian musician. He released four full-length albums all under the record label Six Degrees Records. Bagayogo lent his voice and played the kamele n'goni (a six-stringed West African instrument sim ...

and

Vieux Farka Toure Vieux may refer to: Places *Vieux, Calvados, in the Calvados department, France *Vieux, Tarn, in the Tarn department, France *Vieux-Bourg, in the Calvados department, France *Vieux-Fumé, in the Calvados department, France *Vieux-Pont-en-Auge, in ...

, Brazilians

Bebel Gilberto Isabel Buarque de Hollanda Gilberto de Oliveira (born May 12, 1966), known as Bebel Gilberto, is an American-born Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle ...

and

Céu Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças, known professionally as Céu (; born 17 April 1980), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter whose first American album was released on the Six Degrees Records label in April 2007. Career life She was born in São Pa ...

, Egyptian-born and London based

Natacha Atlas Natacha Atlas ( ar, نتاشا أطلس}; born 20 March 1964) is an Egyptian-Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and Western music, particularly hip-hop. She once termed her music "'' cha'abi moderne''" (modern popular music). Her mu ...

, and the Iranian

Azam Ali Azam Ali ( fa, اعظم علی) is an Iranian musician. As of 2013, she has released eight full-length albums with the bands VAS and Niyaz, as well as four solo albums. Biography She was born in Tehran on 3 October 1970, Ali spent most of h ...

. Gilberto's 2000 album '' Tanto Tempo'' was a particular highpoint, selling over a million copies and introducing Gilberto, the daughter of renowned musician

João Gilberto João Gilberto (born João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira – ; 10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019) was a Brazilian guitarist, singer and composer who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world, he was of ...

, to a wider global audience.

Motto

Based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, the label operates under the motto, "Everything is closer than you think," encapsulating their aim of introducing global artists to the American market alongside an embrace of the increased accessibility of musical media through digitization. Beyond releasing music in digital formats and pursuing social media marketing opportunities, Berry and Duskis strongly promote the licensing of their artists' music for LGBT film, television and commercial use. Nevertheless, artistic integrity remains a priority, and in a relatively short period of time, the label has developed a significant reputation by emphasizing creativity before commerce.

Genres

Artists under the label make music within a wide range of musical genres, from bossa nova, funk and folk, to electronic music and dubstep.

Awards and nominations

Artists

Notes

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1996 American independent record labels World music record labels