Shotland enjoys the ride with his label's first CD
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Ross Shotland always wanted to be in the music industry. He dreamed of building a label like the influential indie Drive-Thru Records.
"It was run like a family," says Shotland, of Merrick. "They had 10 to 15 bands. They never got too big. . . . When they put out a record, you knew it was going to be good. You knew the name and respected it."
Shotland built his music business curriculum at the University of Buffalo and landed an internship at a major label before realizing he wanted to do things his way. All he needed was cash to start his own label. That's when fate stepped in. "After graduation, I was managing one of my good friends' bands," he says. "We were coming back from the studio, and we were on the Merrick exit, literally five minutes from my house, when a car was going 80 around the curve and lost control and broadsided us. We saw it coming, which was the worst part. I tried to brace myself, so I grabbed the handlebar as the car flipped twice, and the hood, from flipping, crushed my hand. That resulted in a lawsuit."
Six months later, as his broken fingers and torn ligaments healed, that lawsuit resulted in the money to start his label. ("My parents weren't too thrilled, they wanted me to invest it or save it for a house," he says. "But they know how passionate I am about this.")
On Tuesday, the first release from Shotland's Enjoy the Ride Records hits stores - an album from North Carolina indie rockers Harvard. "I've followed the singer of Harvard for a long time," Shotland says. "They have a lot of potential. They're very, very artistic, very concerned with their image and their art - more so than a pop mainstream kind of band."
It's not exactly the path Shotland wanted, but he's happy with it. "It's why I named the label Enjoy the Ride - all tied in to being thankful for every day," he says. "I believe everything happens for a reason."
