Since their launch in 2019, Sersa Records has carved out a reputation for high-energy house, tech/house, minimal and disco. Over the past three years working with iMusician, they’ve celebrated major milestones – from Enygma’s ‘Wildfire’ breaking into the Beatport Top 10 to ALFIE’s ‘Pumpin’ hitting #1 in 2024.
We sat down with Inigo Alberts, A&R at Sersa Records, to talk about their journey so far and what’s next for the label.
Hey Inigo! Tell us about yourself and your role at Sersa Records – and what that actually means day-to-day for those new to the industry.
My name is Inigo, and I’m Head A&R [Artists & Repertoire] at Sersa Records. The easiest way to describe my job is being a ‘head-hunter’ for new music and up-and-coming talent across the globe, and building relations with artists to achieve their vision.
Since being at Sersa I have signed music from Brazil, America, Italy and of course the UK, where the label was born.
Can you tell us a bit more about how many people are involved in Sersa and where you are all based?
Currently the team is growing substantially, along with the label. We have help from Australia from a guy named Jett who helps with A&R; Frank from Gibraltar and Leon from the UK in events management; Hayden from the UK who helps with reviewing and testing new music … and not to mention Callum and Finlay, the founders of the label who run all logistics and make sure it's always running as smoothly as possible.
It's a small team, and although time difference and general life can make it hard, we all find a way to make it work.
What was the first release you ever put out, and what do you remember about that moment?
Our first ever release came from Lenna (FR) – which we released as an EP – called ‘Feel It’. After so much hype and support in advance, the pre-orders managed to place us 3rd in the Beatport tech-house chart on the day of the release. This was mind-blowing and a huge moment for us.
How do you choose the artists you work with?
As the label has grown this year, we have started to focus more on the music-releasing side. We get a ton of submissions on a weekly basis.
We, of course, have close friends at the label who have been there from the start and align with our vibe. But our aim at Sersa, while still trying to find our signature sound, is to help and sign new artists who we believe are driving that sound we love and want to put out there.
Of course they must be producing great music, but we also want artists on the label who are passionate about this industry like we all are at Sersa.
What’s something most people don’t realise about the day-to-day of running a label?
I think the process of learning the wider knowledge required about the in-and-outs of releasing music is a big one.
Even to this day, we are still learning how to grow the label and its sound – exploring different avenues and being open to new sounds and tastes, which comes from a growing team.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own label?
My advice would be to firstly try to stay persistent, whether that be releasing music or connecting with your crowd. With this you can focus on building an organic community through welcoming all types of music artists.
Through doing so, we now have a great community of artists and friends in the industry who support us. This hasn't happened overnight which leads to my second piece of advice.
That is, that you must be patient. Growth doesn't happen overnight, and it’s only through trial and error that we have managed to find out what works for us and what doesn't. So be prepared to take on failure during the process.
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