SOPHIA BELLA: Breaking into the music industry usually takes money, connections, or a
suspiciously famous parent. But one Northwestern club is trying to break down those barriers to
entry.
YUMI TALLUD: Starlight, a new student-run record label on campus, has one mission: to
support Northwestern’s emerging musical talent.
[“Where?” by Perl]
TALLUD: Weinberg fourth-year Max Garon is the current president of Starlight. This year, he
took charge of reviving the club — which technically started two years ago — and made sure
the club is set up to thrive, even after he graduates.
MAX GARON: I didn’t want the vision to be one and the same as the ones I had for other organizations, so I was able to find some underclassmen who are super driven, super
committed, and the perfect people to take this forward into the next couple years.
TALLUD: Between A&O, Mayfest, Local Mojo, Niteskool, and now Starlight, it feels like new
music orgs are popping up on campus left and right. But Garon, who is involved in most of
them, says that Starlight isn’t just another concert organizer.
GARON: Starlight will be more focused on the actual building of a project, and hooking
up artists with opportunities, and developing their project in a way that they can reach
the creative goals that they have.
TALLUD: To be a successful record label, you need connects. So how do you build that from
the ground up?
GARON: It really comes down to resourcefulness, and I think there’s a good crop of
talent who is really enthusiastic about the music scene and understands what it takes to
succeed in that. And really, that’s just outreach, that’s putting yourself out there, talking
to promoters, meeting them, asking them if they have time to chat and learn about them. And that’s the only way that you can get artists opportunities — is by knowing the right
people.
TALLUD: And by doing so, Garon hopes that Starlight can help students break out of the
Northwestern bubble. A huge obstacle, he says, is overcoming the label of a “college band” or “college artist,” which prevents people from breaking into the Chicago scene or releasing all the music that they want to.
GARON: We wanna encourage more artists to take their whole image seriously, and if
they have goals they want to achieve, to help them achieve them. I think it would be
super cool to see more artists put out albums, more artists go do shows in the city, and
maybe achieve a level of recognition that hasn't already been seen by artists on campus.
[“Balatro” by Mysterio Jones]
BELLA: Weinberg first-year Zach Guo met Garon at the fall quarter club fair, and says
Starlight’s mission stood out right away.
GUO: To me, that appealed to me right away, because it sounded so personal and hands-
on with music artists directly. Not putting on big concerts, let’s say, for other events, but
directly one-on-one with the artists.
BELLA: For Guo, working directly with artists helps close the knowledge gap around the music industry – a space that can be tough to navigate without mentors or insider connections. For student artists looking for representation, Guo says that’s exactly what Starlight is trying to change. Its members are deeply invested in helping artists grow and in creating a community of musicians who can support each other.
GUO: We all are able to research and learn quickly, and it’s about having people to do the
journey with instead of having to do it by yourself.
BELLA: So, if you’re an indie singer-songwriter–
TALLUD: Or a drummer in a rock band–
BELLA: Give Starlight a call. They might just be able to help you find your spotlight.
For WNUR News, I’m Sophia Bella.
TALLUD: And I’m Yumi Tallud.
[“Stitches” by Static Transmission]
