The brainchild of Jacob Hertzog, PhD, Assistant Professor of Guitar and Jazz Area Coordinator, Hill Records was established in the fall of 2020, smack in the middle of the pandemic. It was the fruition of what Jacob referred to as “a pipedream of mine and some of my students who wanted to learn more about and participate in the business of music.” The University of Arkansas offers no music business classes to speak of, so Hertzog and the students formed an all-volunteer, student-run record label and set about planning their business to promote Arkansas artists. They began with a grant for Arts and Humanities projects, and the pandemic actually gave them the opportunity to slow down the process of creating the business so that they could get it right. 

According to Hertzog, “the mission of the label is threefold; give the students as much hands-on experience in the music industry as possible, help content creators navigate the complex digital revolution, and provide promotional services to the label artists. The ultimate goal is to offer music business for-credit classes, but until then the volunteer students will receive top quality guidance for their fledgling record label. There is a board of advisors consisting of faculty, music industry representatives, legal experts, and others, but the label itself is run by the students.” The current President is Amy Whiteside who started with the label and was recently promoted from EVP of Communications. The cast of characters is ever-changing due to the nature of students arriving, leaving, and graduating, but they all strive for consistency and growth.

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Using social media in the fall of 2020, the students of Hill Records announced a call for submissions for their initial album release. Since the students were all enrolled in their own degree classes and the record label is a volunteer organization which then primarily operated online, weeding through the many submissions took some time. The students wanted to compile an album that represented a variety of music genres and artist types. Whiteside noted that they made every effort to listen to the quality of the music, even if the song was not in their purview. In the end, they chose a colorful collection of songs in an eclectic mix of genres.
By the 2021 spring semester after the selections had been made, the initial album was planned. The album was released in late spring with a showcase of the artists at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. The showcase drew a small but excited crowd and interest in the label began to flourish. The students repeated their efforts in the fall of 2021 with a call for submissions, and the numbers grew. In the spring semester of 2022, the second Hill Records album was released, and the second showcase of artists was held again at George’s Majestic Lounge. This time the show featured the original artists from the first album who also contributed to the second album, and a host of new talent in a wide range of genres. The show was longer and the crowd was bigger. The word is out on Hill Records, and, according to Whiteside, the label will continue this process to engage Arkansas content creators.

A not-so-surprising side effect of having a successful record label in Arkansas is the eagerness of students who want to run their own record labels. In Hill Record’s first spawn of an independent label, Raquel Thompson has just launched Love More Records. As a student learning the ropes at Hill Records and having a father who has been in the music business for decades, Thompson decided it was time to start her own label, not in competition with Hill Records, but in collaboration with them. She feels that, “in such a tough business, if the labels and artists help each other, everyone wins.” If there are talented musicians and content creators in Arkansas who are only a caring advisor away from a career, Thompson wants to provide that.

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Though still a student herself, a senior, Thompson is dedicated to delivering professional promotion and caring career guidance to her label artists. She consults with Hertzog and with her father, but the decisions are ultimately hers and the artists’. She opines that collaborating with her artists is the most beneficial way for all of them to succeed. She and Hertzog both agree that the artists are the greatest asset of the label and should be treated as such.

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Hill Records is the U of A label and Hertzog foresees working almost exclusively with Arkansas artists. At Love More Records, Thompson, however, is not limiting her services to strictly Arkansans. She plans to work with all the Arkansas artists she can but expects to eventually branch out into other areas.

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