Tom Windish Gets Wilder With Future Classic Record Label

Paradigm’s Tom Windish has partnered with independent music company Future Classic to form a new record label – Wilder. 

The label’s first signee is Sam.Sts from Indiana. To celebrate the launch the label is re-releasing the single “Applesauce.”

“I’ve known Nathan and the Future Classic crew for a long time,” Windish said in a statement. “They have outstanding curation, creativity and work ethic. I cannot emphasize their long-term approach to artist development enough… It was for that reason, I could not think of a better label partner.”

Windish – agent to the likes of Lorde, Alt-J and Billie Eilish and founder of The Windish Agency before being acquired by Paradigm – has proven a reputation for artist development, and said the new record label “is a means to get music released, promoted and discovered by as many people as possible. Quite simply, we’re willing to promote and release music before anybody else is.”

When discussing the art of artist development, Windish told Pollstar in 2018: “I think a lot of struggling musicians are looking for some sort of silver bullet, like a festival or a certain person on their team,” Windish said. “And I don’t really think it’s about that. I think it’s about great music that connects with people. And then great performances where it connects with people. 

Future Classic is also running a Studio Residency program with dropbox, allowing emerging/unsigned artists to apply for mentorships at a Los Angeles-based recording studio. Applications can be filed here. 

The new label is named after Windish’s newborn son. Windish also recently spoke to Pollstar about the continuous growth of the industry.