Kaskade Flips The Script And Signs With Major Label

Kaskade is one of the most dominating forces in electronic music and has been a pioneer in many respects. He is well-known for his outspoken nature when it comes to major labels and free music and is quoted to say “free the music and the cash will follow.” Well recently, Kaskade has signed a two album deal with Warner Brothers Records. Ryan Raddon, better known as Kaskade, spoke to Billboard about the decision in a recent interview and explains that he just wants his music to reach more people.

A lot of majors look at electronic musicians as producers first, and say, ‘We’ve got these top line writers and this act we’re trying to break…’ It seems very formulaic. I don’t need the factory behind me. I just need help getting my music heard.

So far, Ryan has released eight albums under the name Kaskade, with many independent labels like Om records and Ultra. The change of stance has come as a shock to most because of his long time belief that major labels are exactly what he explained in the quote above. However, Kaskade isn’t wrong about his music’s reach. To date, Kaskade has never had a radio hit, which seems odd for us, considering he has been a mainstay in the Northwest music scene for so long and has had frequent top spots on C89.5.

From the looks of it, Kaskade was very cautious about signing a new deal with any labels after his contract with Ultra was up. It actually took almost two years for Kaskade to land on Warner Brothers. Kaskade seems to think that Cameron Strang, the CEO & Chairman of Warner, understands what his vision is. Kaskade admits that Cameron Strang is no music aficionado, but he can help build Kaskade into a chart topping artist and get his music heard by more people.

I see what’s happening to some of my peers who are signing to majors, and it was important for me to avoid some of that…To me, it was about continuing what I’m doing but getting my music to more people.

So it looks like we are going to still hear that amazing Kaskade sound in the future to come (we hope). As of right now, there is no release date set for a new album, but Kaskade has said that we can expect one in late 2015. Kaskade came to Warner Brothers with a plethora of demos he had been working on since 2013.