KMA60
Berlin DJs and label owners Dana Ruh and Jamie Fry have launched a new distribution and label management company called KMA60. Dana Ruh and Jamie Fry go back a long way. They first linked up when Ruh released a 12-inch on Barraca Music (a label Fry formerly managed and one-time RA label of the month) in 2009. Not long afterwards, Fry moved to Berlin. Ruh offered Fry a place to stay, and the pair have been close friends since (KMA60 is named after the Karl-Marx-Allee apartment Dana Ruh used to live in). Both have long individual histories in the music business. Ruh runs Brouqade, a deep house and minimal-focussed label founded in 2007 that has since dropped over 30 vinyl releases. Fry is best-known forSTABLO, a short-lived but popular imprint that produced some of the most sought-after minimal tracks of recent years. He chairs The Double R with Radio Slave, through which they’ve released work from Thor, Vadim Svoboda and Funk E. Fry is also a freelance label manager, helping out those running labels with the day-to-day running of their operations. KMA60 has been formed to offer a more personal service to label owners. Ruh and Fry will link up with a small portfolio of labels, which so far includes Growin Music, Funk E’s great empty circle, Vera and Alexandra’s forthcoming Melliflow and a new imprint called RUHLEBEN. The Double R and a revived STABLO will also appear on the roster. The arrival of KMA60 comes at an interesting time for house and techno vinyl. Renewed interest in the medium has brought about an array of problems (unreliable pressing timelines, delays, etc), most of which hit smaller labels the hardest. As the playing field becomes more difficult to navigate, it’s easy to see operations like KMA60 becoming increasingly in demand.