Story by Victoria Hernandez, March 31, 2021

The University of Arkansas’ music department launched its new student-run record label, Hill Records, in the Fall of 2020.

Now the company is working to compile their first inaugural release.

The label was accepting submissions of music until March 5.

“We received I believe it was around 42 submissions at the end of that campaign. We are currently in the process of analyzing, evaluating those submissions,” said John Lee, who serves as the executive vice president.

The team of Hill Records officers, MP3 members, and some faculty will work to decide what goes on the first release.

The process will include analyzing the recordings for overall qualities in regard to production and creativity, and then ranking those based on the student recommendations.

With faculty advising from those recommendations, Hill Records is also considering bringing in an industry consultant to also listen for quality.

Although there is no specific timeline for when this first inaugural release will be out, Hill Records will be sharing more information in the coming weeks about the project and future projects, Lee said.

The Hill Records project functions as both a production company and an entertainment company, giving university students the opportunity to have hands-on experience in the music industry.

The initiative is innovative by combining experimental learning with the audio music industry allowing research to be integrated with projects involving staff, faculty, students and the University of Arkansas community overall.

Hill Records has three missions the label aims to serve.

The Flagship Mission has Hill Records represent, promote, and nurture phenomenal art, music and teaching in regard to the 21st century version of the music industry.

The Land-Grant Mission describes that Hill Records is dedicated to lifting up the work of musicians in Arkansas and increasing their music business opportunities for those across the state.

The third and final mission is the Research Mission. This mission’s goal is to create new ground in the analysis of digital music, empowerment of virtual artists and the application of newly discovered technology for the music industry.

The Hill Records team is comprised of eight officers.

These positions include executive vice president, executive vice president of marketing, two co-executive vice presidents of digital marketing and media, executive vice president of booking, executive vice president of operations, executive vice president of design, and executive vice president of communications.

To build the team for Hill Records, administration drafted a basic organization structure that put the RSO MP3, which stands for Music Performers, Producers, and Professionals, as the leadership vehicle for the record label, Lee said.

Kate Sego serves as the Hill Records vice president of booking.

“I am currently forming relationships with local venues and researching virtual concert options,” Sego said. “When we start helping our artists put on live shows, I would be in charge of facilitating that whole process between artist and venue.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sego’s role has not been able to reach its full potential for the safety of the community, but working on the team has still had a huge impact.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn in a hands-on way,” Sego said. “I’ve loved getting to work with them and see everybody’s talents at work.”

A grant from Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz fund for $75,000 funded the record company.

As for faculty involvement in Hill Records, Dr. Jake Kertzog, who is the jazz area coordinator and professor at the guitar studio on campus, has been an advocate for this program.

Hill Records works closely with the music department and student leadership of MP3, but also a partnership with the technology ventures who houses a bunch of different startups for the university, Lee said.

Hill Records offers seven different services to musicians interested. These services include the artist development package, digital music promotion, merchandise development, social media curation and promotion, booking performance and special events for artists, helping with their PR, and giving music consultations to assist with the production aspects of music.

“We also offer music releases. Helping artists actually release music and assist with the distribution to different platforms like Spotify and Apple Music as well as potentially doing physical media like CDs and vinyl records,” Lee said.