20 Years Ago Toolroom Records Began Championing Tech House — Now Dance Musics Most Popular Genre — From An Actual Tool Shed

The "tool room" is not a metaphor.

In 2003, producer Mark Knight and his brother Stewart launched the electronic record label. The footprint is named after its office space. a quirky instrument shed in the backyard of his hometown of Maidstone, 90 minutes south-east of London. From these humble beginnings, the pair began releasing house records, initially produced by Mark, who later melded house and techno into a new sound.

20 years later, Toolroom helped name the genre, tech house, the most recognizable sound in commercial dance music. But while Toolroom laid the groundwork for this phenomenon, Toolroom isn't necessarily the genre's biggest commercial star. The Knight Brothers are doing well.

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"We're always a little early," Mark says over Zoom. “We will always make the base so everyone can get in and out. "Thank you for mentioning that." I remember 15 years ago when I was talking about why I loved tech house and people looked at me like that.

But that hasn't stopped Toolroom from being a respected label that not only makes major records, but a company that has evolved its offerings and revenue streams in every era of its existence.

With Mark and Stewart running the company as creative heads, Toolroom was launched in limbo, two years after the introduction of the iPod and at a time when physical sales were falling. "We can see on the wall how digital will take over and how it will affect us," says Stewart.

In the early years, Mark traveled to New York and other American dance venues to perform, living on friends' couches to save money while trying to make a name for himself in the United States. The label gained notability during its first trip to Miami Music Week, which, according to Stewart, "was our first opportunity to be close to the industry and customers."

This consumer reach was greatly expanded in 2004 with the launch of Beatport, a digital download store for DJs. Toolroom was one of the first labels to sell their music on the then Denver platform. Over the next few years, 70% of the Toolroom music purchased through Beatport was purchased by American consumers, and in 2014, Mark would become Beatport's best-selling artist behind Deadmau5. He now ranks as the seventh all-time house artist on the platform, the second all-time house label in Toolroom's rankings.

"We were a small label in a tool room in a small town outside of London selling our music in the US, which has always been the most difficult area for a UK label to break into," Stewart explained. . "It was telling that we didn't get on a tour bus and travel across the United States [to find success]."

At the same time, around 2007, Mark was also touring the US, capitalizing on the label's growth in the US and proselytizing their still-underground house/techno fusion. Hits from this era include Knight and Funkazender's "Man With the Red Face" and Knight's remix of Florence + The Machine's "You've Got the Love." Meanwhile, Toolroom was dropping tracks from Fatboy Slim, Underworld, Armand Van Helden, and a host of future stars.

Then a few years later came EDM. Like many labels at the time, Toolroom participated in this phenomenon, although it didn't necessarily matter. ("It was so big and weird," says Mark, "when you see people jumping out of private jets and splashing champagne, and we're working nine to five to make those records.") Still, they moved the pitches. fit more The Big House Sound brought millions of new fans to the genre while earning billions of dollars for the dance industry.

"In between we were putting out Hardwell's music and people like that," says Mark, "it wasn't really what we were doing."

Feeling the need to correct course over time, the label launched the #RESET campaign in 2014, paring down its artist roster, releasing a new album and reorganizing its live events. trying to match the roots. brother gentlemen the view

Mark says of EDM: “I don't want to patronize, but it's really mainstream music. "And it's great because it appeals to a wide audience, but we've always known that if we're honest with ourselves, when those people develop their tastes and the drugs wear off a little bit, they realize 'I really like it.' No', because it's very stupid, but I like it a lot, because it's the most complicated ending in the world.

In fact, this happened when house, techno, and tech house became traditional trade terms with the American dance music scene. The sophisticated, sexy and mature vibe that Toolroom has fostered since its inception.

"I stood my ground and I think if we hadn't taken those steps, the fishermen and the Chris Lakers of our world would not have enjoyed the success of the foundation we laid, and perhaps the success. They do that." They took that and commercialized it and did very well. "

Meanwhile, Toolroom and its 15-artist roster have mostly been in the realm of club records and club sets, including upcoming shows in New York, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, and London throughout the month. August Toolroom has also grown the business with the launch of the Toolroom Academy in 2016, offering DJ classes, sample packs, software, and plugins. Prices for online courses range from $50 to $10,000 for an intensive three-month course, and the label uses the school as a talent hub, often signing particularly good productions. The academy now has around 7,000 students. Mark says that Toolroom now generates more revenue by selling Bitport through Peloton.

"We went from being a record company to being a record company," says Stewart. "The record company puts out music, a record company puts out music, but they find everything they can to put music out and make money. It's really exciting because one week it might be music, the next week it's like, 'How does that fit into someone? giving a spinning class or teaching production to someone.

After two decades, Tooling now has 22 employees and an actual office space to work from. Mark's weekly Toolroom radio show attracts 16 million listeners a week. In 2018, the label launched the We're Listening initiative to highlight production company releases. The 2023 edition of KC Lights, Leftwing & Kody and ESSEL has been streamed millions of times. Quite a feat for a label that, according to Mark, has always been "a little bit ahead of the game."

"It's wonderful in our own way, because we are pioneers," he continued. "We can always look back and say we were the first to take these steps. Did we make the same amount of money as everyone else? Maybe not. But you know, we're very happy where we are in life."

Turntable, Koen Groeneveld & Ahmet Sendil "Oldschool" (Turntable Mix)