Today we’d like to introduce you to Rich Ulloa.
Rich, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I guess my life in music can be traced to February of 1964 when as a nine-year-old kid. I watched The Beatles perform live on The Ed Sullivan show. I would listen to my AM radio just to hear The Beatles and of course, all the great music of that era soon became the soundtrack of my life. Starting in Junior High, I would spend every extra cent I had on albums, and in the late ’60s, my musical tastes grew with the times. The Woodstock generation became my generation!
After high school, in the mid-’70s, I began a serious hobby, which eventually morphed into my music business career. That hobby was a collection of rare Beatles records and memorabilia. Within a couple of years, I started a mail-order business called Top Of The Pops, which specialized in rare records and collectibles. In June of 1981, that led to the opening of my very first store, Yesterday & Today Records, on Bird Road in South Miami,
The business grew over the years and by 1988, we opened a second and much larger store, specializing in alternative music, imports, and collectibles. We also opened a store on Miami Beach in 1989, specializing in dance music, called Y&T Dance Music and even expanded into the Gainesville market in 1992. Over the years, Y&T hosted lots of live shows, in-store signings and special events with many well-known artists, including The Ramones, Soundgarden, Toad The Wet Sprocket, 10,000 Maniacs, Marilyn Manson, The Mavericks, Belly, Fishbone, Green Day, Nil Lara, Julian Hatfield, Mary Karlzen and many others.
In 1991, we started the Y&T Music label to release the debut album by The Mavericks, a new country band based in Miami and fronted by a Cuban lead singer, Raul Malo. Raul and The Mavericks would go on to sell millions of records and win multiple awards, including a Grammy in 1995. Y&T Music subsequently released albums by some of South Florida’s finest new artists, including Mary Karlzen (who later signed with Atlantic Records,) For Squirrels (Epic Records,) Amanda Green, Arlan Feiles, Chlorine, Charlie Pickett, Jim Wurster, and others, along with a special tribute album, titled Everybody’s Talkin’ – A Trubute to Fred Neil.
Despite the tragic times and the devastating pandemic we are facing, 2020 will be the busiest year yet, for the Y&T Music label, with four projects released or scheduled, including the debut EP by singer-songwriter Mandy Marylane, and an anti-war benefit album for Guitars Over Guns, “Put Down That Weapon.” We also have a brand new studio album by Mary Karlzen and an EP by Drew Weaver with Rosie Flores coming out in September.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s never a smooth road. The record business changed drastically in the late nineties, first with giant warehouse outlets like Best Buy and Circuit City jumping into the CD business, and then Napster and MP3 files. The large warehouse outlets were selling CDs as a loss leader item to get people into their stores and often with prices that were lower than our wholesale cost. The result was devastating to independent stores around the country and Y&T was no exception. Then came Napster and digital downloads in 1998, and that was another hurdle for indie stores to overcome. I then decided to focus full time on my label and artist management company and closed one store while selling my interest in the other to my friend Evan Chern, who has carried on the Y&T name ever since.
The label and artist management company also went through some tough times. The For Squirrels tragedy in 1995, is well known so I won’t go into the details except to say, it was the saddest day of my life to see three wonderful young men have their lives cut short in an instant. It shook me to my core and I have never been the same. It was also a devastating time for Mary Karlzen and myself when in 1996, Atlantic Records decided to drop her from the roster after four years of career building and momentum. The music business can be very cruel and I always advise artists to just stay true to themselves and focus on their craft and music and good things will come
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
My main focus today is the Y&T Music label, which along with my new partners, Jim Wurster and Don Sarley, has been releasing music by artists we are all passionate about and who have shared goals. I can’t say we specialize in any one genre of music as we have released music by hard-edged rockers like Charlie Pickett, For Squirrels and Amanda Green to more folk and singer-songwriters like Mary Karlzen, Arlan Feiles, Drew Weaver and Mandy Marylane. All three of us grew up in the 1960s and ’70s and had a wide scope of musical knowledge and experience that we hope can help young artists develop in today’s very competitive music business.
I guess one thing that separates us from some labels is the fact that everything we do is on a handshake basis. While there are legalities that we take care in terms of licensing and other paperwork, all the artists we work with have 100% ownership of all masters and publishing and it will always be that way. We have seen far too many young artists and bands ruin their careers by signing terrible and one-sided contracts that took advantage of their eagerness to make it in music.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Absolutely! The list is long but here are a few… Before I opened my first store, I always looked up to my good friend Michael Dean, whose Yardbird Record shop was a South Florida institution for Jazz and Blues music. “Mick” gave me solid advice early on I and will always consider him my mentor.
The diverse and talented employees at Y&T are what made the store successful and fueled its growth. Bill Ashton was my first manager at Y&T and he brought a knowledge of indie and alternative music that was crucial to the store’s development. Other employees who were crucial to our success were Todd Saunders (who I partnered with to open Y&T Dance Music on South Beach,) Yoel Wasserman, Scott Williams, Nick Polack, Andres Solar, Geoff Ellis, Isa Shulman, Tracey Burger, Juan Diaz, Scott Campbell, Mari Giordani (a gifted young lady whose life was cut short by a tragic car accident in 1997,) and more. I wish I could list them all!
As for the label and artist management company, my long time friend and partner, Steve Goldman, made a huge impact on the fortunes of the artists we worked with as clients, which included Mary Karlzen, For Squirrels and Amanda Green. Many of the recordings, tours and videos that we produced would never would have happened without my association with Steve Goldman, who generously gave of his time and resources to further their careers. That teamwork continues today with my current partners, Jim and Don!
To Mary Karlzen, who gave me the opportunity to be a first time artist manager in 1991, which directly led to my passion of working on the creative side with artists. I learned everything I know about all aspects of the music business, while working with Mary and that special bond of friendship and collaboration continues to this day!
Needless to say, I would not have had a career in the music business without the support of my loving wife and life partner, Marilyn Ulloa, who always was there for me during the good times and bad over so many years!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ytmusiconline.com
- Phone: 786-368-9904
- Email: ytmusic1@aol.com
- Instagram: YTMusic
- Facebook: Facebook/YTMusic
Image Credit:
Ramones Photo by Ruby Mallach / Soundgarden Photo by Jill Malacon / Personal photo by Kim Ostrenko
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