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STARTING A RECORD LABEL!

A ZROQ story

Starting a recordlabel is one of those things like jumping in a deep river and see where it will take you. The destiny has several options. 

Music always has been a passion in my live and along the road meeting people with similar passions. In the late 90s the music scene seems like a revolution and everybody was looking for that new sound. There were only a few music labels, and some of them came and go. I used to hang out in a studio and I met with Eelko van Kooten.

 His father was the owner of the studio. We became good friends hanging out in the office talking about new music projects. He was an expert in making contracts and accounting. So he was my accountant at that time. I needed a good accountant and why not have one of your best friends have taking care of it ? One day came the idea on the table to become business partners and to start a new music label together. I was going to do the music part and the A&R. And Eelko would take care of the contracts and financial parts,which was his speciality. 
I had to come up with a name for the label and I called it "Toppassion records". The name totally sucks , but I was too busy to think of a better name at that time. So we kept it for a while just to get it started. 

The label changed its name from Toppassion into Spinnin Records and started to grow quickly !

Photo; Eelko van Kooten , Peran van Dijk ,
Amsterdam Vondelpark , 2020 May.

I came up with a first dance track to release on the label and he loved the track. We were on the right way.  However, I was not satisfied yet with the final sound and told him I needed more time to improve the track. During that same time I was also traveling to the US for doing a tour of new shows. I ended up staying in the states for more than a few months, and I called to Eelko I was not going to be back in the coming time  And he needed to find another extra A&R manager to take my job when I was not around. Roger from Rhythm Import just was free because that label suddenly stopped to excist after years of hard working. I was glad Roger could take the job because he is a very talented A&R. The label changed its name from "Toppassion" into "Spinnin Records" and started to grow quickly. I was super proud at my old friend Eelko, and he did a great job putting this all together. 20 Years later he sold the company for $100 million ! I could not be more proud of him , We still talk to each other often, and we hang out sometime when we can as old friends are supposed to do.

It was Roger's idea to ask me in 2001 to write a trance anthem for the label, and i gave him the smash hit "Good Time", which ended up in the UK Top40, and the follow up hitsong "We Want To Be Free" !

Peran - We Want To Be Free (Radio Mix)

Spinnin Records

Years later in 2016 I decided to still re-open the label and use the old name "Toppasion Records". But at a much smaller underground level. 

 Just for the fun of it.  

TOPPASSION RECORDS

Home of Electronic Music

More story's are on the way as well as new music and a new tour ! Stay tuned for more updates , and come back soon !