Before DNBB Records had a professional release schedule, it had an Orkut community. Producers and listeners in Brazil were exchanging music, following what was happening overseas, and looking for ways to get their own records heard.

Aaron Mello dates the community project to 2008, when Sounds Of Community appeared, and DNBB’s move into operating as a professional label to 2012. In this Label Spotlight, he looks back at the releases and relationships that shaped the business, and the challenge of giving artists the same attention as the catalogue grows.

You’ve described DNBB’s roots in an Orkut community. What turned that shared enthusiasm into a record label, and what do you remember about getting the first release out?

DNBB really started as a community before it became a business. On Orkut we had this group of people sharing drum & bass, talking about producers, exchanging music and trying to understand what was happening outside Brazil.

At some point we realised there were very talented Brazilian producers making great music, but there weren’t many doors open for them internationally. So instead of waiting for someone to open those doors, we thought: why don’t we build one ourselves?

Sounds Of Community started in 2008, still very much as a project connected to the community we had on Orkut. At that point, there wasn’t really a professional record label structure like we have today. It was much more a natural extension of the community: producers sharing music and ideas and trying to create space for that scene.

DNBB effectively began operating as a professional record label in 2012, when we started organising distribution, contracts, release schedules, catalogue management and international relationships in a more structured way.

So I normally see 2008 as the origin of the idea, and 2012 as the birth of DNBB as a professional label.

The first releases were completely DIY. We were learning distribution, artwork, contracts, promotion, metadata, basically everything, while already releasing music. There was a lot of excitement and probably a lot of mistakes too, but that was part of the beginning. The important thing was that the music was finally getting out.

Giving Brazilian producers opportunities was part of DNBB’s original purpose. How has the scene at home shaped the label’s identity as you’ve built connections around the world?

Brazil has always been at the centre of DNBB, even as the label became much more international.

There is something very particular about Brazilian producers. We grow up surrounded by so many rhythms and different kinds of music that people are naturally quite open to mixing influences. You can hear soul, jazz, samba, MPB, funk and electronic music finding their way into drum & bass without anyone necessarily planning it.

But we never wanted Brazilian drum & bass to be treated as a separate or smaller category of drum & bass. The goal was always for the music to stand next to records coming from the UK, Europe, New Zealand or anywhere else on its own quality.

Over time that created a two-way connection. Brazilian artists became more connected internationally, but DNBB also became a home for producers from many different countries.

One recognition that has been especially meaningful to us came from Music Ally, which considered DNBB Music Group one of the most influential independent electronic music companies in Brazil. We also had the honour of contributing directly to Music Ally’s official Brazil Country Profile 2024, sharing our perspective and experience on the Brazilian music market.

Another important part of our work is our relationship with streaming platforms. We are currently an official partner of Qobuz, the French streaming platform known for its high-resolution audio offering and strong editorial approach. Within the platform, we are currently the only Brazilian curators responsible for drum & bass playlists, which is very meaningful to us, especially because it allows us to connect the Brazilian scene directly with an international audience.

Which two or three releases tell DNBB’s story best? We’d love to hear why they matter, beyond the numbers.

The first would be VA - Sounds Of Community (DNBB001-FREEWEB-2008), because it represents that early period when everything was still being built. Back then, every release felt like proof that the idea could actually work. This release featured artists who might not even exist anymore, such as Collateral Effect, DJ Dave, DJ Magone & DJ Gug, Golden Lion Marmoset, JaxxTruck, K Marx, Linyus, Mutant V., T-Muniz & LLIW, and The Brisa, among others.

The second would be Golden Team, Vol. 3. This represents the moment DNBB stopped looking like a Brazilian label trying to reach the international scene and started feeling like a label that was already part of it. We featured key artists like MSDOS, Scott Allen, Jrumhand, and Greekboy; in fact, the entire Golden Team series, comprising three releases, was pivotal in our entry into the international market.

The story of Sambassim is particularly important to us because it represents exactly the connection between Brazilian music and electronic music that has always been part of our identity.

The original recording was produced by Fernanda Porto and XRS, and the track eventually became one of the most internationally recognised Brazilian songs within that intersection of MPB, drum & bass and electronic music.

Today, through DNBB Music Group’s relationship with Fernanda Porto and the projects that have become part of the group, recordings and versions connected to Sambassim have once again become part of our catalogue and management structure.

All versions of Sambassim and Só Tinha de Ser Com Você are currently managed by DNBB Music Group, including through Fernanda Porto’s own label, Tropical Lab Records.

We’re also working with Fernanda Porto on electronic music again, which for me brings the story full circle in a very interesting way. She played an important role in introducing this Brazilian sound to audiences around the world, and now we’re building a new chapter together.

I would also like to put something that brings my heart to the music. In 2025, we finally released something from legend Davide Carbone and Kate Watts: All I Desire

This release is so special to me, really!

To me, these records are important because they showcase different phases of our journey, not because one has more streams than another.

Listen to Golden Team, Vol. 3 · Find Sambassim on vinyl

What’s the DNBB moment you’ll never forget? It could be a breakthrough, an unexpected connection, or something behind the scenes.

There have been many, but one thing that has always stayed with me is hearing music connected to DNBB being supported by artists I had listened to long before I ever imagined running a label.

When DJs and producers like London Elektricity, High Contrast, Hybrid Minds, DJ Marky, DJ Hype, Netsky, Ray Keith, DJ SS, Nixxy Rain and others started supporting music from artists around us, there was this strange feeling of the world becoming much smaller.

You start something from Brazil, almost from your bedroom and from an internet community, and suddenly the music is travelling to places you’ve never been.

Those moments made me realise DNBB was becoming bigger than the original idea.

High Contrast, one of our biggest influences and heroes, has played our music at several events, and in some cases we first found out through UK radio. We’ve also had DNBB tracks played by DJs at events such as Tomorrowland and Sun and Bass.

Today, we also use a worldwide radio airplay recognition service, which helps us understand just how far the music is travelling and how many places around the world it is reaching.

I especially remember the feeling of receiving a message or finding a video and thinking, “Wait, this music came from here in Brazil, from our small operation, and now it’s being played over there.”

Before streaming analytics, dashboards and all the tools we have today, we often discovered these things through friends, videos recorded in clubs, messages, or someone simply saying, “Did you see who played this last night?”

That feeling of realising that the music was travelling much further than we could physically reach ourselves was one of the things that kept me motivated to continue building DNBB.

Who has helped make DNBB what it is? Is there an artist relationship or someone behind the scenes whose contribution deserves more attention?

It would be impossible for DNBB to exist solely because of one person.

Many artists, A&Rs, designers, producers, DJs, and behind-the-scenes staff have helped build this over the years. Some stayed with us for a long time, while others were part of specific moments, but all of them left their mark on the label's DNA.

DJ Marnel, for example, is one of the pioneers and key curators of Brazilian drum & bass and is currently leading 4 Jungle Records, a label that has become an important part of our identity.

Vera Medina, although she is less involved in the day-to-day operation today, played a fundamental role in our history. She was the person who helped bring the world of jazz and bossa nova into the group, especially through Creative Records, opening up new musical directions and possibilities for us.

We also have Kalixto, a curator who was essential in developing a new area within the company and bringing identity and life to Peso Records, our label focused on Brazilian urban music, culture and Funk Brasil.

Ramilson Maia became a major national content producer through his releases and the music of his group, Kaleidoscopio; radio stations across Brazil have played a crucial role, and partnerships are always welcome. When someone starts not only releasing music with you but also helping to develop an identity, discover artists, and shape the label, the relationship becomes much more than the traditional artist-label dynamic.

There are also many artists who believed in DNBB when there was no guarantee it would succeed. I believe these relationships form the true foundation of the company today; we have a solid roster of artists releasing music consistently, and we are always looking to bring in new talent, because, ultimately, DNBB is an incubator for new artists.

As DNBB has grown into a wider family of labels, what’s been the hardest lesson in keeping it all going while supporting the artists?

It was crucial to realise that growing a catalogue is far easier than growing relationships at the same pace.

When you start out, you know every release, every artist, and practically every detail personally. As the catalogue grows to include thousands of recordings and you work with hundreds of artists, maintaining that same level of attention becomes a real challenge.

And today, releasing music is just a small part of what a record label needs to do. There is distribution, royalties, metadata, rights management, pitching, promotion, strategy, social media, artist development, and a great deal of administration behind every release.

One of the biggest lessons for me was understanding that growth only makes sense if you can also build the infrastructure needed to sustain it. Being bigger doesn't automatically mean being better. We currently have six people working at DNBB Music Group; we are fixing past issues, rewriting processes, and strengthening our foundation so that everything becomes increasingly robust and beneficial for the artists. We recently expanded from digital to physical formats with a dozen vinyl releases, a number set to grow into hundreds of titles, and secured an exclusive radio show on an FM station in São Paulo, one of the Americas' major cultural hubs.

Over the last three years, DNBB has also gone through an important transformation. Beyond our traditional work as a record label, publishing company and label group, we have increasingly specialised in curation, artist development, strategy, distribution, technology and international music industry relations.

Today, we are part of a larger structure called MusicStream, a subsidiary of G.Y.R.O. Music in Australia. Within this operation, DNBB and our team have taken on a strategic role as curators and the team responsible for MusicStream’s electronic music segment in Brazil, helping connect Brazilian artists, producers and labels with a broader international structure.

I currently host Conexão Sonora alongside Ramilson Maia, on A Guardiã da Notícia / GDN Music – 82.3 FM, in São Paulo.

Visit Conexão Sonora

Listen to the podcast on Spotify

The show airs every Wednesday at 8pm and focuses on music, artists and professionals from across the industry. We feature interviews, new releases and plenty of conversations about the Brazilian music business and scene.

Starting on 3 October, we will also launch another radio programme on FM Rádio Paulistana, called MusicStream Club.

It will be a weekly, one-hour programme every Saturday night, focused mainly on drum & bass and electronic music, presenting new releases, artists, news and part of the scene we are actively helping to develop in Brazil.

What feels like the next chapter for DNBB? What would you like to make possible for the label and its artists that you haven’t yet?

The next chapter is less about simply releasing more music and more about building better infrastructure around artists.

Today, distribution is accessible to practically everyone. Getting a track onto Spotify is no longer the hard part; the real question is what happens next.

I want DNBB to forge stronger connections regarding publishing, rights management, synchronisation, editorial relations, technology, international collaborations, events, and education. Here in Brazil, we participate in the country's major music events, delivering talks and classes and supporting music education initiatives, and we are active participants in trade shows and events such as Rio2C, Trends Music Brasil, CEXX, DOE DANCE, Fenamusic, and TUM Festival, Conecta+ among others.

Another area that has grown significantly within DNBB is sync and audiovisual licensing.

We have been actively working to place our catalogue in films, series, soap operas, advertising, television and other audiovisual productions, with projects connected to clients, companies, platforms and broadcasters such as iFood, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Rede Globo, Record News, film studios and production companies, among others.

This has become a very important part of our vision for the future. We do not see a track only as a release on streaming platforms, but as a work that can move across different media, territories and formats.

We have a strong and ongoing partnership with DJ Ban EMC, one of the largest and most established DJ and music production schools in Brazil. This relationship goes far beyond occasional collaborations: we currently develop regular events and in-person initiatives every month, bringing together artists, producers, industry professionals, platforms, partners and emerging talent.

This partnership has become an important extension of our work because it allows us to bring into the physical space many of the things we do every day in music: education, networking, career development, knowledge exchange and strengthening the Brazilian electronic music scene.

I also want to create clearer pathways between Brazilian artists and the international market, something that has been a huge challenge due to financial and geographical factors.

The ambition is for DNBB to become more than just a record label; I want it to be an ecosystem where an independent artist can truly build a career.

If we have this conversation again in three years, what would need to have happened for you to feel DNBB had moved forward?

I don’t think I would measure this solely by catalogue size, stream counts, or revenue.

Of course, the business needs to grow and become more sustainable, but what would truly make me happy is seeing artists who came up through DNBB building international careers, and knowing we helped pave part of that path.

I would also like DNBB to have an even stronger international presence, without losing sight of the fact that it all started in Brazil.

If, three years from now, a new generation of Brazilian producers feels that breaking into the international drum & bass scene is the norm rather than something nearly impossible, then I think we will have made real progress.

In a way, that would bring the story full circle: creating the opportunities we wished existed when we first started out.

Our thanks to Aaron Mello for sharing DNBB’s story and supplying the archive photographs.