Dear Vanja, For me, it was a great discovery, the reality of your label inside the big panorama of the independent music labels. What is the basic idea at the pillar of this enterprise?

Discom is an independent record label that also cares about the distribution and mail order of good stuff, with the main mission to promote the lesser-known music, artists, and musicians from the former Yugoslavia without any prejudice in front of styles and genres. We hope to have a goal of giving some quality unreleased or hard-to-find items from Yugoslavian music a second chance and presenting this recovery worldwide to the international audience.

What is your way to proceed with your artists?

We serve artists starting from the record production (artwork, vinyl pressing), audio production (mixing, mastering), video production, promotion (online campaigns, advertising, DJ promotion, radio promotion, music criticism), distribution, retail, content protection, and licensing, striving for high professional and aesthetic standards. We are proud to say that the royalties we offer to artists are among the highest in the industry—for example, we share profit 50/50 for every record we sell, including direct sales. We can also count on a large network of associates, suppliers, distributors, and stores who could enable quick sales and make us one of the most attractive record labels for archival releases from Serbia and from this part of Europe.

Who was the first-ever artist produced by Discom?

The first wasn’t directly produced by our current label. We started our work with Boban Petrovic-Zora LP under the Disco Not Disco label. This reissue took 1st place on the Juno Records Best Seller List for two weeks in July 2014, leaving behind more than 30,000 titles. The following releases were Max Vincent's The Future Has Designed Us LP and Sizike-U Zemlji Cuda With Lost DATA Tracks LP, a work that also met a warm reception by audiences and critics worldwide. Another work done with pride was released on November 25, 2016, when we issued Yugoslavian Space Program—without doubt—the first ever electronic spacemusic-themed record from former Yugoslavia!

Great, Vanja! What’s happened once after this sparkling start?

Well! In 2017, we took courage and enthusiasm to release 37°C-Sidarta, an LP—an absolutely unknown gem from the past Ex-Yugoslavian ambient jazz fusion panorama—and Could You Find Your Analog Mind? By DATA, an interesting LP—maybe the first ever from Yugoslavia—having music remixes and original synth-pop songs made under the influence of the famous Japanese bands Yellow Magic Orchestra (with Ryuichi Sakamoto) and Logic System.

And more...the following year, 2018, our research continued, issuing two archival releases that contain previously unpublished material: Max Vincent - Beograd was printed again as an LP, a conceptual synth album, and Consequential-MicroComposed 1980-1986, an LP compilation of Belgrade's earliest electronic music, having tastes and feelings from Italian disco music. In addition to all that, we launched our new branded merchandise: a collection of Discom T-shirts and bags opening Discom distribution with four new Yugoslavian archival gems. That year Discom was the first-ever label from this part of Europe to participate in the world's largest independent record fair: Independent Label Market, based in Brussels, between the days of 7 and 8 April of the same year.

Needless to say, that event encouraged your efforts! Correct?

Yes, absolutely! The following year, 2019, we introduced Du Du A-Du Du Archive 1984-1989 on LP and Sizike-Night Club 1985-86, also on LP, rare and previously unreleased material by two cult bands from the 80s, reinforced by our distribution of 5 other new Yugoslavian archival releases. We are proud to remember also a special partnership with Duophonic GmbH, where we started to produce records as a "climate neutral" project.

What does "climate-neutral" mean?

Climate-neutral means that the CO₂ emissions generated by vinyl manufacturing are calculated and compensated by investing in climate protection projects that follow sustainable forest management, industrial pollution management, and water source protection. This way of producing new works was very useful in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic issues were very heavy to manage, and as a consequence, we have paused our releasing activities.

Nevertheless, we have presented ten new ex-Yugoslavian titles from our distribution…and more. In the following years, we have published Misa Blam I Oni Koji Vole Funky again on vinyl LP, a record having inside the very first jazz-funk from the former Yugoslavia; Beokraft—The Time Machine, always printed on LP, an album inspired by the German Kraftwerk music made by the three remaining electronic music pioneers in Belgrade; and another LP (together with Croatian label Sareni Ducan) called Boom Selekcija, an official reissue of a very rare Yugoslavian funk record.

In addition, we have introduced more than 30 ex-Yugoslavian titles from our distribution and produced Rambo Amadeus's first LP after more than 30 years.

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What are your recent goods?

We are proud of our latest releases: Oskarova Fobija—Synth Pop Yugoslavia 1983-86 on LP, Data/Master Scratch Band—It Was Ridiculous, It Was Amazing! On LP...always! And Max&Intro—Return to the Future 1984-1989 LP, where we re-created the ultimate testimony of the opulence and beauty of the early synth-pop scene in Belgrade, mapping that city as one of the historical capitals of electronic music in the world…and we are adamant to say it!

And the future?

Well! Our latest project includes work at the Misa Blam Jazz Museum, where we are committed to the archive and doing the analogue-digital transfer of more than 800 master tapes of the most precious collection of jazz, funk, and soul music in Southeast Europe.

One result of those efforts is the creation of a unique DJ concept, in which we play the best “dance-oriented" music from those archives directly from the tapes using a unique combination of reel-to-reel players and turntables.

We are also proud about the selection of what we consider the best unknown tracks from the archive, which features the best Yugoslavian jazz-funk musicians contained inside Misa Blam—Profesoru, S Ljubavlju, a 12-inch recording. Counting all of our achievements in the past 10 years, we have become the best address for all collectors and vinyl aficionados who are looking for a unique discovery and appreciation of music gems—never forgotten—from the Yugoslavian era.

We recommend finding out more about our work by searching for these articles: "It was ridiculous. It was amazing: "The lost pop of 80s Yugoslavia" by The Guardian and "Dig Into This Label To Discover Rare Yugoslavian Music" by Electronic Beats and again reading "Label spotlight: listen to rare and unknown records from Yugoslavia's heyday" by The Calvert Journal, ending with "Diggers Hard To Find - Vol.8: Especial Belgrado" by clubbinginpsain.com.

Thank You, Vanja!

You’re welcome, Maurizio.