A "NICE LIFE" ANNIVERSARY

Producer Ricky Reed founded the Nice Life Recording Company in 2014. Based in Los Angeles, the independent label officially launched two years later. As the company celebrates its 10th anniversary, Reed and COO/Co-Owner Larry Wade have been in a reflective mood, looking back on their road to success while simultaneously anticipating a fruitful future.

Since signing Lizzo in 2016, Nice Life has added a colorful array of artists to its roster, including Tinashe, Estevie and The Marías, and collected multiple Grammys, American Music Awards and iHeartRadio Music Awards, among many other accolades. In 2022, Lizzo won Record of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards for "About Damn Time," something Reed still beams about today.

"Our artist Lizzo winning Record Of The Year for her song 'About Damn Time' stands out as a significant milestone but so is the moment we are right now," Reed tells us. "We are having our first hit as an independent company with our artist Tinashe and her new song 'Nasty' just as our artist The Marías charted their groundbreaking new album Submarine last week."

Wade adds, "Without that experience and journey, we would not be here. Not only because of her success but because of the lessons learned throughout the process. We have been able to use those lessons learned for every artist we have worked with since."

Reed and Wade are intent on applying those lessons to their current roster. Over the years, they've had to pivot on several occasions to adjust to the ever-evolving technological changes the music industry has experienced.

"It feels like the this changes every six months to a year and we have to stay on our toes to keep up," Wade concedes. "At this moment in 2024, a label like ours couldn’t be positioned in a better place. The most important thing right now is have great music and a great human (artist) to execute. At Nice Life, this is our number one core value—stay close to the hit music."

For now, Reed and Wade are keeping their ear to the street, looking, as Reed puts it, "for a voice that the world needs to hear—whether they can sing or not."

He continues, "It’s perspective, it’s passion, it’s the things that can’t be taught. It’s the artists who are brave and willing to lean into discomfort and vulnerability to tell their story. Those are the artists who will change the world and that’s who we want."

As for the next 10 years, Nice Life is focused on growing and continuing to discover and break incredible artists like Ambar Lucid, experimental Houston rapper TisaKorean and singer-songwriter John Robert.

"We love where we are at right now," Wade says. "We are blazing a new trail for the company by breaking Tinashe’s current hit 'Nasty' independently. We feel like our experience has lead us to get to this point and beyond. As Ricky says—here’s to many more gray hairs!"

(Pictured above are Wade in the black sweater and Reed.)