Norwalk CT-Based Factory Underground Records Announces New Similar Kind Release; New Label GM

Norwalk, Connecticut Jul 16, 2023 (Issuewire.com) – Norwalk-CT based Factory Underground Records is excited to announce the addition of a new General Manager and Partner, Michael Cusanelli. Cusanelli has worked at every level of the music industry including executive level positions at Alliance Entertainment, Putumayo World Music, and his current position as General Manager of The SRG/ILS Group, a leading independent record label and label services company partnered with Virgin Music Group
(UMG).

“Factory Underground Records is in a unique category as a place that is involved in the creation and promotion of music at every level. We are a perfect partner for the new breed of entrepreneurial artists who are building their brands through new media opportunities. Artists like Similar Kind, Violet Young, and Dylan Lloyd are great partners for us as we can enhance
what they are currently doing and fill the role of a traditional record label to represent their content across the full spectrum of the ever-changing music marketplace,” said Cusanelli.

“We are pleased to welcome Mike [Cusanelli] to the Factory Underground family. His experience in traditional and non-traditional music marketing will bring a lot of value to the label,” said Ethan Isaac, one of Factory Underground’s company owners [along with co-owner and business partner Kenny Cash].

For the remainder of 2023, Factory Underground Records will focus its resources on promoting its current roster including Similar Kind, Violet Young, and its latest signee singer-songwriter Dylan Lloyd. It will actively seek to expand its roster with new artist signings in 2024.

A large part of the recent expansion of the label is the success of its Indie pop group, Similar Kind, an act developed at Factory Underground Studio, that is starting to make waves on a national scale. Their debut track “Nobody Loves You,” produced by Cash, has achieved over 5 million streams across the many platforms including of course Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

Similar Kind’s next single “Too Tired,” a fun, avant-garde post-pop anthem which draws inspiration from the Strokes and LCD Soundsystem, was produced by Kenny Cash and recorded at Factory Underground Studio. The song is available now to stream and download at all outlets world-wide. The record will be supported by a full East and West Coast tour before the band settles in to record more music for the upcoming year.

“Factory Underground took a chance on my band,” said Julia Breen, lead singer for Similar Kind. “They helped us record and really believed in us when we had just started out. With their help over the past five years, we have songs with millions of streams, and have played in front of audiences of thousands of people. If one thing is true about Factory Underground, it’s that they’re dedicated to helping the people they’re involved with,” she said.

Factory Underground’s most recent signing is Dylan Lloyd, a Chicago based singer-songwriter who has garnered a substantial following on TikTok. It was during the Covid pandemic that the Dylan began posting performances at home, sharing new songs and insight into his music, that attracted a multitude of young fans. Today Dylan has achieved an impressive 100K followers on the platform with nearly half a million views of his videos. The label looks to expand that reach with several new recordings to be released later this summer and fall.

The roster also includes Violet Young, a young songwriter who is also an actor, best known for her role as the young Amy Schumer on the Hulu series “Life and Beth.” Factory Underground released her debut single, “16,” on March 17, 2023, along with a follow up single, “Lessons” on June 2, 2023.

At the heart of Factory Underground Records, and surely the foundation for its success, is the recording studio, Factory Underground Studio. Established in 2010, it was there that Cash and Isaac first began their quest not only to build their reputation as a professional studio, but a place where local artists could thrive, and get to the next level of their career. On any given day the studio hosts national, regional, and local musicians rehearsing and recording new music, actors recording dialogue for award winning movies, television, video games and podcasts, and private events both music and community related.

It was at Factory Underground Studio where Kenny Cash mixed and mastered the debut album “Moon Cabin” by Goose, currently one of the hottest bands in the US. “Moon Cabin,” released in 2016 is considered a new classic in the jam band community. The record was also promoted by the Factory Underground label services team, who set up Goose’s social media, and helped break the band.

“We’ve been handling independent artist label services for some time, but moving forward, Factory Underground Records is going more reserved for recording artists that are actively performing and have been able to establish at least a regional audience,” said Cash.

In the future we look forward to giving local upcoming artists a chance to showcase their art for label consideration. I don’t think we are going to want to do it with traditional contest form but rather a way that can give better feedback and productive concepts to nurture the local music scene,” Cash said.

“We believe it will be this philosophy of helping foster young talent and developing smaller independent acts into national touring artists, that will set Factory Underground Records apart from our competitors and help us grow into a national brand. We have a great team of experienced, passionate, and highly creative, outside-the-box thinkers,” added Marc Alan,
Factory Underground Records Director of Marketing.