For the past decade, Mansions and Millions has been defying expectations of a Berlin-based label. Focusing on alternative indie pop – a genre less prominent in the city – and electronic sounds, the label has brought local acts to the international stage. This has been no easy feat amid the turbulence of recent years – from the pandemic to the rise of digital consumer culture. Yet through it all, label founder Anton Teichmann has kept going, releasing records by the likes of John Moods, Discovery Zone and Better Person.
Sitting down with Teichmann ahead of the label’s 10-year anniversary event, we spoke about how he made it this far and why Berlin is intrinsically connected to Mansions and Millions’ success.
To begin, can you tell us how the label started and how it has evolved over the years?
At the time, I had been hanging out in the scene in Neukölln, around artists like Magic Island and Sean Nicholas Savage. And a lot of these people, especially those around Sean, were starting their own projects. Better Person, for instance, was the guitar player in Sean’s band and they didn’t have that much experience in the music world, which really surprised me. So that’s where I stepped in and it all started.
I really wanted to put Berlin on the map.
In the beginning we were selling vinyl, and iTunes downloads were still a thing. Then Spotify entered the scene and for the first time, I have to say, we made money through digital music. It wasn’t enough, and I don’t really want to hype up this company, but it really changed things as money started to come in – especially if you had a song on a playlist.
Of course, there’s a lot of challenges when people move here, but it also makes the city much more interesting and exciting and this reflects on the culture.
Then during the pandemic, the Institut der Musik offered these grants. For them to work we had to put in a bit of money ourselves. Through this, we started to hire more teams and professionalised the way we released music. This really helped me and I learned from this. I now apply the same strategy to releasing all my music.
In 2020, I received an award from the German Indie Association for best German label. I didn’t even think people had heard of us. If you’d asked me before if I cared about awards, I’d have said no, but it gave me the motivation to keep going.
The pandemic was rough for us. We sell a lot of records at live shows and it’s not enough to [only] put out music online, because especially at this time, thousands of other artists were putting out music – so it was really hard to stand out. And then there was the tragedy with Better Person, who’s still suffering from long Covid, which he got early on. This was a massive blow.
How do you decide what to sign?
I never sign anything from a demo. Pretty much all the artists we work with are from Berlin, I know them, or are friends of friends. All of the artists I know have some left-field element that makes them special. I’m interested in music that’s on the edge of everything else.
One particular example is the band Fenster. I had actually never worked with them beforehand, but then all of a sudden they all started doing solo projects. It started with John Moods, then came World Brain and Discovery Zone.
There are definitely some releases that stand out as pivotal in the label’s history. Magic Island was among the earliest artists to join, and their debut EP really helped launch everything. I also really love the story behind John Moods’ first solo album. It was really meant as a side project. We softly released it on a few cassettes and it just kicked off! It was played on US TV shows and the tour went around the world.
It was a similar story for Discovery Zone too. The record came out in the middle of the pandemic. We put some money into it, and thought “okay, we’ll never see that again”. But over time, it developed into one of the most successful releases on the label. And for me, the first album by Better Person is just a timeless record.
What have been the biggest challenges so far?
Ten years ago, we were still in that period where if you had a good publicist, you would be put in all these magazines and this was the basis of a successful release. I remember when we first put out the Better Person EP, he was featured in The FADER and this really changed everything. I’m a big fan of music journalism, but it’s nowhere near what it was before.
The biggest change now is that so much is dependent on an algorithm. When editorial playlists at Spotify were huge, it could make or break a career – now even that has gone. The only way you can influence things is by putting a lot of money into it, which brings me to my next point: you have to spend a lot of money to be successful, and there are only a few people who can do this.
How intrinsic is Berlin to your label’s identity?
In the early days, Loophole was important, and we also spent a lot of time hanging out at Das Gift – which was then owned by Barry from Mogwai. There was this venue called Internet Explorer, which I would say was the place to be. It was really important for us to have our bands play there. Now we have Tennis Bar, which is what I would say is the hub of today.
Around 80–90% of the artists are Berlin-based. It’s very important for me, because I consider myself part of the scene. Berlin is known worldwide for its electronic music, but when it comes to indie pop, not so much, especially when compared to London or New York. I and some other friends wanted to create the infrastructure for ourselves and to have these bands from Berlin play internationally. I really wanted to put Berlin on the map.
Things are changing, and I do worry about Berlin. We have this political class who forgot that people come to Berlin for its culture and its art scene. I still love the experimental scene. I love 90mil and events at silent green, for instance. I believe in this creative force that people have and find when they come here. When I grew up in East Berlin, it was a very white, German place. Of course, there’s a lot of challenges when people move here, but it also makes the city much more interesting and exciting and this reflects on the culture. From this you will see a lot more beautiful things happening.
