The Industry Connection

Interview with Sam Sciarra: Head of A&R at Higher Ground

This week we caught up with Sam Sciarra who is the Head of A&R at Diplo’s multifaceted house-focused label, Higher Ground. Sam and his team have developed Higher Ground into a diverse platform championing everything from deep/melodic house to tech house, lo-fi to Afro-infused house, and everything in between. With 3 Grammy nominations, multiple US dance radio #1s, Billboard, Beatport and Official Charts-topping singles, and over 100 impactful releases from the likes of Diplo, Purple Disco Machine, Paul Woolford, DJ Tennis, Damian Lazarus, and many more, Higher Ground has established itself as a force in the dance music culture. 

Simultaneously the brand has become renowned for its showcase parties, with signature events at New York Fashion Week, Coachella, and Amsterdam Dance Event, as well as yearly one-offs in London, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Seattle and more. Their next event in LA just announced a second night in December after the first quickly sold out.

Our conversation is below:

AvA: How did you get started in the Music Industry?

Sciarra: I grew up outside of Philadelphia, and was always really into music my whole life. In high school I started to collect a lot of music and curate a blog. I was always the person who was sharing a lot of music, and had a knack for curation and finding new artists.

Growing up on the East Coast, I never really knew that you could actually have a career in the music business. I only realized it was a possibility when I moved across the country to go to USC. I declared a major in communications at Annenberg, and at that time started to immerse myself in festival culture including Coachella, Hard Events and also the underground culture in Los Angeles. I started to realize the music business is an actual thing, and you can actually make a living doing it. 

I declared a minor in Music Industry, and tailored all of my classes towards music. I looked for any internship I possibly could, and worked for a bit at Your Army, in the mailroom in the music department at WME, and interned at a music magazine called XLR8R, which was like one of the OG electronic music magazines back in the day. 

I was doing mostly music marketing, and started to realize gradually that marketing was not my thing. I was missing working with artists. I got really lucky when I heard about an opening at Universal Publishing from the A&R team, and I just jumped on it.

AvA: How did you end up working for Higher Ground?

Sciarra: I really wanted to move back into the independent world and immerse myself even further in dance music. I heard about an opening working for a Diplo and jumped on that. Mad Decent Block Parties in Philadelphia were my first foray into anything music, and it was a full circle moment to go back and work for them. 

AvA: Can you define your role and responsibilities as the Head of A&R at Higher Ground?

Sciarra: The easiest way to describe A&R is a mixture of artist relations and creative direction. On one hand, you have this artist relations, where you are the point person for any artist that's affiliated with the label. I'm responsible for coordinating and signing new talent, and also the person that is communicating directly with the artist and their team. 

Creative direction has to do with any element that is related to the recording process and the actual music side of it. That could mean anything from getting a demo from one of our artists and just giving notes or feedback, or finding the right vocalists that would work on top of a track or do a feature. It can also involve working on remixes, which are a really important part of our campaigns from a marketing standpoint. 

A&R has a very important interpersonal part of it, but also it’s important to stay on top of what's happening in culture and music. 

AvA: How has A&R changed and developed during your career? 

Sciarra: When I first started, streaming was just becoming a thing. There was also this advent of social media. There was a huge shift towards embracing multiple different innovations in technology and social media, and artists embracing them from a music creation perspective. 

So there was a period where things were very numbers driven. Then it was streaming, and after that with TikTok and their social media followers. Now, I almost feel like we've almost entered this post TikTok era, where Gen Z and younger can see through all of that stuff. Social media, TikTok and streaming are still really important, but now I’m looking for these projects and new artists that have this sense of authenticity behind them. That’s a larger and more intangible thing than just a large social media following or high streaming numbers.

AvA: To what extent have showcase events played in developing your artists and the Higher Ground as a brand? 

Sciarra: They are massively important, particularly for Higher Ground. Mad Decent has a history of having really strong branding and utilizing that to their labels’ advantage, and helping elevate artists careers. When we started Higher Ground, we used that as a blueprint, and saw a void in the market. There was a lot of homogeneousness associated with house and techno. You would hear the same thing over and over and over again, and largely, it's the same type of crowd. We wanted to create a platform for a wide range of genres and sounds from across the dance and house music spectrums. 

When building Higher Ground, it was really important for us to have a very cohesive look, and imagery surrounding the label and brand. It was also particularly important for Diplo, so we could differentiate between who Diplo is as an artist and who Diplo is when he’s playing at a Higher Ground. We also wanted to make sure we had this independent vibe to us. 

AvA: What has your experience been like working with Diplo, and watching him evolve as an Artist who always seems to be pushing the envelope in uncharted territories? 

Sciarra: It's been amazing. Wes is obviously a brilliant producer, but I think more than anything, he is a brilliant connector. Yes he's a celebrity. Yes he’s one of the biggest producers in the world. But at the same time, at his core, he’s just excited about music. He's excited about new trends. He's excited about what's on the forefront of all sorts of different genres. I think that's reflected in his music, and continues to be reflected in his new releases as well.

What sets Diplo apart, is that he's always working with someone new, or releasing something that sounds different than what you would expect a big DJ or a massive act to release. He also is really good at identifying people that know what's going on culturally, and trusting them to make creative decisions and to bring creative opportunities his way. 

AvA: Any acts we should be looking out for on your roster? 

Sciarra: There is this new African artist that we just released a record for named nitefreak. He's amazing. The new record is getting a ton of support across the board, and is almost number one at Beatport. The record is a collaboration with a Sudanese artist named Emmanuel Jal, and I’m really excited about his take on Afro House. 

There's also an artist from Chicago that I've been developing called Azzecca. She's doing amazing stuff in more of the Breakbeat House realm.

And then there is Carlita. She's an artist I've been working with now for a few years, and is just really hitting her stride production wise. She's working with everyone from KUNGS to LP Giobbi, and is very driven and focused. She is without a doubt going to be one of the biggest artists in dance music a couple of years.

Editors note: Check out her Circle set here

AvA: What is one piece of advice you'd give to an emerging Artist?

Sciarra: Two things. First thing would be to remain true to whatever your voice or your sound is. Don't conform to what you think is trending. If you feel like you are authentically sharing what you have to offer this world creatively, then you should run with it. Even if you're not yet having the success that you would like, I truly believe that if you stick with that voice, you stick with that sound, and you stick with that core creativity, the success will follow. 

Second thing would be there's no right or wrong way to do it. There's no perfect time to get a manager, there's no perfect time to get an agent. There's no perfect time to sign to a label. If you're feeling in your gut that it's the right move, make a move, but if not, continue to hold out. 

👋 Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter and see you after the Thanksgiving break!

This newsletter is written by Warner Bailey (connect with me here). Edited by Malik Figaro. 

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