Becoming the Label

There’s a moment in every independent artist’s journey where the question shifts from “Who’s going to pick me up?” to “What am I actually building?”

For Martin Andrew Lowery, that shift happened quietly—and then all at once.

Lowery is currently finishing a seven-track album scheduled to be complete by spring. It’s the world’s first scaled mult-genre project AND his international debut, and, unusually, it’s being executed entirely by one person.

No label.

No team.

No outsourced roles.

“I didn’t plan to become my own label,” Lowery says. “I just kept saying yes to the next responsibility until I realized there wasn’t anyone else left to hand things off to.”

That responsibility includes everything: songwriting, vocals, instrumentation, production, visual content, rollout strategy, marketing, and PR. According to Lowery, every sound on the record is played and performed by human hands—his.

“There’s no machine writing anything. No machine performing anything,” he explains. “The music is fully human. Any technology involved comes after the fact—just to help the record translate cleanly across systems. That’s it.”

The album’s origin story is as stripped-down as its execution. One of the songs, Koa’s Song (Small Town Love Song), was written in 2020 in the first house Lowery lived in with his family. The house, he recalls, was far from perfect.

“It was ragged. Drafty. Nothing you’d brag about,” he says. “But it was home.”

Parts of the song were written in a bathtub around the time his son Koa was born—something Lowery says he didn’t fully remember until recently.

“When I heard that detail again, the song made more sense to me,” he admits. “You can hear the fear and the love colliding. That moment changed everything.”

While the personal story anchors the project, the ambition behind it is unmistakable. Lowery is candid about his long-term goals.

“I want to be the first artist to hit number one across seven charts at the same time,” he says plainly. “I know how that sounds. I’m okay with that.”

What separates this plan from typical breakout narratives is the pace. Lowery is intentionally avoiding rapid saturation—no endless singles, no panic drops, no extended deluxe editions. Seven tracks. One complete statement.

“I’m watching the data, but I’m not chasing it,” he says. “What matters to me is behavior. Are people choosing to come back? Are they listening with intent?”

Early indicators, he says, suggest long-term engagement rather than short-lived spikes. That’s influenced his decision to expand carefully, including the release of a Spanish-language record in support of the album.

“It’s not a pivot. It’s not a trend play,” he explains. “It’s the same feeling in another language.”

Despite handling every role himself, Lowery doesn’t frame the project as a flex. Instead, he describes it as a temporary necessity—and a philosophical choice.

“I didn’t sign to a label,” he says. “I became one.”

For now, that means restraint over noise, structure over speed, and a belief that longevity is built quietly before it’s ever noticed.

“I’m not trying to dominate a moment,” Lowery says. “I’m trying to build something that’s still standing after the moment passes.”

As the album moves toward completion, he remains focused on finishing the work rather than selling the outcome.

“Once it’s done,” he says, “I’ll let it speak for itself.”

And then, he adds with a small smile, “We’ll see how loud quiet can get.”

I’m excited to see what’s next for rising Muscle Shoals star Martin Lowery.

As the project moves toward completion, Lowery remains focused on process rather than prediction. For him, becoming the label isn’t about control or credit—it’s about responsibility, patience, and building something human that can last beyond the moment it’s first heard.