STORK RECORDINGS

About STORK RECORDINGS

It started the way most good things do: with a genuine love for music and very little concern for whether it made business sense. Back in the early 90s, we were running a record shop in The Hague, spending our days surrounded by vinyl, talking about tracks with anyone who'd listen, and slowly building something we didn't yet have a name for. The shop became a hub. The hub became a label. And the label, almost without us noticing, became one of the most successful independent operations in the Netherlands.

Those were remarkable years. Artists like Gala, Vincent de Moor, Veracocha, Wamdue Project, Sander Kleinenberg, King Bee and a young Don Diablo found a home with us. We signed distribution deals with major players, worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. For a good stretch of time it felt like we were exactly where we were supposed to be. Not just successful, but genuinely happy doing it.

After a decade of operating at that scale, with all the major label conversations and industry machinery that comes with it, we eventually stepped back. The landscape had shifted dramatically. The way people consumed music was changing faster than anyone could keep up with, and we felt it. It felt like the right moment to close that chapter, take a breath, and figure out what we actually wanted from music when no one was watching.

As it turned out, the answer was: this. Exactly this.

The itch came back quietly, a few years ago. No dramatic moment, no grand plan. Just a growing feeling that there was more music to make and more music to release, and that we missed being close to that process. So we started STORK Recordings. Not because we had something to prove, and not because we saw a gap in the market. Simply because we love deep house, we know how to build a label, and doing it again on our own terms sounded like exactly the right kind of fun.

We kept it focused. Deep house with soul, with character, with that particular feeling that makes you want to play a track twice before moving on. No chasing trends, no trying to second-guess what the algorithm wants this week. Just music that holds up, released with care, on a label that genuinely listens to every demo it receives.

The results have been more than we expected. Releases on Traxsource Deep Essentials, Hype Charts, Weekend Weapons, the Deep House Top 100, and DJ charts across the world. Artists from different corners of the globe finding their way to us and trusting us with their work. A growing catalogue that we're genuinely proud of.

But if we're being honest, the chart positions aren't the point. The point is the feeling we had back in that record shop in The Hague, when a track would come on and the whole room would go quiet for a second. We're still chasing that. We think we always will be.

More info: https://www.storkrecordings.com