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Plus 1 Music Group/21 Entertainment/Entertainment OneAfter beginning her career in 1998 on Quincy Jones’ Qwest Records and switching to Elektra Records, Tamia now records for her own company, and she loves being her own boss.
The six-time Grammy nominee has released her last four studio albums — including her latest, Passion Like Fire — on her own label, Plus One Music. She says before she went independent, she had to deal with corporate bureaucracy.
“In order to record something, it has to go through several people. Then they have to pay the bill,” Tamia tells ABC Radio. “Then they have to approve it, and then whether you like it or not, maybe they like it, and so it makes it on, and maybe it doesn’t.”
“Being independent, and saying ‘I’m gonna make this album and I’m gonna give it to you,’ there’s obviously more pressure when you’re doing something independently,” she explains.
The singer from Canada in order to be independent and write the checks, she needs to be very confident.
“It’s a whole sort of different philosophy when you go in and you are essentially betting on yourself, because you’re spending money,” she says.
“This is all sort of upfront money. I’m saying I believe in the song. I’m doing it and handing in a final project,” she adds. “There’s no one else to blame. If you like it, it’s on me, and if you don’t like it, it’s on me too.”
Tamia is enjoying success with her new album and its the first single, “Leave it Smokin’,” which hit number one on the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary chart. She wrapped up her Passion Like Firetour last month in New York City, and recently released “It’s Yours,” the album’s third single.
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