Severe Records adheres to the following principles:

1. QUALITY: Quality, not quantity, is our hallmark in every aspect of the business. For example, it doesn’t matter if an auditionee approaches us with a limitless budget if his artistry is unconvincing. We’ll simply pass on him. Importantly, we seek to have the mind of an A&R agent, since it is the A&R folks whom we are ultimately trying to convince to sign our acts. Every time we take an artist to a label, we are putting our reputation on the line; and every time the A&R agent decides to work with an act, he is potentially putting his job on the line. We currently have an open-door invitation at certain labels as a result of bringing them quality acts in the past. We do not want to jeopardize our invitation.
   
   
2. WIN/WIN DEALS: We seek to create win/win situations in ever circumstance between us and our artists. Once an artist signs with us – whether via production deal or producer agreement – we try to step into his or her shoes and make decisions in the artist’s best interests.
   
   
3. UP-FRONT CONTRACTS: We always lay out the deal up front so that there will be no surprises or back-end negotiations. Thus, we always memorialize our agreements in a contract, consistent with industry standard.
   
   
4. RESOLVE: Once we decide to work with an individual artist or group, we intend to pursue their project to completion. That is, we would plan to continue supporting their effort until they have either achieved a certain threshold level of success or have been picked up by another music entity. Therefore, the hard part is convincing us to take on the artist in the first place.
   
   
5. INTENSITY: If we sometimes seem intense here at Severe Records, it is because we are. We do not apologize for this attribute. Many artists are not compatible with our tenacity and we suggest they look elsewhere.
   
   
6. IF THE ARTIST AIN’T HAPPY, AIN’T NOBODY HAPPY: On every project, we try hard to make sure the artist is satisfied with the end result. We insist that our ideas be fully expressed, though if the artist is ultimately dissatisfied with an idea, we revise it until hopefully both parties are satisfied. In the end, both the artist and the company have to be happy with the final project before we consider it “done.”
   
   
7. RECORDS ONLY: We do not do three-song demos. We seek to make only full-length master-quality records that are “radio-ready” and that a label could release “as is.”
   
   
8. THE 1% RULE: When making a record, if we can do anything to make the record even 1 percent better, we will do it as long as it is reasonably feasible.
   
   
9. SIGNAL CHAIN THEORY: In every aspect of operating, we seek to keep everything the “best” – maintaining a pure signal chain. For example, when we record vocals, we don’t just use an incredible converter and mi-pre with a cheap mic. We seek to sue top-of-the-line everything. Accordingly, we strive to find the “best” artist,” match them with the “best” songs, make the “best” record, and approach the “Best” record companies, booking agents and managers. We try to keep “Signal chains” pure in all aspects of operating.
   
   
10. ONE SHOT (RUSH ROUNDS): When we shop artists to different music entities, we typically get one chance to convince them. So we try hard to make sure that all ducks are in a row before approaching them.