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Syracuse University has years of musical accolades: WAER became the county’s first low-power FM station, The Velvet Underground’s Lou Reed received the university’s George Arents Pioneer Medal and the Jabberwocky nightclub served up music in the Kimmel Hall basement. SU is now home to many student-run music venues.

Music has always been a big part of SU’s culture, said senior music industry major Gabi Nalon. For the last two decades, Syracuse University Records has continued this longstanding reputation.

“It creates a big community through music,” SU Records president Nalon said, “(It) gives a chance for our students to release their music and have promotion as well as all of us in the label gain hands-on experience.”

Though SU Records is a class in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, it functions more like an organization, said Nalon. Overseen by Professor Gregg Barron, the “staff” of 22 students gain industry experience by helping emerging artists with releases, audience growth and live performances at their very own record label.

SU Records was founded nearly 20 years ago, but has rebranded itself over the past two semesters with Nalon as president. The class doubled in size compared to the fall, and the number of auditions they received has quadrupled, Nalon said. Every time the label meets for class, they treat it like a staff meeting, Nalon said.

“I didn’t know much when I started. I entered the class, and the professor explained it to us and I was like, ‘Wait, this is actually super cool and we need to be on the map,’ because this gives a lot of hands-on experience if you lock in,” Nalon said.

This semester, SU Records partnered with Labelcaster, a Swedish music distribution service and The Orchard, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment.

Both companies reached out unprompted to SU Records. They offer lectures to the class, one-on-one industry advice and Labelcaster works closely with the label and their artists on promotion and release strategy.

“It’s kind of intimidating because they don’t act like they’re doing us a favor. They see us as equals that they’re working with. But, I feel like it’s been really rewarding,” Vice President Sofia Quintero said. “We’ve put a lot of work into just making a name for SU Records and our artists, so it’s nice to see it being rewarded with these opportunities.”

A year ago, many Setnor School of Music students weren’t familiar with SU Records. Now, the label has gained traction across campus, Quintero said.

“It’s like introducing a whole new crowd of people to what SU Records is as well within the music school, because we made such a big name for it,” Quintero said.

Five artists, who are current students and SU alums, are signed with SU Records; Nancy Dunkle and Passing grade initially signed in the fall, and Grace Ferguson, Katie Lee and BEN SCOTT signed this semester. Because the artists are in various stages of their careers, SU Records helps them in different ways.

SCOTT, a musician who combines alternative rock, indie and folk, receives marketing and promotional help from SU Records, Quintero said. The Los Angeles-based artist and SU alum’s cover of “The Bug Collector” has nearly 10 million streams on Spotify.

SU Records is helping Lee, who’s in an early stage of her music career, become an established artist by creating her Spotify and Apple Music pages, Quintero said.

“Everybody’s very dedicated to pushing SU Records to get known and our artists to get known. We have a lot of amazing artists, and I can’t say that I’m above them,” Nalon said. “That’s one of the most amazing things about SU Records, is that we all support each other, help each other and believe in each other.”

Syracuse University senior Henry Powers is a member of SU Records and Albany-based band Passing grade. By being part of both groups, Powers can focus on making music and promoting his band. Courtesy of Asia Lising

Henry Powers, an SU senior studying music industry, is both a staff member of SU Records and a signee. Powers is the lead singer and bassist of Passing grade, an Albany-based indie rock band that he started with his high school friends in 2022. Like SU Records, the band was going through its own rebrand this fall, so it made sense to send an audition to the label, Powers said.

Powers grew up playing instruments — piano, trumpet and Irish penny whistle — and began practicing bass during his senior year of high school. He originally applied to SUNY ESF to become a park ranger, but deferred his acceptance for a year and eventually decided to apply to the Setnor School of Music at SU.

The label has helped Passing grade with marketing, by creating posters and social media posts, which helps Powers focus more on the music, he said. SU Records frees him up for songwriting and practice, Powers said.

When the whole band is on campus — Powers is the only member attending SU — they play shows in the area. Last semester, the band spent a weekend recording in the Belfer Audio Archive studio on campus.

Powers said it’s “clutch” to be in the class in case the label has any pressing questions for his band.

“The SU Records thing is certainly helping with visibility because we’ve got shows that we have to do every semester. We have to post every semester,” Powers said. “Gabi’s been really good at turning heads to this thing.”

Primarily through social media outreach and live events, the label now draws more attention across campus and even inside VPA, Nalon said.

SU Records has partnered with Z89 radio station for interviews with their artists to promote their work. The artists also perform their own “Tiny Desk”-inspired acoustic concert sets in partnership with the Reel Talk Agency, which records the performances. This Friday, Lee, Ferguson, Dunkle and Powers will perform these stripped-down sets. Since SU Records doesn’t have any formal funding, all the revenue from their events goes toward artist promotion and publicity, Nalon said.

All five SU Records artists will have new singles out by the end of the semester, Nalon said. SCOTT released “Say My Name” on Tuesday, and Passing grade’s “Madrid” releases March 28.

“Music is something that connects deeply with everybody. People have different genres that they like, but they will connect somehow,” Nalon said. “Music helps people, no matter what time they’re going through it, if you’re happy, if you’re sad, if you’re angry, music helps.”

Quintero said many SU Records members forget it’s a class because they’re in it for “the love of the game.” Nalon and Quintero both said their biggest goal is for the artists to succeed.

“I’ve always seen it as about the artist, and I hope they see it as such too and that they feel like SU Records has been helping them grow,” Quintero said.

Published on February 25, 2026 at 11:20 pm
Contact Joel: jdpelach@syr.edu