A Miami Label Handed Back Its Masters. Now It’s Looking to Florida for What Comes Next.

The message arrived on Instagram. XHOSEN, an artist from Fort Pierce, FL, about to start his freshman year of college, reached out to Valholla Records. His music soon landed in the inbox of the label’s founder, Vince Valholla.

“When I heard his music, I was impressed, and I saw how much potential he had,” Vince says. “He performed in multiple genres, and I have a way of spotting talent.”

A call followed, in which Vince explained how the label works and how the two might collaborate. Songs came next. One of the first completed is “Right Path,” a collaboration between XHOSEN and Vince & The Valholla Empire, produced by Vince, Chris Angel and StayLookingOut. It is set for release on Oct. 6.

For a label that has spent two decades in the business, it is a modest beginning. It is also a deliberate one. Vince, a Miami-born record producer who has been developing artists since the early 2000s, no longer runs his company the way he built it.

Valholla Records emerged from Miami in the late 2000s and grew through the 2010s. Among its most successful artists was Kirby Maurier, the Miami R&B singer-songwriter whose 2015 debut album, “Doing the Most,” ranked among the highest-selling independent R&B albums in the South Atlantic region that year. In 2023, the label announced it would revert the masters of every artist previously signed to it and adopted a new approach that Vince calls “label is the artist.”

“The music business was changing, and I had to figure out a way to operate in a way that still felt fun for me, while being fair to those we collaborate with,” he says.

The model does away with signing artists. The label instead produces singles and projects, largely with collaborators commissioned by the label or by Vince himself, so it no longer depends on a signed roster to make music. Everyone involved keeps their independence.

“This model has made me fall in love with music again, because I get to produce music in multiple genres and work with artists I probably would never have been able to,” he says.

He had already put the idea to the test. In late 2022, Vince began releasing music through a rotating collective, Vince & The Valholla Empire, starting with FOREVER. Since then, he has released new music at least once every six weeks on average, and the collective has generated more than 3 million streams across platforms.

Vince has worked with artists across the United States and abroad. Now he wants to point the model back toward home. “I want to work with new artists in Florida, and with this model, I can do it without locking artists into long-term contracts,” he says. “I can collaborate with them on a song or a project. No strings attached. I think I can help artists while providing a platform that we weren’t given when we were coming up.”

XHOSEN, in his view, is the proof of concept. “With my focus pointing back to Florida, I think XHOSEN is a great way to show we still know how to introduce artists to the world, just like we did from the beginning,” Vince says. “We’re also able to work with him while he still maintains his independence.”

For his part, XHOSEN sees the partnership as validation of a different way of coming up. “We’re the new wave — others stay looking to find the next instead of making their own,” he says. “Vince has seen and heard my vision and has done nothing but strengthen the wave and tunnel vision for where we’re about to take this. That type of generosity and partnership is rare entirely. We’re taking off, and for a label to meet in the middle and put their all into a project is all an artist could ask for. I’m proud and excited for what this is about to grow into.”

Valholla Records has stayed active through years of upheaval in the independent music business. After building with artists around the world, it now plans to put down new roots in its home state.

“Right Path” by XHOSEN with Vince & The Valholla Empire arrives Oct. 6. It is available to pre-save on Spotify and to pre-order on iTunes.