Land Sky Records is an umbrella of independent record labels, film production companies, and brands, launching across North America, the United Kingdom, and Africa under one shared, artist-first model, founded by Jeremiah Otis, an artist who lived the alternative first.
Founder Jeremiah Otis, known on stage as J. Otis, began as an independent artist in 2015, earning real streaming numbers and playing everything from major stages and conferences to small local venues, with no label opening a single one of those doors. Every opportunity was self-made. In 2020, he enrolled in the Music Industry Arts program at Algonquin College, studying recording arts, music theory, and psychology alongside the business and law that actually govern the industry. That's where the real education began.
Traditional record deals trace back to vinyl-pressing agreements, where the money went to the label and artists were left with a fraction of it: historically as little as 2% for artists of colour against 8% for their white peers, all clawed back against an advance before a dollar reached the artist. When streaming replaced physical sales, labels answered with the 360 deal: every stream, tour, and merch sale routed through the label, with the artist keeping only 10 to 15% until an ever-growing advance was repaid, a debt that, by design, rarely was.
LSR still uses a 360 structure, but split fairly, and without the debt trap. 80% of earnings go toward the label's costs and the artist's advance; the artist keeps 20% outright. Once that balance is half paid down, the split moves to 50/50 for the rest of the term. Advances are delivered as credited services (studio time, marketing, production), not cash handed over to be spent recklessly, which is how most artists end up buried in debt. LSR never holds an artist's masters, full stop. Contracts run four years, for up to three albums of 60 to 90 minutes each: long enough to build a career, short enough that no one is locked in for life.
The same handful of corporations that control recorded music also dominate film, journalism and media, and fashion, and they keep each industry walled off from the others. Jeremiah designed the LSR model to change the operating structure itself: instead of competing in isolation, entrepreneurs across every creative industry collaborate under one umbrella and build each other up.
LSR is a joint venture. Every partner keeps full ownership of their own company and its name, and becomes a shareholder in the franchise. In return, they agree to operate under the LSR structure (fair deals, credited services, artist ownership) and gain the right to carry the Land Sky Records name and brand to lift their own business as part of the collective. Each region is led by a director who brings in successful, like-minded owners from their own country.
When labels, film companies, and brands share one roof, the barriers the big corporations put between industries disappear.
Fashion and merch lines get artist placements, and artists get wardrobe, styling, and their own collections.
Artists get music videos from partner filmmakers, and filmmakers get sync licenses to score their projects with the catalogue.
Studios and engineers support film and media partners with sound design, mixing, and audio post.
Every collaboration is promoted by every department involved. One release, many audiences.
Partners keep their own brands while carrying the LSR name, so a small business stands with the weight of an international collective.
Franchise home office. A&R, production, and department standards originate here, with partners across the country in every department.
UK headquarters, building a network of independent partners across England and the wider UK.
African headquarters, bringing Uganda's independent artists, filmmakers, and brands into the collective.
Before anything else launches, LSR is establishing its charity, the engine that will fund every social impact project across all three regions. The plan is simple: build up the community first, and let everything else grow from there.
Educational programming, plus tuition support so cost is never the reason someone can't join the Incubation Program.
Sports programs, clothing drives, and donations that meet everyday needs in the communities we come from.
Production and media support that helps fellow charities tell their story and reach more people.
Reporting that elevates the local initiatives that matter most in each region.
Language, spiritual teachings, natural medicines, legends and stories, knowledge traditionally passed down from generation to generation, has been pushed toward extinction by centuries of colonial assimilation under English, Spanish, and French rule. LSR is documenting our Elders' knowledge and life stories on film, so it can be revived and shared rather than lost forever.
Each region is led by a director who recruits and supports the partners in their country. More executives are joining the council and will be announced soon.
Artist, producer, and architect of the LSR model.
UK rapper and grime MC; founder of GFE Music and the GFE765 clothing brand.
Artist, filmmaker, and CEO of Ja Know Media.
A franchise of independent labels, studios and brands, launching across North America, the UK, and Africa.