Tisch freshman Evan Candelmo, an entrepreneur in the Clive Davis Institute, recently made moves to launch his next big project — Tigris Records. Coming off a sold-out debut live showcase at Bushwick Public House, Tigris is set to follow a rich NYU tradition of successful on-campus music business ventures.

Back at his high school in Bethesda, Md., Candelmo ran his own music publication, Line-Up Magazine. The magazine featured interviews with dozens of top 40 artists, employed a staff of roughly 60 other students and attracted nearly 50,000 readers per issue, according to Candelmo. Despite the magazine’s accomplishments, Candelmo eventually realized his interests lie outside of journalism. He dropped the operation and decided to attend NYU in order to find inspiration for a new project.

A few months into his freshman year, Candelmo became close with a few other Clive up-and-coming artists, but they needed a help growing their fan base — something Candelmo knew he would be good at. By December 2016, plans were set in motion, and Tigris’ lineup of four student artists looked to hit the stage.

In an interview with WSN, Candelmo described the strategy behind his business’ format.

“The Tigris show will be a bimonthly thing, which will give [my bands] an opportunity to grow their audience in the local scene,” Candelmo said.

Right now they are keeping things quiet with only a month left of school, but Candelmo stressed that his summer will be much busier.

In addition to promoting Tigris’ bands on stage, Candelmo emphasized the importance of a social media presence, which he says many young artists like his own still lack. Ideally, by the time New York’s college students flood into the city in the fall, Tigris will have fully functional social media pages with followings kept up-to-date on the latest shows, track releases and news for each band on the label’s roster.

When asked about the future of Tigris, Candelmo responded with cautious optimism.  

“I think if it gets enough traction, I would love to have an imprint on a bigger label,” Candelmo said. “We’ll have to see, but the debut show was definitely a good start.”  

Tigris still has another three years to establish its NYU presence before Candelmo’s graduation will force it to move off campus, but even in its initial stages, Tigris puts Candelmo in a position that many others with similar aspirations never seem to attain.  

“I think it’s important to follow through on your actions,” Candelmo said.  “My magazine in high school was so successful because I took chances emailing these big artists, and eventually I grew this repertoire and was able to interview top bands. If you’re wanting to start any venture, it starts with asking a question and taking a chance on something.”

Candelmo admitted his fear of rejection while risking failure, but remains optimistic.

“At a certain point, you stop being rejected and you start being embraced if you have something valuable,” Candelmo said.

Email Jacob Fox at [email protected].