UnLeadership

41Gold Record Leadership

Joel Carriere is the owner of Dine Alone Records, Bedlam Music Management, and New Damage Records. Launched in 2005, Dine Alone is a Canadian and American independent record label and event space, founded in St. Catharines and Toronto and now based in Toronto, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Joel has worked with artists such as Alexisonfire, City and Colour, Bedouin Soundclash, the Lumineers, and Arkells and new artists NOBRO, Cam Kahin, and EKKSTACY. Joel also happens to be our son Aidan’s boss (“The best boss I’ve ever had”).

(Highlights from our interview, recorded July 27, 2023.)

GROWING UP, I HAD A lot of interests, but music was always in the foreground. I was always the guy making mixed tapes at a young age and bringing cassettes to parties. I started going to concerts in my early teens, and they were the greatest thing I'd ever experienced. Everyone was together in the moment, enjoying it. There were no phones back then, so the experience was more about togetherness than individual moments.

Being from St. Catharines, I didn't have a lot of examples to guide me, or at least I didn't think I did at the time. I got a job at a record store and learned the ins and outs of the business, about buying patterns and taking risks in buying. The more passionate I was, the more I sold. I wasn't trying to be a salesperson; I just wanted people to check out the music I loved. A rep from Polygram gave me a shot right out of college as a customer service representative. ...