Meet Mike Bravo: Recording Artist & Record Label Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike Bravo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I wanted to create my own space for myself and my creativity. OTR started out as an idea for a lifestyle brand of clothing, and developed into a music label once I started creating music. After doing research on the music industry and seeing how artists were finding themselves in one-sided record deals, I knew I didn’t want to end up in a similar situation, so I decided to take the independent route and create my own entity. I wanted to keep and maintain any creative freedom that myself or anyone associated with OTR had. I wanted to be the master of my own fate and wanted my career and life to be guided by God, and myself.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I always like to call myself an R&B “Artist” instead of “singer”, because all though I mostly sing, I do also rap and compose music, and keep those sounds in the R&B realm. What sets me apart is my prowess as a writer and my story telling ability. I like to think of my musical discography as multiple journal entries, and a look into my life as well as a look into who I am as a person. I spend countless hours working to perfect my craft and create music that people live with. I call my music “Drop top music”, because it is music you can ride around too, late at night, through neighborhoods, downtown in your city, etc. My music is music that is meant to be heard, and music that is made for men and women, young and old. I want to create a safe space where people feel like being themselves is accepted and commended; and I want to create that space through my music, and people relating to it. It definitely has not been easy getting to where we’re at now. I remember many nights, I was left confused and hopeless, wondering if I was just wasting my time. But with the help of my team and through the guidance of God, I was able persevere and continue to create a deep and solid discography of music and develop a solid fanbase/following

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d take them downtown, to the aquarium. Just being around water and seeing nature, is always inspiring and relaxing for me. I’d then take them to a Waffle House downtown, because what’s a trip to Atlanta without visiting a Waffle House? And then I’d take them to Lennox mall, just to shop and be around people. And I’d finish the day off with a nighttime drive around the city, just to clear our head and listen to some music. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shoutout to my partner, Indiana “INDI5HUNNIT” Gonzales. He’s my partner in every sense of the word. Indi works mainly as my producer and recording engineer, but also works as a co-manager for our artists under OTR. Indi allows me to worry about the things that I have to take care of, and provides me with the tools needed for any idea, plan, or experiment I have in mind. Every idea I think, I run it by him and see what he thinks and he gives me genuine and helpful feedback, while also working as a middle man for me and other producers. We work together to help run the label and also manage our artists. He spends time overseeing the music that all of us are dropping, allowing me to focus on the business side of things. As well as producing a majority of my music and engineering all my records. Without Indi, I could not do half of the things I’ve been able to do

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mik3bravo/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MIK3BRAVO

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-dychKXrhL4oCnhzeIps2A