AVIDITY: MAKING MUSIC MATTER
BY CATHERINE VEGA | June 1, 2020
Kensington's lifelong love-affair with making music began at a young age where he learned he could capitalize on his natural aptitude for music by turning his passion into a career. Kensington has since found versatility and longevity in his work, and today claims that his most rewarding and defining professional accomplishment was the conception of his label Avidity back in 2019.
In 2019, Avidity began as a small seed of an idea sowed by a group of passionate and like-minded artists. Kensington and his collaborators saw an opportunity to expand their brand city-wide in a relatively untapped and fertile market. Within its first few months of operation, the label saw exponential growth, partnering with popular venues across the city and providing citizens of Los Santos with high-quality musical entertainment. Avidity single-handedly established the nightlife music market as a profitable one, and paved the way for the development of future independent recording labels such as SoundLS and Flex Next.
Kensington admits that he had a hard time shouldering the increasing responsibility inherent in the growth of his label. The pressures of and preoccupation with legal and corporate deals granted Kensington less and less time to focus on what really mattered: making music. Kensington recalls that he "was in a need of a break after building the company from the ground up on [his] own," and so he made the difficult decision to resign from Avidity. With no one else to assume leadership of the label, just as quickly as it found success, Avidity was no more, and the city was left in silence.
A year later, Kensington returned to the city after taking some time to himself. Like all passions, his love for music was eternal, and he returned to Los Santos longing for a creative outlet for his artistic expression. Flex Next and SoundLS were the two record labels operating at the time Kensington returned to Los Santos -- Flex Next dominated the market and had established itself as the major record company within the city, whereas SoundLS, owned by Terra Group, was a relatively small and new endeavour. Fearful of the same corporate pressure he succumbed to in his own label, Kensington veered away from the large-scale, industrialized Flex Next, and seized the opportunity to work for the smaller company whose values seemed more closely to align with his own. And it was under SoundLS where Kensington found the creative outlet he was searching for. DJ Korrupt began working event after event, club after club, set after set. He was back home in his booth, doing what he loved. His passion and talent were contagious to everyone around him.
It's almost an inevitable fact of history that it should repeat itself, and so before long, SoundLS starting growing. Seemingly out of no where, Kensington was thrust into the position of Director of Operations. But drawing from his past experiences, Kensington seized this opportunity to really make a difference and to give back to the industry that gave him so much. He welcomed the responsibilities of his position, genuinely believing he could make a positive impact. But... he was wrong.
Power-hungry and full of capital greed, SoundLS quickly abandoned its core values that had initially attracted Kensington to the label. He became a corporate guinea pig, doing the dirty work of higher-ups whose only concern was turning a profit. His art was censored, his ambitions stifled, his soul crushed. This wasn't what he wanted... this was exactly what he ran away from in the first place! He wanted to be apart of something more than just filling a quota at the end of the month; to be something more than a statistic. He missed the old, small-scale, family-run Avidity, where everyone knew each other's name; where the work was fulfilling and impactful. And so seeing no other choice, Kensington resigned from SoundLS, leaving behind the security and uniformity of a steadfast six-figure corporate job.
As if in a fortunate stroke of serendipity, a couple weeks after resigning, SoundLS filed for bankruptcy. A free and uninhibited man, Kensington reunited once again with his long-lost lover: Avidity. This time, following the beat of his own drum. And as we live and breathe today, three months later, Avidity has grown tenfold and has once again monopolized the nightlife entertainment industry as we know it. But this time, by putting the music first.
"I personally don't see any competing labels as a threat to our business," Kensington admits today. "We just do our own thing and let the music speak for itself. Nothing lasts forever, and right now we're just enjoying the ride."
With current residencies in eight of the hottest nightclubs in Los Santos, a diverse and reputable roster of renowned DJs, an unmatched and ever-expanding clientbase, and a humble and incredibly passionate leader, Avidity has proven to be an unstoppable force. If its fervid and eclectic history is any indicator of the impacts of its future, this is certainly one label to watch out for.
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