Saint Jazzie of B was a highlight at In The City. He was interviewed by Lloyd Bradley (more in him later!) and talked about how Soul2Soul started out.

Two things struck me whilst he was talking. Firstly, that Soul2Soul was very much music of the community - created, produced, refined and promoted by the community. It was rooted in the live experience, not the product form of vinyl or CD. Very similar to folk music where musicians would test their songs in bars and social gatherings in the community. Music as social commentary, not music as product.

In itself, the roots of Soul2Soul came out of the sound systems where musician/music/listener were joined. The sound systems created their ’specials’ - a tune that for all connected to the sound system would define that sound system against others. In effect is was their sonic branding. Everyone would know that tune belonged to that sound system.

Yet Soul2Soul understood the power of branding in more ways than the power of the sonic logo. Their visual emblem is still one of the most recognised logos in music, whilst the collective delivered not just the music but also their merchandise (with their own retail outlet too).

Very much a music collective ahead of their times, balancing smart branding techniques with the need to keeping close to their community roots…and making great music too.

In these times of 360 business models, Soul2Soul is a model that others can learn from.