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The Eyes of the Entrepreneurs series is dedicated to empowering artists to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset in taking responsibility for their art and their career. More than ever before,musicians are their own businesses. Each week we feature notable guest artists and industry figures, who will discuss the paths they took in developing their vision and life in music, as well concepts like authenticity and integrity, skill development, community building, networking, and more.

Known for a distinctive vintage sound and stellar house band, Daptone Records has become one of the world’s premier independent record labels, with an impressive roster of artists including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley, The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, and Antibalas.

Neal Sugarman grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and played saxophone for punk rock bands Boys Life and Black Cat Bone during the 1980s. He moved to New York in the early 1990s to pursue jazz. After a stint in New Orleans playing with musicians including Eddie Henderson and Mike Longo, Sugarman returned to New York and formed a funk band with organist Adam Scone and drummer Rudy Albin. The trio, named The Sugarman 3, were influenced by artists such as "Brother" Jack McDuff and The Meters.

The story of Daptone's first decade is one of struggle and perseverance and, ultimately, one of family. Though it was formally launched in 2001, the foundation was laid by Roth's previous label, the now infamous Desco Records, on which saxophonist Sugarman had released his first two LP's under the name Sugarman Three. Roth and then-partner Philip Lehman had developed not only a reputation for gritty, idiosyncratic soul and funk records, but more importantly the beginnings of what would become the family of musicians at the core of the Daptone story. After Desco closed it's doors in 2000, Roth bounced from one fruitless temp job to another, unsure of his next move but certain starting another label wasn't it. "I knew that I liked making records - that was fun ­- but I'd had my fill of the record business."

Meanwhile, Sugarman had come to Roth to produce a third Sugarman Three album, Pure Cane Sugar, and had been similarly frustrated by unfruitful negotiations with independent labels to release it.  "At some point Neal and I sat down and said, 'Let's just do this ourselves.'" The new partnership came with a caveat: "I told him,'Look man, I don't like the record industry,' Roth remembers. "'I'm down to be partners with you, but it'll have to be your job to actually sell the records, because I do not enjoy that." Sugarman was hesitant initially, unsure of his ability to make the transition from musician to business owner, but eventually he assented, and the two steadily set about navigating the industry by following their own compass. Their first releases were proper issues of Dap-Dippin' and Pure Cane Sugar, accompanied by a flurry of 45's from the same sessions, all sold from the kitchen table of Sugarman's Brooklyn apartment.

"I want people to know, when they buy a Daptone record, that it's gonna be something that makes them feel good," Sugarman says, "and have a certain feeling and a certain sincerity and a certain rawness you need to make good music."

This is Daptone's legacy: music made for love, not for market pressure or trend-hopping. But, by relentlessly operating outside a structure they saw as alternately absurd or corrupt, Roth and Sugarman have set a template for succeeding on one's own terms. "I hope people get inspiration from the spirit of it – the idea of doing stuff independently and doing it on your own way, and not falling into any of the prescribed rules and formulas," Gabe Roth says.

After twelve years in business, Daptone Records has remained proudly independent: weathering financial hardships, industry pressures and fickle trends, and emerging stronger and more reliable than labels four times their size. To hear Roth tell it, the secret is simple: "We were able to stay rooted in this idea that people want to hear good music. And that's our business plan: We're gonna try to make really good records. Period."