Burning Man art car Titanic's End is launching a record label, Titanic's End Records.
Justin Kahn and Nicholas Parasramlabel co-founders, they say Bulletin board the project will help fund the annual cost of transporting the art car to Burning Man. A portion of the label's profits will also go to the Big Arts Organization, a registered 501(c) nonprofit created by Titanic's End to create public art and raise awareness of climate change.
Titanic's End Records will focus on house, Afro house and world music, with singles coming from the collective of DJs and producers that exist in the community, as well as out-of-this-world artists. “Success for us is helping artists bring the sounds we hear to a wider audience in the world,” says Parasram.
Distribution is by Warner Music Group's independent label and artist services. Coming in January, the first release, due out in January, will be a collaboration track from producers JK, Arabic Piano, ORSO and Maejor.
Kan, a tech entrepreneur who also co-founded Twitch, and Parasram, an artist manager and investor, also recently launched Thin Ice Entertainment, which focuses on talent management, content publishing and distribution. The art car itself is a co-creation of Kan and the businessman Eddie Sellers. Designed in the shape of an iceberg, it was built in San Francisco by more than 200 volunteers from the Titanic's End Burning Man camp and will debut at Burning Man in 2022.
Known as a Burning Man art car with one of the highest quality sound systems at the event, Titanic's End has hosted sets from LP Giobbi, Diplo, Acraze, Tokimonsta, Francis Mercier and many other producers from the global Titanic's End community.
Like many of the other biggest and loudest art cars at Burning Man, Titanic's End also hosts events around the world and plans to showcase artists at parties currently planned for 2025. (In October 2023, it made an appearance (on set by Fisher and Chris Lake that took over Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and drew an estimated crowd of 12,000.)
Kahn says “all the activities [outside of Burning Man]from Titanic's End Records to events we host ourselves, go to our non-profit to help fund bringing Titanic's End to the playa every year.”
The label's founders add that the group is also focused on creating opportunities for artists from various industries to showcase their art to the world. “Music is one area,” Kan says, “but we're also excited about sculpture and large-scale LED art and creating more in-person events that introduce culture to more people.”
“We're very excited to launch this label,” adds Parasram, “because our community has worked so hard to build Titanic's End into a symbiotic platform, and the label is our final piece of the puzzle for a truly connected [inside/outside Burning Man] experience.”
