Meet Bulat Nasibullin | Music Marketing Agency CEO and Founder

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

Hi Bulat, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m from everywhere and nowhere in particular!

I was born in Russia, moved to England when I was 12, then to Canada at 22, moved down to the States at 27, back to Canada at 34 and now back down to Los Angeles at 35. As much as I hate to admit it, my background and upbringing had a profound impact on who I am today. Not only in my worldview, but also cultural pre-dispositions, political views, career choice, life-partner choice, the emotional baggage and many other things that maybe even I don’t recognize in myself.

Coming from a dysfunctional family, I always tried to run away from my past and pretend like it isn’t there until I was forced to confront it all in therapy. At the end of the day the apple does not fall too far from the tree and all these experiences made me who I am today, the good and the bad.

What should our readers know about your business?
Well I recently started a new one – NELA Records. It’s a music marketing agency dedicated to helping musicians build their fan bases and live their dreams. What sets us apart is that we are up front with people, too many music promotion services are super sketchy, there are so many scams out there with Spotify playlists, bogus press, or promoters that do nothing for you, and having fallen victim to some of these things myself, I knew that honesty and integrity with my fellow musicians is of great importance to me and to the business.

My wife and I have started a successful online service business previously and we learned so many skills that can be easily transferred to any business. Of course there are challenges and hard work, always. But you have to look forward and try to improve day to day as opposed to dwelling on the mistakes of the past. Of course we also learned a lot about customer service, human resources, online marketing, SEO, work-life balance, impostor syndrome, how to deal with anxiety, fear, depression, pandemics, etc.

NELA Records is a culmination of everything that i have learned by being a musician for 15 years. I have thought about giving up many times, regretting most of the choices I have made from the age of 16 till now but at the end of the day all the skills that I learned are the reason I built a music marketing agency. So the story is keep learning, nothing is wasted if you learnt something.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well I live in Los Angeles so a week is just not enough!

First things first, some of the surf spots. As a surfer, first thing is sunrise surf somewhere north of Malibu maybe Leo Carillo state park or even as far as Santa Barbara if you got the time. If you’re gonna drive up all the way to Santa Barbara, you might as well go to some wineries like Babcock Winery. Incredible scenery, great food and wine.

I live in North East Los Angeles (Highland Park, Mount Washington, Eagle Rock etc.) hence the name NELA Records, there are so many great spots for food and culture honestly anywhere on York Blvd or Figueroa will do.
Definitely check out Pasadena, old houses, beautiful old center with shops, restaurants, Cal Tech campus or take a hike up San Gabriel mountains if that’s your fancy.

You can always drive to Vegas for a night out. Forget Hollywood Blvd, it smells and you are quite likely to get killed there! It’s only about 4 hour drive through a beautiful desert and then sin city in all it’s glory! You should go on a weekday, it’s a lot less crowded and a much better experience.

If you have any energy left, why not, let’s go to the Hollywood sign and take a picture, when in Rome as they say. It will be crowded and kind of a pain but the view is pretty stellar.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This one is going to be a little weird but bear with me! This Shoutout is to a guy called Fish from the band BadCamper. A while back I messaged him trying to desperately get my song on one of his playlists… He gave me some advice and a nudge towards indepreneur.io which teaches music marketing through Facebook/Instagram ads and 3 years later I run a Music Marketing Agency – NELA Records where I help people achieve their dreams.

So here is to Fish and Indepreneur!

Website: www.nelarecords.net

Instagram: @nelarecords

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bulat-nasibullin-52391353/

Facebook: @nelarecords

Image Credits
Neil Stephenson