Sure, on the surface, an English degree may not seem ideal for a budding entrepreneur in the music business, but it’s working for Jason Edelstein ’18.

Beyond the classroom, Edelstein’s life was filled with music: Making it (he had a band), listening to it (he’d attend live performances), and falling in love with it.

When he describes the aura of campus as he recalls it, you can hear that love in his voice.

“CC was one of the most exciting scenes for music I’ve seen to this day — nothing else like it,” Edelstein says. “There were eight houses that had shows with fantastic student bands. There were 35 bands that played regularly — that’s a lot from a college with 2,000 people.”

He also felt support for his own music. His band played at CC and raised enough money to fund a tour of the East Coast. “Having that support from the college was foundational for me to continue to play,” he says.

He remembers spending a lot of time in the Music Department, which housed a new recording studio where he learned the finer points of music production.

And all that time spent in Armstrong Hall as an English major studying and creating fictional characters has helped Edelstein with the branding of his label and artists.

“Music fans today desire a more three-dimensional product; it’s not just about the record, it’s about the band that made it. We’re working directly with our artists to discover and elucidate captivating stories and engage their audiences in the full dimensionality of their brand.”

The real problem he soon found after graduating and moving to Denver, Colorado, was that the city had throngs of good bands, but their music wasn’t getting heard beyond the state’s borders.

To help those bands, Edelstein and his business partner, Andrea Hoang, started The Salt Lick Records in 2021. The label includes  a professional studio, sound engineering, cinematography, and a monthly online concert series called “Songs from the Pond” that showcases the music.

“The label was born out of my own experience after college, releasing my own music during the pandemic, sending it out into the void and not breaking through the small bubble,” Edelstein says. “We’ve now officially signed some bands and we’re creating content and filming promos and videos. I’m excited about where we can take them.”

And in a full circle effort, he wants to bring some of his artists to the CC campus.

“I’d like to see how we can help students revitalize the campus’s music scene. I think that would be a lot of fun.”

Learn more at thesaltlickdenver.com.