About Us
By Artists - For Artists
Raticle Records is an independent record label built for artists who don’t fit neatly into boxes, and don’t want to.
We work at the intersection of sound, culture, and experimentation, partnering with musicians who push ideas forward and treat music as both craft and conversation. From first release to long-term growth, we focus on thoughtful development, creative freedom, and sustainable careers—not quick trends or disposable hits.
Our approach is hands-on and collaborative. We believe the best records come from trust, clarity, and a willingness to take risks. That means transparent deals, real creative input, and a shared commitment to doing things the right way, even when it’s the harder way.
Raticle Records exists simply to release music that actually means something.
Our Story
Raticle Records started the way a lot of good things do: out of frustration.
Rene Balkosens and ERLE had both spent years navigating the music industry from the inside through mulitple succesful alias's, watching the same patterns repeat over and over. Pay-to-play deals dressed up as “opportunities.” Labels taking the lion’s share while offering little to no creative input, no real promotion, and zero long-term vision. Artists doing all the work, carrying all the risk, and still ending up with splits that somehow favored the label.
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It wasn’t just unfair & it was downright lazy.
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Too many labels had stopped acting like partners and started acting like toll booths. If you paid enough, you got a release. If you didn’t, you were ignored. Creativity was sidelined. Development was nonexistent. Promotion was promised and rarely delivered. And somehow, the artist was still expected to be grateful.
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So Rene and ERLE decided to build the thing they wished had existed.
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Raticle Records was created as a direct response to that broken system. Where creative freedom isn’t a marketing phrase but a real priority. Where promotion actually means effort, strategy, and follow-through. And where splits make sense, because partnership should actually feel like one.
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