One thing it’s safe to say about Defected is they have little tolerance for failure – it’s how they remain here whilst almost all of their fellow labels in the 1990s don’t. Meaning that when Simon Dunmore decided to put the backing of his empire into afro-house offshoot Sondela, the label had no choice but to succeed.

Sondela got off to a ropey start once it emerged the two people running it were Sef Kombo and Louie Dunmore – who just happens to be one half of The Dunmore Brothers, an act increasingly getting pushed by the Defected machine. Like most things to do with Defected, Sondela was going to be part record label and part events company – as previously reported by Ears To The House, they currently run free parties at Bora Bora Beach Club every Monday.

Sources close to Defected tell us Simon Dunmore has been taking more of a personal interest in Sondela over the past few months – hence why more things are now happening. Aside from the free parties, the label has a steady release schedule which appears to operate on placing credibility ahead of sales – modelled on the same strategy Simon Dunmore used in his early days at the notorious AM:PM Records in the mid-90s.

However, this cautious approach didn’t stop label boss Sef Kombo from tweeting this over the weekend…

Reached the 1st 1 Million Streams on Spotify as a label 🫡

Thank you all

— Sef Kombo (@SefKombo) July 24, 2022

One million Spotify streams, you say? This sounds impressive until you consider just how much a million streams on Daniel Ek’s notoriously cheapskate site is worth. According to a royalty calculator we used online, a million streams would be worth roughly £3,445. Spotify keeps 30% of that as standard – reducing the amount further to £2,412.

And how the remainder is split is something which can only be worked out by those with access to Defected’s own contracts with their artists. Our conclusion? A long game strategy is very much at work here…