Santa Barbara’s COLD Records, Redefines Drink Consumption

Have you ever experienced those exhilarating chills while listening to your favorite artist live? Picture yourself dancing, holding onto your chilled beverage, eagerly anticipating the performance of a specific song all night.

COLD Records, a unique amalgamation of an alcoholic drink and record label, seamlessly elevates this universal experience. Jeremy Wilson, the creator of COLD Records, said that the product functions as “a record label in a can.” 

“Every time you have a drink, you are actually enabling support for local artists,” said Wilson. A percentage of the revenue from drink sales goes directly to supporting COLD Records’s artists to produce more music and host promotional events.

This isn’t Wilson’s first novel take on a classic experience. He moved to Santa Barbara from New York three years ago, taking his background in entertainment and marketing with him and opening the popular Funk Zone bar Studio Soundroom (STUDIO) in December 2021. Wilson said it was originally supposed to be an office space, but he envisioned something greater. The outcome was a unique take on a bar that stands out amongst others in Santa Barbara for its fun atmosphere emblematic of a quaint garage gathering, plus a modern neon light display. 

Like STUDIO, COLD Records was a product of Wilson’s visionary mindset. While imagining COLD Records, Wilson approached the business by asking himself how he could change the way people consume alcoholic beverages.

He recognized that most people purchase drinks without thinking about where their beverage comes from. So, he wanted to give consumers a choice to control where their money goes, especially while purchasing alcoholic beverages that are usually marked up at bars and restaurants. If you choose to buy a COLD Records beverage, you’ll be supporting local artists, thus adding value to your experience. “People who consume it infuse a bit more value for themselves as a consumer and the music community as a whole,” Wilson said.

COLD Records collaborated with local House Music producers as part of their inaugural release. They produced their first dance music compilation called “COLD Summer //001,” with artists Grace Bones, Traveler, PatrickReza, Miramar, and Seanathan. “We want to make sure we have great experiences and launch parties around the tracks themselves,” Wilson said. “We definitely want to play with how people experience and perceive ‘what is a music release,’ so when tracks come out, how can we deliver them in fresh and different ways?”

COLD Records is currently focused on promoting local artists. Still, Wilson plans to expand the business beyond Santa Barbara and go up and down the coast, exploring different artists and music genres.

Refining the product required navigating a demanding crafting process to guarantee the creation of premium alcoholic beverages. Wilson said that the original crafting process involved a lot of flavor science to land on a fresh drink that was low in sugar and had minimal to no aftertaste. After many rounds of trial and error, he chose a watermelon hard seltzer, a kiwi-pineapple hard seltzer — an ode to his New Zealand roots — at 5 percent alcohol content, and a session cerveza at 4 percent alcohol. Wilson didn’t take risks when it came to flavors. “We want to make sure that it had a wide appeal so everyone could enjoy it,” he said. There are more flavors currently in the works.

COLD Records is still in the beginning phase. However, if you are hoping to give it a try, be on the lookout for the recognizable matte green, pink, or white cans with the brand name across the drink — a QR code is printed on each can that links to the latest COLD Records tracks. You can purchase the product at Studio Sound or various local bars, restaurants, and stores throughout Santa Barbara.

“Being able to connect people’s consumption choices with the music they love or the music they would love to support is definitely at the heart of the company,” said Wilson.

For more information about the product and  COLD Records artists see, studiosoundroom.com/cold-records.