Most college students don't own their own businesses, let alone multiple businesses. Then again, 20-year-old Frances Lopez is not the average college student. Lopez is the brainchild behind up-and-coming independent record label Tiny Panda Records and the promotions company Fizzle Promotions.
Lopez, a journalism junior at Phoenix College, began Fizzle Promotions in 2006 after becoming friends with gallery owners in the downtown Phoenix music scene. The company books three to five shows per month featuring local and touring bands. She has worked with more than 150 bands from across the U.S. and has booked shows at the Paper Heart Gallery, Trunk Space and Modified Arts.
Tiny Panda Records began in 2007 as a result of the connections Lopez made with bands and record labels through Fizzle Promotions. The record label promotes, releases music and books show for Valley bands.
Lopez currently runs Tiny Panda Records alone, but she didn't start all of this on her own. "A few friends of mine who run other labels and music collectives told me that they would help me get my first few projects off the ground financially," Lopez says in an e-mail.
Lopez now funds Tiny Panda Records almost completely out-of-pocket from her Phoenix home, with occasional help from fundraising shows and donations. She books the majority of her shows at the Trunk Space Gallery on Grand Avenue in Phoenix. Music released under Tiny Panda Records can be found at the Trunk Space, Stinkweeds, Perihelion Arts and all of the shows put on by Fizzle Promotions.
The label has released music from local bands and artists Andrew Jackson Jihad, French Quarter, Daryl Scairiot, Porches, Treasure Mammal, Archbishop Jason Polland and Lopez's own band, Uggamugga, which she plays in with her boyfriend.
Lopez says the company has released albums by some of the best local talent in Phoenix, but she's no elitist when it comes to representing artists. "If someone shows me that they're passionate about their craft and really wants to put out something that they will be proud of, then I am glad to assist then in any way that I can," Lopez says.
Though the first couple of months in business were stressful, Lopez plans on releasing at least one album per month from now on. She is releasing two full-length albums this fall: one from her own band Uggamugga and one from artist Daryl Scairiot.
Tiny Panda Records will release a split compilation album called "Phoenix Meets Seattle" this fall, which features music from 10 Valley bands and 10 groups from the Washington city.
"I want to expose people to music that I love — music that the people I put out are proud of," Lopez says. "If I can help someone distribute their art, their creation, then I will do as much as I can to do so."
