On Prosperity: Gil Gastelum
By Sergio C. Muñoz at Intelatin, LLC
This interview was produced by Sergio C. Muñoz at Intelatin, LLC. It is distributed by Caló. Special thanks to Wil Dog of Ozomatli and to PBS Studios (KLCS) for their pilot feature on our effort for the financial wellness of musicians. AMA: smunoz@intelatin.com
Gil Gastelum
Author’s Note:
I stole a great quote the other day about net worth. It said:
$10M net worth is enough to unlock almost all of the cheat codes, but not so much that you glitch out. You’ve got f-you money without the soul-crushing headaches of real wealth & the burden to do something with it. Everything ahead of you, nothing dragging behind.”
One of the recurring themes in this series, On Prosperity, is referenced in this quote. How much is enough? If you agree that $10M is enough, then there is a fork in that fantasy: To the left: How do I get to $10M? To the right: What do I do upon having $10M? Now, Gil’s job as a manager and as a label head is to help folks like Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, Lila Downs, and others, get to the right side of the fork. For 20 years, he has dedicated himself night and day to doing just that. But, it’s not all fun and games and it took a toll on his personal health. Now, he is trying to self-care himself back to good health.
Sergio: How do you identify?
Chicano. Latino. Mexican American. Gen X. If you call me Hispanic, I might wince. I didn’t mind Latine or Latinx but Hispanic is the one that bothers me because I am also of indigenous blood. Both sides of the family were in Arizona when the border crossed them. To trace it way back, mom’s family were from Jalisco and dad’s family were from Sonora. My last name is the Basque equivalent of Castillo; Gastelum.
Sergio: Please describe your childhood home?
It was a brand new home. Southwest Tucson. A brick house that my family made from scratch. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Across the street from a new elementary school. We had moved from a rough neighborhood in South Tucson. Desert landscape. Snakes, Roadrunners. Beautiful Arizona skies. My folks still live there. They bought the property and had family members and friends design it and build it. Everybody contributed to making that house.
Sergio: Where was your family situated economically?
We were right in the middle, my dad always said we were lower middle class. When I was younger, I would relate to those who didn’t have very much. At 10YO, my mother had permanently joined the workforce. My father was a barber. I was even working by driving a tractor at that age. I think my paternal grandparents broke some labor laws with me. They lived near us and owned a sand and gravel quarry.
Sergio: What did you think about socio-economic prosperity at the time?
I think I felt lucky. I felt like everything was provided for but knew it took hard work. My mother’s family didn’t have very much and when they babysat me, it felt like a different world. It wasn’t comfortable. I couldn’t make the distinction between why we were lucky and why my aunt was illiterate. It was a pretty big juxtaposition.
Sergio: Did you measure wealth by access to swimming pools or air conditioning?
At 10, I thought being in a swamp cooler was prosperity. When I got to California, the concept of being cool and dry was amazing. In Arizona, it could get very steamy, doors would swell, so yes, I would go to public pools a lot as a child.
Sergio: When does music enter your life?
I lived in a town where Linda Ronstadt was everything. Everybody idolized Linda Ronstadt in my family. The women tried to look like her. My father would practice his accordion three hours per day. I would listen to AM Pop Gold. My first concert was Frankie Avalon. Ritchie Valens was such a big thing for me. My parents would listen to oldies but goodies. I loved, “C’mon Let’s Go!” His story and Buddy Holly’s story really impacted me as a child. I played saxophone, electric guitar, In High School I was voted most likely to join Van Halen and play the accordion.
Sergio: Were you a sensitive child?
Yes, still am. I am a llorón.
Sergio: Somewhere somehow you you seemed to have developed a great entrepreneurial sense…
I wasn’t good at having people tell me what to do. I got frustrated a lot with having to explain my passions and tastes to the record companies so 20 years ago as of June 2024, I started Cosmica Artists. My first artist that I signed as a manager was David Garza.
When David first started, they would try to send me to the Latin division and I kept asking these general market A&R reps why if my artists sang in English. The Latin departments would tell me "que es esto?!" when I would play his music. So, I had dreams of being able to have my own label and distro. I took it as a challenge. Since then, I’ve had some great artists signed to Cosmica.
Sergio: It seems to me that you are especially well-suited to female artists…
Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, Lila Downs, yes, we’ve managed to have great critically acclaimed talent at Cosmica. True artists.
Sergio: I want to talk to you about Carla Morrison but first, tell me about where you live currently.
I live in an apartment in Pasadena. It is a nice neighborhood. A little noisy. It is a work in progress and I am a work in progress too. I’m at a crossroads. Its a 70s building. It has a small elevator. It is on the third floor. I live alone. It is a rental.
Sergio: Have you ever owned a home?
I owned a home in Arleta with my ex-wife. We lived in Cupertino for some years and then we purchased a home in Downey, the Beverly Hills for Chicanos. We made all these jumps because of work. After we divorced, my ex-wife kept the home and for some time, I was living in a shoebox and then not too long ago I moved to Pasadena so I now I have a little more room. My apartment is a stop-gap while the rates are where they are. I also spend a lot of time in Oaxaca. It is a city that really captured my heart.
Sergio: Was Carla Morrison on Cosmica when she released “Contigo?”
Yes. A beautiful song on her comeback 2022 record after being gone for a few years but that is not her biggest song. She wrote a song called “Disfruto” in 2012. While she was on hiatus, some kid in Colombia did a remix and it was getting played on the radio. Another DJ did a remix and a Russian label called me for a license because it was enormous in the clubs. It was one of the first times a Spanish language song hit the charts in Russian territories. It became a top five hit in Russia. Artists have made remixes all over the world. That song has been a smash worldwide. You can’t predict that type of success.
Sergio: Wow. Ok, Gil, how do you define prosperity?
After all these years, I’ll always be of-service until I am no longer on this planet. But now that I am 53, I need to get back to being better to myself on a more consistent basis. Self-care. You can’t grind and grind forever. You can’t face resistance forever. Mental, physical, the way I nourish myself I'm finally learning hard work can’t solve everything.