Fred Bolza founded and launched New Soil in partnership with Marathon Music Group in the Summer of 2020. The founding principle was to consider each artist as unique and to offer each a bespoke blend of strategy, management and label services with a view to constructing the foundations for a sustainable career. Since then the label has seen successful campaigns for Theon Cross, Ill Considered, corto.alto, Balimaya Project and forged innovative partnerships with other independent labels including Jazz re:Freshed, Total Refreshment Centre, Bridge The Gap, Women in Jazz and Mushroom Half Hour in South Africa rapidly positioning itself as a key player in the jazz and jazz adjacent space.

Most recently corto.alto’s Bad With Names was shortlisted for the 2024 Mercury Music Prize and in 2025 the label scored a #1 album with Oscar Jerome’s The Fork. In parallel, Fred manages broadcaster, DJ, label and festival owner Gilles Peterson. Before fully embracing the jazz life he spent over a decade as VP Strategy at Sony Music.