I finally did it.

I finally created one of the many companies I’d formed before I reentered Oakwood University. It started as a company called M2M Studios, but this company was formed long before I was even old enough to legally own one. So this was much less a company than it was a ‘paying passion.’ The studio would provide musical services to my fellow classmates, my mother (Doris Carr, world renowned cosmetology entrepreneur; yeah that Doris Carr), and of course for myself. My mission was to build something that was the leader in all things music: from production to live sound to manufacturing to consulting to sound design. I was so focused on this branding strategy that the slogan was literally “If it’s music, I do it.” There was only one problem with this strategy: I was, and still am, only one person. I knew that the company would be large, and I knew it would naturally employ some of the best people for the jobs my company would create, but what I needed was more than just employees clocking in and clocking out. I needed a network of skilled individuals who were already running music businesses themselves to ally with the company to accomplish even greater things.

So in 2011, the company rebranded, and became MSTRO Music. This time the company focused on production for Dont’e Carr as an artist to showcase the technical skillset of the company, and to make necessary connections. After writing 6 albums, producing 4 of those albums and writing countless songs outside of those, MSTRO Music released its first official project entitled “Too Great for Words” in 2012. This release was in tandem with a benefit concert that turned into a tour of 3 cities that the company also produced: Pine Forge, PA; Birmingham, AL; and Richmond, VA. After moving to Birmingham in 2013, MSTRO Music founded a record label named Limitless Group in preparation for a second release. Limitless Group was named after a vocal group that was formed that same year, and that vocal group was set to record the second project until that group dissolved in 2014. Because of this, the project was eventually rewritten for a solo artist, and MSTRO Music resolved to contract work for the next few years. During that time in my personal life, my wife had become pregnant and gave birth to our daughter, and that became my new baby. I’d personally never stopped with music (because honestly, if you know me, you know that is absolutely impossible), but the building of MSTRO Music had went from expansion to maintenance, which can be dangerous for such a young company.

As time went on, I concluded that MSTRO Music is not the most marketable name, even if it did have the best logo I think I’ve ever made. Also, none of the companies or labels I’d started thus far had any legal existence; MSTRO Music was the brand, but Dont’e Carr was the business. This, in addition to 2 more children, a global pandemic that caused multiple job losses which ended up giving me more than double my employment income, vehicle total losses, and the personal release of my single “Abundant,” created opportunity to rebrand again. This time, the rebranding was a pivot into the background where the company belonged in the first place, and elevation of artists, producers, techs, and other advocates that would come aboard.

Aphor Group is born.

Aphor Group, unlike the previous brands, is a global leader in music production community building, whether that is live or recorded. Our mission is connecting the world with the music it makes. This evolution also inspired our slogan: think, create, evolve. The world never stops changing, because change is inevitable. Progress, however, is optional. So as you move through life, experience after experience, never stop evolving.