“I am the label, the A&R and the person who says no”: Mike Sain't Louis on running a one-man record company

Madrid, 25 October 2026. — Most independent musicians still have someone to answer to: a distributor with opinions, a manager with a spreadsheet, a small label with a release calendar. Mike Sain't Louis has none of these. The indie alternative artist, based in Madrid, presents himself as “the first AI singer-songwriter” and runs every part of his project, PLANETA GAYFOLK, from a label of one: MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS. He is its lyricist, composer, producer, artistic director and CEO. He writes every lyric; the music and the vocal performance are generated with artificial intelligence, a production tool he directs. He does not sing, and the voice on his records is AI-generated. In roughly two years he has released 273 singles and more than 280 music videos, all free to download. We spoke to him about what total independence really looks like.

The org chart is a single name

You are the artist, the label and the boss. What does a working day look like?

It looks like a lot of hats on one head. In the morning I'm the lyricist, crossing out a verse for the fifth time. By night I'm the CEO deciding whether the song comes out at all. Nobody signs off on anything except me. That is wonderful and also slightly terrifying.

Why no record label?

Because I didn't want anyone between the words and the people who hear them. No intermediaries, no one telling me a song is too explicit, too camp, too sad, too long. If a lyric of mine is rude, it is rude on purpose. If a song is strange, it's strange on purpose. A label would have asked me to sand the edges off. The edges are the point.

What's the hardest job in a one-person company?

Saying no to yourself. From one lyric the tool can give me many versions, sometimes dozens. I listen once with the lyric in front of me and once without, and I ask whether I could take dictation from what I hear. If the key word, the punchline or the name of the ex gets blurred, that version goes, however pretty it is. There's no A&R person to protect me from my own enthusiasm, so I have to be my own strictest listener.

Freedom to make something almost silent

“Lai” barely has lyrics. Would a label have released it?

Probably not, and that's exactly why I'm glad I didn't have to ask. Most of my songs live and die by their words. “Lai” is the opposite: a handful of English words drifting past, serene, veil, dream, shine, mist, hush, and a refrain that is pure sound:

“Lara-li, loora-li, Lai...”

It's a lullaby-shaped thing, all glimmer and fade. People who know me for jokes about exes are sometimes surprised by it. But independence isn't only the freedom to be loud. It's also the freedom to be quiet when you feel like it.

A love letter with no permission slip

“The Queen of Pop” is a tribute to Madonna. How does a one-person label approach an icon?

With devotion and with honesty. It's my personal and independent tribute to Madonna. From my universe, Planet GayFolk, I reinterpret one of the most powerful figures in music through a conceptual, cinematic lens: retro aesthetics, queer art, electronic nostalgia. It isn't imitation. It's devotion turned into performance art, a love letter from one artist to another, from freedom to rebellion.

Why does independence matter for a song like that?

Because nobody in a meeting would ever approve it. It's not strategic. It's affection. When you are your own label, you can release something purely because you love it. That's the biggest luxury I have, and it costs nothing.

Money, time and rest

Your music is free to download. How does a label survive like that?

It's a choice I made knowing what I lose. My songs are on Spotify and Deezer like anyone else's, and I'm happy when people listen there. But I also want a door without a doorman. You go to my website, you take the file, it's yours. Nobody cuts it, nobody puts an advert in the middle of the chorus, nobody decides it's no longer available in your country.

The tool never gets tired. Do you?

All the time. The machine has no office hours. I do. It took me about two years and 273 singles to learn something anyone with a body should know: a machine's capacity is not a target for a human being. Rest is part of the job. A CEO who burns out is not much use to his only employee.

The purpose behind the catalogue

Many of your songs deal with narcissistic relationships. Why put that at the centre?

With professional help, I've turned years of relationships with narcissistic partners into music. I want psychological abuse and what it leaves behind in your mental health to be visible, so that people going through it feel seen and believed. Being independent means nobody can tell me that subject is bad for business.

Why this matters to listeners in Singapore

Singapore's indie listeners are used to discovering music across languages and borders, and to artists who build careers through self-release rather than big industry machinery. Mike Sain't Louis offers a case study in that spirit taken to its logical extreme. His songs move from electropop to copla, from alternative pop to ballad; most are in Spanish, others in English, French or Portuguese, each with its full lyric on his website. His themes include love, heartbreak, exes, nosy neighbours, queer life in Spain, liberation and mental health. In 2024 his song “Tan Cateto” went viral on TikTok.

The whole catalogue is organised as the GAYFOLK trilogy, conceived as one journey: I. “Descubierto un nuevo planeta llamado GAYFOLK”, II. “Ojalá se pudiera viajar a GAYFOLK” and III. “El día de la liberación”, towards a planet where everyone can live as who they are.

Listen and download for free

Every song by Mike Sain't Louis can be streamed and downloaded for free at https://mikesaintlouis.com, each with its lyrics; the three albums can also be downloaded whole. His music is also on Spotify, Deezer and the main streaming platforms.

About Mike Sain't Louis

Mike Sain't Louis is a Madrid-based indie alternative artist and self-described “first AI singer-songwriter”. He writes every word, directs every version and runs his own independent label, MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS, with no record company and no middlemen behind him.

Press contact

Email: info@mikesaintlouis.com Website: https://mikesaintlouis.com Instagram: @planetagayfolk