T
HE YEAR 2005 WASN’T EXACTLY
an auspicious time to launch a
record label. Music sales were
declining worldwide, and wide-
spread piracy created an existential
crisis in the industry.
But when Barclay Crenshaw told his wife,
Aundy Caldwell Crenshaw, that he wanted to
launch an electronic music label called Dirty-
bird, she didn’t think twice. “I was basically
like, ‘I will support you for one year, and if you
can do it in that one year and you are good, you
can keep doing it,’ ” recalls Aundy. “I wanted to
make sure he gave it his all. And he did.”
Fifteen years later, Barclay is celebrating the
release of his sixth album as house and techno
luminary Claude VonStroke, and Dirtybird has
established itself as a pioneering tastemaker
brand and collective known within the world of
dance music for its distinct, self-described “tech
funk” sound. Since helping break producers like
Justin and Christian Martin, J.Phlip and Kill
Frenzy, the indie label has expanded to include
the beloved Campout festival series, a clothing
line and the subscription-based social platform
Birdfeed, which offers fans exclusive releases,
ticket discounts and artist meet-and-greets.
If Barclay is the creative face of the brand,
it’s Aundy’s dedicated vision as COO, chief
marketing officer and head of business op-
erations to which Dirtybird owes much of its
enduring success. “I’m nonstop pushing the
team to do new stuff and try crazy ideas, and
Aundy is really great at looking at it, telling me
to run the numbers and what we can actually
do,” he says. “It’s almost like my balloon is
floating away and she’s grabbing the string and
grounding me.”
A Prince devotee who grew up in Minneapo-
lis, Aundy exudes an almost Zen-like focus and
resolve, honed by a career in marketing helm-
ing multimillion-dollar campaigns for brands
like Kodak, Mattel and Jim Beam. Today, a
typical afternoon at the Dirtybird office might
see her shifting seamlessly from a call with her
label manager in San Francisco to scheduling a
playdate for the couple’s two children, running
down tour schedules and delegating tasks to
the eight-person Dirtybird staff that operates
from the back house on the Crenshaws’ Wood-
land Hills property in Los Angeles.
“Sometimes hiring people is harder than do-
ing it yourself,” says Aundy of Dirtybird’s all-in-
the-family approach. “That’s how you keep it
authentic.” That authenticity has been central
to retaining — and growing — Dirtybird’s ra-
bidly loyal fan base over more than a decade of
shifting tastes and trends in a saturated dance
music market. Since joining the company full
time in 2015, Aundy has applied her marketing
experience in data gathering and audience rela-
tionships to understanding Dirtybird’s fan base,
building out its expansion into a clothing line,
live events and a community unto itself.
“As everything was moving away from physi-
cal to streaming, we needed to make sure that
we had a connection with our fans,” she says,
explaining that Dirtybird’s expansion is less a
business strategy than a response to fans’ grow-
ing appetite for engagement. Birdfeed, for ex-
ample, gamifies the fan experience with a point
system, leaderboard and collaborative playlists
designed to encourage sharing. The Crenshaws
also stay connected behind the scenes, with
Aundy regularly taking phone calls, exchanging
emails and conducting Q&As with fans.
“The more that they know that they’re valued,
and that I’m hearing them on certain things, the
more active they will become and talk about us
to others,” she says. “If you’re not listening to
them, they’re going to go away. It’s not about
thinking about [the business overall] as a prod-
uct. It’s about thinking about it as a person.”
That’s not just marketing-speak. When
Dirtybird’s 2018 Campout East in Florida had its
permit revoked due to noise complaints, Aundy
personally visited courthouses and rallied fans
to call senators, bringing — and winning — the
case before the U.S. Senate. The festival was shut
down for all of three hours.
“When there’s a cop banging at the door, and
you’re totally toast, and there’s someone that is
just never going to give up on trying to make it
work,” says Barclay, “that’s what Aundy does.”
bird brain
Aundy Caldwell Crenshaw’s business smarts helped create Dirtybird — one
of dance music’s most enduring brands — and its rabidly loyal fan base
BY ANDREA DOMANICK
PHOTOGRAPHED BY KOURY ANGELO
DANCE 2020
HAIR AND MAKEUP BY APRIL BAUTISTA AT DEW BEAUTY