Tobias ‘Tobbe’ Falarz is an experienced label and A&R manager who can look back on many great successes over the years. He is one of the veterans of the underground music scene and has been gathering new experiences for over 30 years. An active musician himself at the time, Tobbe has also made a name for himself in distribution and label work and has been responsible for the renowned scene label ‘People Like You Records’, among others. Under the label's banner, he helped several underground bands achieve their first chart successes. One of the highlights of his work for ‘People Like You’ was certainly the continuous development of the Düsseldorf band Broilers, whose albums ‘Santa Muerte’ and ‘Noir’, released via the label, were awarded Golden Records.
He has also been a close management advisor to the band Engst and the Düsseldorf punk great Rogers for many years.
In 2015, the child of the Ruhr region founded the new metal label Arising Empire together with Markus Staiger (founder of Nuclear Blast) and took on responsibility as managing director.
The label is dedicated to the entire spectrum of modern heavy music and is also characterised by new forms of music marketing in the segment. In 2020, Kontor New Media took over the up-and-coming company and was able to establish Arising Empire as a global genre player with Tobias Falarz at the helm. In addition to countless chart successes, the milestone of 1 billion streams achieved with KNM stands for itself.