2 MusicWeek 27.04.12 NEWS EDITORIAL


Indie end, fair’s fair


BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, I may be dead. Okay, not dead. But I might have had a crusty bread roll thrown


at me in anger – or even a tumbler of Sambuca ‘accidentally’ spilled down my shirt. This was mine and Intent Media’s first ever Music Week


Awards. Our aim was to make the event a bit less stuffy, a mite more funny and a whole bunch snappier. But if we were hoping to please the whole room, to gift each


and every wine-guzzling table with silverware and glee, an extraordinary year for the market was never going to let us. I’ll admit it: the domination of 2012’s event by the independent


sector has probably left a few major label bonces feeling extra sore today – and may even have inspired some rude words to be pinged towards my email inbox overnight. (If you didn’t gently deliver them to me at the after-party first. If so, morning!) This was an awards ceremony that reflected Adele’s magic like


none other. PIAS, Purple PR and, obviously, XL and Jonathan Dickins were all befittingly saluted for their role in the industry story of the decade. Richard Russell deserved his Strat for a special recognition to the market regardless - but it’s no fluke Ms. Adkins was the first to congratulate him on screen.


“The domination of the Music Week Awards 2012 by the


independent sector may have left major label bonces feeling extra sore this morning. But, in this extraordinary year, these were the companies the industry itself voted for in numbers.”


Yet that wasn’t the end of the indie triumphs; PIAS, Proper,


Bella Union, Kobalt, Sound It Out – the non-PLC prizes just kept on coming throughout the evening. A freak landslide? Nah. The manifestation of a shifting, thrilling


modern market in which anyone – large or small – can grab the ascendancy? You betcha. These were, after all, winners that you, the trade, decided. We


promised the hundreds of Music Week readers who voted that their ballot would remain secret, and that guarantee remains. But I can say that our indie victors received ticks in boxes from senior executives across major labels, heavyweight publishers, dominant media houses, live giants and many more besides. It was heartening to observe, proving that behind the heat of


competition; behind the jovial backbiting and the rabid sales envy, people in this business know a hard-fought success when they see one – and they know when it deserves to be recognised. It wasn’t all indie mania, of course. It was hardly a miserable


night for the publishing arms of EMI and Universal, while Warner Music picked up two prizes. And, for the record, there were very few landslides – notably, the Artist Marketing Campaign, Promotions Team, Catalogue Marketing Campaign, PR Campaign and Live Music Venue categories were very close-run contests. By now, we’ve all heard the apocryphal tale of the major label


boss who says he doesn’t mind the indies having Adele this year – so long as the next market phenomenon is all his team’s doing. Until 2013, then. It should be a cracker. But before all that – does anyone know how to get a tricky Sambuca stain out?


Tim Ingham, Editor Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing tim.ingham@intentmedia.co.uk THE GREAT ESCAPE: I’LL BE BACK, SAYS SMITH


The first ever exec to sign Blur’s publishing has told Music Week he expects to return to the industry after


exiting Columbia UK this week. Mike Smith signed Blur to MCA


Music Publishing in 1990, and then signed them again to EMI


Publishing in 1995. After a successful spell at EMI, the popular exec became MD of Columbia UK in 2006, where he signed the likes of Calvin Harris, Mark Ronson, MGMT, Miles Kane, The Vaccines and Ryan Adams. However, he left the Sony-owned label this week. “My long-term plans are always going to involve working with


songwriters, musicians and artists – helping them to develop and take forward their careers,” he told Music Week. “I’ve been very blessed throughout my career, but particularly in the last six years, to have worked with unquestionably some of the greatest artists in the world. I want to continue to do that in future, and I have every confidence that I’ll be able to.”


STREET SAYS BOX EVEN BEATS PRODUCTION MASTERS


‘Blur have never sounded this good’


PRODUCTION  BY TIM INGHAM


A


new Blur career retrospective sounds even better than the production


masters from which the band’s classic albums were spawned. That’s according to Stephen


Street, who produced the group’s first five albums – and has overseen the creation of upcoming box set 21. Released by Parlophone on


July 30, 21 will contain all seven studio albums alongside 65 previously unreleased tracks. Working with engineer Frank


Arkwright at Abbey Road studios, Street has remastered Leisure, Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, The Great Escape and Blur. “Initially they were just going


to use the production masters, but I wanted to go right back to the original tapes,” he told Music Week. “I’m delighted with the results. When we went back to the original half-inch mixes, they sounded a lot fuller at the bass- end than the 1990s EQ’d masters. I think it might be because back


then the engineers were so used to rolling off bottom end so they could cut to vinyl, they did it on CDs - even though there was no reason to.


“EMI’s last Blur compilation, Midlife, was awful. I wish someone would have


consulted me about it because the levels were all over the


place. This time, I wanted to get it really, really right” STEPHEN STREET, PRODUCER


“This time around, there’s


been less EQ applied to the tapes, which is great to hear.” The pack will also come with


three DVDs, a collector’s edition book, an


interview with the band and a special limited edition Seymour 7-inch vinyl. Discussing the difficulties


surrounding the “loudness” of other remastered works, Street added: “I think Frank and I have settled on a very good balance. “When EMI put out Blur’s


last compilation, Midlife, two or three years ago, it was awful. I wish someone would have consulted me about that because the levels were all over the place, and I was really quite angry when I heard it. This time, I wanted to get it really, really right.” 21 arrives at a boom time for


high-end box-sets. The likes of Pink Floyd, The Who and U2 have all enjoyed recent success with expensive and expansive remasters of their back catalogue. “People are happy to spend


£200-plus on a festival ticket, but they’re not happy to spend their money on music – and that’s really sickening to people who have tried to put a lot of time and effort into it,” added Street. “When you see your work being appreciated like this - and bought by people who want to listen to it properly, not


through a pair of iPod headphones - it’s really encouraging.”


To the end:


the 21 box set contains all seven Blur


studio albums and 65


unreleased tracks


www.musicweek.com


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