4 MusicWeek 14.09.12 NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF
GLASTONBURY: Glastonbury Festival is set to hire APL Event exec – and Kitchenware Records founder – Paul Ludford as its new operations director. PARALYMPICS: Sunday’s Paralympics closing ceremony drew in a peak UK audience of 7.7 million on Channel 4. With performances from the likes of Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z, the broadcast’s average audience was 5.9 million. Q AWARDS: Nominations for the Q Awards 2012 have been revealed. Topping the list of nominees this year are Blur, The Stone Roses, Florence + The Machine and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – with two nominations apiece in major categories. The show will honour the best music of the last 12 months on Monday, October 22 in London. TIME OUT: The London edition of the entertainment guide will go free on September 25. CLASSICAL BRITS: The shortlist for this year’s event has been announced by organisers. The nominations event at the Savoy Hotel held a surprise for the Classic FM team as they were presented with a unique Special Recognition Classic Brit gong. The awards will take place on October 2 at the Royal Albert Hall. BMG: BMG Chrysalis Scandinavia has signed Swedish black metal band Watain to a publishing deal. FIFA 13: EA Sports has confirmed the music soundtrack for its flagship sports video game. The Enemy, Reverend & The Makers, Band Of Horses, Passion Pit, Miike Snow and Santigold all feature. VMAS: Rihanna took home the biggest prize of the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards last week, snatching Video of the Year for We Found Love. Chris Brown won two VMAs for Best Male Video and Best Choreography for Turn up the Music, whilst M.I.A took home Best Direction and Best Cinematograph for Bad Girls. GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: Adele, One Direction and The Stone Roses are some of the names entered into the new Guinness World Records 2013 edition. Adele has broken seven records – the first female, first UK artist and fastest to reach a million US digital sales, biggest-selling digital track in both the US and UK with Rolling In The Deep, and biggest-selling digital album with 21 in the UK and US.
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.com EX-EMI EXECUTIVE ALREADY SIGNING UP ARTISTS AT NEW VENTURE
Wozencroft unveils new label Third Rock
LABELS BY PAUL WILLIAMS
O
ne-time EMI executive Keith Wozencroft has launched his own label
with Brighton band Cave Painting its first signings. Third Rock will roll out its
inaugural release on September 24 with the group’s debut album Votive Life and will have long-term artist development at its heart. “The big selling point for me with the company is experience and being musically led,” he said. “I don’t want to have some sort of dinosaur company with many artists. I want to work on three to five projects over the first two to three years. It’s very much about commitment.” The launch of Third Rock
comes after a period which saw Wozencroft (pictured) and former Island Records managing director Dan Keeling running label Hideout Recordings within Mercury Records. Wozencroft said the time was right to become fully independent, a decision he
said was in part prompted by coming across Cave Painting. “Ever since being at EMI I’d
always considered doing a fully independent label,” he said. “I tried something else with another major and in a way it was a good thing because it really prepared me and confirmed I wanted to do it as an independent.” Third Rock is based out
of offices in Bermondsey, south London, with a small team comprising Wozencroft, Matt Dixon as general manager and marketing head, Nick Butterfield as label A&R and Dan Market looking after A&R and label
management. Additional staff will be brought in on a project- by-project basis. Sales and distribution will be through PIAS in the UK. “It’s really exciting,” said
Wozencroft. “I like to work with great teams, have long-term relationships and build careers.” Wozencroft brings a wealth of experience to the label, having spent 20 years at EMI where within Parlophone he signed artists such as Radiohead and Supergrass and later became managing director, going on additionally to work with acts including Coldplay, Gorillaz and Kylie
Wozencroft: EX-EMI man is in talks to sign another act to join Cave Painting on his new label Third Rock
Minogue. He was made Capitol
Music UK president in September 2002 and
added Virgin Records to his role three years later. He left EMI in 2010 after a period as an A&R consultant. Five-piece Cave Painting have
already supported Infectious- signed Alt-J on dates this summer and will play some gigs in London around the album’s release before supporting former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes and then undertaking a headline tour in early 2013. “They’re such a great live
band,” said Wozencroft. “As people start seeing the shows and have a look at the album it will really start to come together.” Wozencroft revealed the label was in talks about signing another act, while considering two others as it looked to become an alternative in an increasingly narrow record company market. “From my point of view it’s
sad the labels have consolidated more and more,” he said. “Options are reduced and I can’t see that as a good thing. The more variety and options the better.”
Barlow dismisses X Factor advantage concerns
Experienced artists with professional management have no unfair advantage over new artists on this year’s X Factor. That’s according to judge Gary
Barlow, who told Music Week that 2012’s TV competition was an “extraordinary year” for talent on the programme and could even find “the next generation of songwriters”. “The standard has definitely gone up a few notches,” he said. “Just because some acts have a manager doesn’t mean they are the finished product. Contestants still need to be mentored and developed - people with raw talent all stand the same chance in the competition whether they are managed or not.” This year’s show allows acts
represented by professional management to enter for the first
Barlow gave short shrift to
criticism that The X Factor does not produce long-term stars. “I think the criticism is unfair
time - whilst entrants can also perform their own compositions. Lucy Spraggan’s self-penned track Last Night hit the Top 20 after being performed on the show - only to be removed by iTunes at the request of X Factor bosses. “There are a lot of talented singer songwriters out there trying to make it in the music business, but it’s really tough so The X Factor is giving them a
real chance to breakthrough,” said Barlow. “I really do believe we could find the next generation of songwriters.” He added: “The fact that contestants can perform original music and songs will definitely have an impact. That’s what we want – to bring something different to the viewers. We’re the number one show but we don’t want to rest on our laurels.”
as there has been over 40 million record sales from UK X Factor artists. The show has produced artists like One Direction, Leona Lewis, JLS and Olly who have been a huge success as a result of the series. I believe The X Factor provides a platform to discover new talent and has made a huge contribution to the music industry.”
Despite this year’s changes,
2012’s X Factor is trailing behind 2011’s series. Last Saturday’s episode was watched by 8.2 million viewers – including figures from the +1 catch-up channel – around three million down year-on-year.
www.musicweek.com
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