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07.12.12 Music Week 19
BLACK MAGIC BLACK BUTTER’S ARTISTS TO WATCH
LEFT Big things expected: top row, from left – Joel Compass, Syron, Sinead Harnett and Kidnap Kid; bottom row, from left – Woz, Stay+, Gorgon City and Lulu James
RIGHT Make some Noisses: one of the most innovative DJs and producers on the UK scene, he has collaborated with the likes of Lady Leshurr
Do you think that’s something that’s going to be happening more in the future - independents working side-by-side with the majors? OW: Absolutely. I think the majors are having a very tough time developing acts from scratch, now more than ever. The model they work under, the financial pressures that the majors have, all these overheads, it’s just not a good place for a young artist that needs development. Those worlds are incompatible. The role of the independent now is to really just nurture that act but at the same time hook up with the majors for a bit of cash now and then on [joint ventures] when required. I think it’s actually a very good time to be an
releasing music that’s good and it doesn’t matter what genre it is, there’s much more longevity built in, it’s much more future-proof. Another byproduct of not being genre-specific
is that you’re not releasing fillers – a lot of labels that only release house stuff can’t release it consistently. We can cut out the fillers as we’re taking the best of this and the best of that.
Rudimental signed to Warner for their upcoming album. How does that deal work? Henry Village: We signed them and we did a couple of singles deals with them - they were in the Black Butter camp, so to speak. We then did a license deal for Feel The Love and because Atlantic did such a great job we decided to do the album with them and we’re managing it. Our priority is giving Rudimental the best service they can get: quite frankly, we’d be lying if we said we could deliver them to market in the same glossy and well-executed way that a major can do.
What are the positives of doing such a deal? HV: We worked with Atlantic side-by-side doing Feel The Love and that’s been a big learning curve. I know we’ve just won an AIM award but I would definitely be the first to say I’m not anti the majors at all. This year, we’ve experienced the benefits.
indie label because, a few years ago, all those doors were closed. This shift towards the majors, with the independents potentially finding common ground where they can help each other out, could be a really good thing for the future of the music industry. It’s become quite a regular thing now for labels to come to us with new acts that they’re trying to start from cold and ask if we are interested in giving it the appearance of coming from the underground scene.
Have you done that? OW: We have, but only a couple of times. HV: It was more a case of us going for the artist and a major came along and swooped in and got it. And then the artist was, like, “Well... why don’t you collaborate?” OW: We’ve had loads of people that we were signing music from that got signed by the majors while we were developing a single.
Is there anyone that you wish you’d have signed but didn’t? OW: Rudimental would have been nice if we’d have had the backing but we didn’t.
As is stands, you’re predominantly a singles label. Are albums something you’re going to be moving more towards in the future? HV: We’re going to do a couple of album acts that we’re developing at the moment, we’ll definitely be releasing some albums next year. Rather than developing an artist and then losing the right to continue to album level, we now have the infrastructure to go all the way. OW: That’s where Rudimental has opened the door for us definitely.
In an age of ever decreasing income from record sales, what is Black Butter doing to maintain a reasonable level of cash flow? OW: The JVs for one, getting some backing to help with these things. Then management - a record release is effectively an advert for the act to go and get a lot of bookings, live publishing deals, remix work... I get quite a lot of people asking how you set up a label. You do need to be prepared to do lots of things around the record label, not just rely on selling singles, because the internet has changed everything.
“You’ve got to be constantly on your toes and willing to do whatever. Even in the last six to nine months we’ve done all sorts of deals that I didn’t even know existed” HENRY VILLAGE, BLACK BUTTER
Speaking of the internet, have you had any income from Spotify? OW: It’s not that much. The bulk of it is still from iTunes or Beatport rather than Spotify. I know somebody was telling us that in Sweden Spotify has been responsible for the music industry picking up by 30% last year but that hasn’t happened over here yet.
Looking to the future, what is it that’s going to ensure the label’s longevity? HV: You’ve got to be constantly on your toes and willing to do whatever. Even in the last six to nine months we’ve done all sorts of deals that I didn’t even know existed. Next year, we’ve got albums coming through. And I think, if an artist we’re managing says they’d love to have their own label – and it felt like he or she in their own right had their own scene and could warrant a label and had a vision for it – we could facilitate that too. There aren’t any fixed things that work
anymore, which has allowed us to come through. I think as long as your priorities are right from the off – and if you’re managing an act you remember that they are the priority – it’s an open book. OW: The benefit of being an independent label, and usually an owner-run business, is you can give it a 20-year vision as opposed to the majors system where they seem to play revolving doors: “The artist might not be here next year. Got to get this out, got to get that out.” They don’t get the luxury of the long term.
That’s what I hope we’ll be able to continue doing because there is this sense that we’re the flavour of the month at the moment and people are going to get bored, but I would like us to stay as relevant and as innovative and fresh as I think we currently are.
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