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Latest Real World signings 9Bach
Real World celebrate 25 years with a retrospective mini box set, including a ‘People’s Choice’ selection, more Real World Gold re-releases of classics from the back catalogue (the latest being Martyn Bennett’s Grit) and a special event at this year’s Womad festival.
Brozman, Debashish Bhattacharya and Sally Nyolo. Favourites from the back cata- logue include Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis’ Greekadelia and the new Anansy Cissé records. “Dreamt up in 1989 aboard a leaky barge afloat the Grand Union Canal in London” by Phil Stanton, it led on to the formation of World Music Network with his wife, Sandra Alayón- Stanton in 1994.
A WMN has fingers in many pies: “From
our World Music Network website, we run monthly world music video and audio charts, a thriving online Battle Of The Bands competition where artists from around the world post up their music, and we have free online guides to the music of different regions of the world, peppered with video clips and links. Our live music section is about to get a total overhaul to include a more complete live listings service.”
With a mission “to carry on introduc- ing new listeners to the vast array of glori- ous global sounds”, WMN’s four labels include Riverboat, Rough Guides (founded in 1994 in association with Rough Guide books to offer entry points for exploring different music from all over the world), Introducing (established in 2004 as a developing artist label) and Think Global (launched in 2005 as an ethical label sup- porting the work of Oxfam and Amnesty International.)
Phil explains: “Our two main labels Riverboat Records and Rough Guides fit within the WMN framework. A number of artists we discovered through our Battle Of The Bands are now signed to Riverboat and the Rough Guide series approaches 350 releases spanning the globe, introduc- ing people to music that is new to them in a well-researched and fun way.”
The consistency of Rough Guide sales across the board has been one of WMN’s great strengths over the years. “In the last couple of years our Psychedelic series has been working well, most recently Psychedel- ic Bollywood which was a hit on Record Store Day and we have high hopes for the forthcoming Psychedelic Cambodia.”
www.realworldrecords.com
nother world music ‘25’ this year is Riverboat Records, World Music Network’s original ‘premium’ artist label featuring artists such as Mory Kanté, Bob
Riverboat’s Debashish Bhattacharya
Stanton cites the changes in recording methods as a key to enabling them to con- tinue releasing new projects while sales have fallen. “And there are some areas of growth – particularly vinyl sales (a wonder- ful surprise), direct to customer sales and digital sales. I think that the real number, which I have heard from various reliable sources, and is consistent with our experi- ence, is that sales of a new release have fallen perhaps 85 percent compared to pre-digital – so an album that might have sold 50,000 copies would now sells around 7,500 copies. The ongoing challenge is to find ways of thriving at these reduced level of sales. It’s not easy – but few things this much fun are easy!”
www.worldmusic.net
Grammy-laden US label Nonesuch has been celebrating its 50th year with some special events with label artists Kronos Quartet, Olivia Chaney, Natalie Merchant, Sam Amidon, Rhiannon Giddens and Emmylou Harris recently.
The label’s reputation for producing some classic roots and world releases has developed over more recent years, with the appointment of David Bither as Senior Vice-President of the label in 1994. Jac Holzman founded Nonesuch in 1964 as an offshoot of his then-independent Elektra Records. It was intended to be a more adventurous classical label initially though; under Tracey Sterne’s leadership, the first American world music imprint (the Explor- er Series) was introduced and, with Bob Hurwitz taking the reins in 1984, the label built on this area.
Bither explains: “Bob asked me to join Nonesuch after I left Elektra in 1994 and I became a second A&R voice, helping shape and define the company’s involvement in roots, adult and alterna- tive pop music.”
In his posi-
tion, Bither has overseen worldly classics from Youssou N’Dour, Cae- tano Veloso, Amadou & Mariam and Rokia Traoré, as well as building a long-term relationship with World Circuit Records
(Toumani Diabaté’s recent The Mandé Variations and Grammy-winning duet with the late Ali Farka Touré, In The Heart Of The Moon; the final recording by Buena Vista Social Club’s Ibrahim Ferrer; Cheikh Lô’s Lamp Fall; and Orchestra Baobab’s Made In Dakar.)
N
Many iconic artists with links to roots music, but crossing boundaries to other genres – Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder, T Bone Burnett, David Byrne and more recently Natalie Merchant – all sit comfort- ably in the Nonesuch stable. Carolina Chocolate Drops’ new old-time string- band sound won a 2010 Grammy with their Nonesuch debut. Two (at the time unsigned) fRoots cover stars: Vermont- born, London-based Sam Amidon, known for his reworkings of Appalachian melodies, and siren-songstress Olivia Chaney are both more recent signings.
onesuch artists perhaps have a broader appeal than many of the other specialist labels shar- ing birthdays in 2014. Bither provides some healthy news
on the status of the label: “The changing industry has affected much about the way the record business operates but has done very little to influence the records we make. Those decisions have always been based on hearing music by artists we love that strikes us as fresh and original. Implicit in our thinking is that there are others in the world looking for the same kinds of musical experiences that excite us. A big seller remains a big seller, even in this transformed business! Nonesuch has had some of its most successful years in the past decade.”
www.nonesuch.com Olivia Chaney – currently in the studio for Nonesuch F
Photo: Jak Kilby
Photo: Judith Burrows
Photo: Judith Burrows
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