Big interview KIM FRANKIEWICZ
we’ve got a bigger profile here. Songs Music Publishing in the US are quite strong too. They’ve got the same spiel that I do, whereas with the majors, obviously we compete, but we’re so chalk and cheese. If it’s a big money deal and a major can just plop down an extra hundred grand than I’m prepared to pay, then I’m going to lose it. But if it’s a big money deal and the people driving the deal are looking for that boutique publisher, then we’ll end up winning. What I point out to people is, with us, we have offices in the UK, Holland, Germany, New York, LA and, where we don’t have offices, we have our hand-picked sub-publishers. We’re a big client for those sub-publishers and they can’t afford to be upsetting us. They’re really paying attention to what we deliver to them and they’re working stuff – and if they’re not, they hear about it. Whereas at a major, even though they’ve got offices around the world, if the German office signs something, it’s highly unlikely that the rest of the offices are going to give a shit. Whereas with us, our sub-publishers give a shit about everything – which is a very nice position to be in, especially these days when everything moves so fast. When we sign something it’s always, Can this work worldwide? All the deals done in any of our offices get the final approval from me – we work as a worldwide company. From my experience at Universal where I was VP of international – that’s so built into me. I don’t give a shit where an artist or writer is signed, it will always get the same attention worldwide, and we all have to love it and want the deal.
What’s the biggest issue for publishers right now? Streaming income. It is a problem.
Are any of them paying you enough? No! What a publisher is getting paid is out of balance with what the labels are getting paid. It’s a real problem, not just for the writers but producers. All my friends that manage producers, it’s really hurting them. It’s [about] getting a balance. A lot of the big acts would be nowhere without the writers. And there’s just too big a gap.
What can be done about that?
That’s such a big, political question. There’s a lot of lobbying and discussions and negotiating. There will always be pushing and shoving and kicking and screaming on both sides.
Do streaming services undervalue publishers and writers?
I don’t think it’s that. A lot of those people don’t know our business. But they’re still finding their way and that’s the problem. It’s the wild, wild west out there. You’d like to
JANUARY 18 Imagem signings Oh Wonder released a new track every month for a year
think in a couple of years people will have more data, information and actual facts instead of just all this hot air that seems to be out there at the moment.
If you could turn off free streaming, would you? Yeah, for the good of the writers. It’s getting harder for them. It’s not like [the cost of a subscription] is an arm and a leg. I love Spotify, but the greatest example is Netflix. Nobody has a problem paying for a Netflix subscription, that’s massive worldwide.
your hands. It’s a big cultural issue. When we were growing up we loved buying records, it was part of our being. Now it’s just like, I’ll listen to that one song, it’s not [about] buying albums any more… there’s a real shift.
“I get calls from writers saying, My song was streamed on YouTube a billion times, where’s my money?” KIM FRANKIEWICZ, IMAGEM
Last year, the BPI’s Geoff Taylor claimed UK labels make more from vinyl than they did from YouTube. Are publishers in the same boat? Yes, big time. When our statements go out, I will get calls from managers or the writers themselves saying, But my song was streamed on YouTube a billion times, where’s my money? And I’m like, Well, there ain’t any… It’s a real problem. It’s making our jobs tougher. Back in the day when you were doing a deal, it was never simple but, if you were looking at signing a band, you’d like to think you’d sell 100,000 albums in the UK, so that’s 70p mechanicals for an album, build in some singles and work out roughly what you think you’ll get back. Now I’m doing that (puts finger in air).
So what would you have YouTube and other services do?
The problem is, nobody’s got the answer yet. And if it’s not YouTube, something else is going to pop up and then you’ve got that on
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Where does that leave the business then? That’s the big question! The weird thing is, it’s fun again in the music industry. The music out there is really exciting, especially here in the UK – there’s phenomenal music here. That side of it is brilliant but, as far as how much money everybody is going to make out of it, it’s still the big unknown. Thank God for the sync world – just look at all the Christmas commercials. It’s great that music is such a big part of that world now, whereas before it was just an afterthought. Now it’s really at the forefront of the creatives’ minds and it’s great that artists are open to it. It’s obvious why: it’s a big part of their income now. It used to be a nightmare to get artists [to do ads]. Now it’s a nightmare trying to explain why they haven’t got the M&S commercial… (laughs) well, actually we did have the M&S commercial [with Uptown Funk]. Why they haven’t got the John Lewis commercial, then!
Where do you see Imagem being in another four years?
I’d like to think we’ll continue on the path we’re on: signing the right acts and the right writers, having good success with those and really be entrenched as being the good independent that you want to go to and work with. We don’t want to be BMG, we don’t want to be Kobalt, we don’t want a label, we just want to be a good, bespoke publishing company.
And might you have another worldwide megahit up your sleeve for 2016?
(Laughs) Well, you never know. I might… MUSIC Week
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