2 Music Week 12.12.14 NEWS EDITORIAL


Industry simply must learn from this funky mess


ANXIOUSLY CHEWING ON A TOOTHPICK, cloaked in a natty blazer, a white vest and with a silver chain dangling around his wrist, it’s fair to say Mark Ronson has got something of a Goodfellas vibe going on in 2014. A couple of months ago, I was beckoned to Ronson’s Kings Cross


studio by his ebullient PR, Barbara Charone. BC was particularly, firmly insistent I make the effort. Clearly, she knew something I didn’t. If Ronson cut a nervous figure amid the shadowy confines of his


booming Tileyard sound hovel, it was understandable: his last LP, 2010’s Record Collection, was a commercial letdown. To date, it has sold around an eighth of his monster mainstream breakthrough, 2007’s triple-platinum Version. Confidentially, Ronson fans who worked on Record Collection offer various explanations for its failure to connect: from its debt to gaudy ‘80s pop synth to - and this was the most soberly delivered of all the alibis - Ronson’s decision to turn up on day one of his promo trail with an unhandsome bleach blonde blast of a hair-do.


“What a shame that Mark Ronson’s brave, pinpoint reframing of the zeigeist risks abortion by nothing more than the hand of music industry tomfuckery”


Attempting to resuscitate and reappraise long-forgotten pockets


of pop culture is wantonly brave in the me-too borstal of the music industry. Sadly, Record Collection tried and failed. The great unwashed resisted its ice-cool Miami Vice stylings. It must have hurt. Ronson’s new record, though. Man. Hung imperiously on the wall


of his studio is a joyous poster from Stevie Wonder’s Hotter Than July tour. It says everything. Ronson’s Uptown Special, and its now-infamous, irresistible lead track, is dripping in relentlessly hedonistic, dirty funk. It is every brilliant wedding floor-filler, you’ve ever heard. Plus sex. With this music, Mark Ronson has once again found the courage to


mine an unfancied trench of chart history. Only this time, he’s hit pay dirt. What a tragedy then, that Ronson’s pinpoint reframing of the zeitgeist


is, at the time of going to press, in danger of facing abortion by nothing more than music industry tomfuckery. It serves no-one to hammer his label Columbia for freezing (and subsequently rush-releasing) first single Uptown Funk. The company was bold enough to put the track on Spotify early - suggesting its hands were tied by commercial radio’s greedy stipulations. But it gifted X Factor’s Fleur East the chance to cement her image all over this would-be smash’s first-time brilliance. While the industry debate will now rage about the ludicrous market


conditions that allowed the anti-On Air/On Sale brigade to nearly inflict reckless damage on such a key UK release, spare a thought for Ronson - a massive talent who’s taken a wonderful gamble at a scarily vulnerable point in his career. His due rewards were almost pissed away this week by miserly market shortsightedness. Isn’t it the music industry’s job to maximise - not squash - opportunities for artists? So... surely it’s now time for UK media owners in blanket opposition to


On Air/On Sale to cease their selfishness. Your favoured model has just almost sabotaged up one of the great pop cultural musical moments of recent years. And God knows, haven’t we just been starved of them. If there’s one good thing to come out of this abomination, it’s that UK


radio’s ugly, self-serving crusade to hamper the spread of all infectious new music has been shown up for the suffocating racket it is. I for one bet that artists will soon decide, en masse, they ain’t playing ball anymore. What’s that line again, Fleur? Oh yeah. Don’t believe me? Just watch.


Tim Ingham, Editor Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing tingham@nbmedia.com


Warner Music UK has appointed Stefan Demetriou to the position of VP, content and formats strategy.


Reporting to Max Lousada, chairman and CEO, Warner


Hozier reaping Spotify Spotlight


‘WE’RE COMMITTED TO THESE ARTISTS’ LONGEVITY’


TALENT ■ BY RHIAN JONES


T


he value of Spotify as a long-term promotional platform has been


proven by its Spotlight Star for 2014, Hozier, thanks to the Irish singer-songwriter’s continued success. That’s according to


Spotify’s head of label relations for Europe, Kevin Brown, who has reiterated the streaming service’s value as a showcase for emerging talent.


“We’ve been consistently working with Hozier and building an audience over 15 months,” said Brown. “When we partner with an artist, we partner for the long haul. It’s not just launch and then next, we commit and we keep coming back and working.” Hozier was first nominated as a Spotlight artist in late 2013. Spotify added his breakout hit Take Me To Church to the Spotlight On New Music playlist in September 2013, and used in-client promotion and playlisting to bring him to music fans worldwide. Said Brown: “Spotify is a global platform too - there are no boundaries to music


“Spotify is a global platform - there are no boundaries to music moving across borders. Hozier is a great example. We’ve been working with him to build an audience over 15 months” KEVIN BROWN, SPOTIFY


moving across borders and Hozier is a great example of that. We know that his record label Columbia in the States were reading our data very carefully to judge at what point it was optimal to take Take Me To Church to pop radio in the States - that’s one example of the additional tools [we can provide to] a label outside of the audience reach that we have.”


Take Me To Church has


now spent more than 48 weeks in Spotify’s viral chart, making it the Most Viral Track of the Year in Spotify’s Year in


Music. It’s currently No.1 in Spotify’s global chart. Last week it was nominated for a Grammy in the Song of the Year category. Hozier now has more than 150 million streams on Spotify from more than 10 million listeners. Caroline Downey, Hozier’s manager commented: “Spotify have been huge supporters of Hozier and his music and have been instrumental in his huge success in the US and on the global stage. We are very grateful for their support and all the support they provide for a young up-and-coming artist who needs this type of platform to get their music out to a wider audience.”


Demetriou’s new role at Warner UK


Music UK, Demetriou will be responsible for creating original audio-visual content with WMUK artists and brand partners as well as working with media brands across TV, film and digital platforms to develop ‘innovative formats and distribution strategies’. Max Lousada commented: “Now more than ever, visual content connected to music has real currency and no one is better placed than Stefan to capitalise on that momentum. “This is an area with tremendous growth potential and to have someone of his


calibre leading our efforts is a huge asset for our business.” Miles Leonard, chairman Parlophone and Warner Bros. Records UK said: “Stefan is, as far as I know, the only person within any major company that has the experience and knowledge to take on such a broad role.”


Demetriou added: “In our existing team we have some incredibly talented people adept at creating high-quality visual content. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to channel that expertise into new opportunities.”


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