22 Music Week 12.12.14 PROFILE RICHARD NEWMAN
SOME PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF THE WORD ‘LABEL’
Richard Newman is setting up an ‘A&R brokerage’ for budding artists, titled Hoxton Square. Encompassing facilities, expert advice, resources and a live events series, what’s his motivation?
TALENT n BY TOM PAKINKIS
W
hether it’s from behind the counter at Richmond’s One Stop Records or in the studio working on albums from
London blues legends such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, producer, writer, broadcaster and musician Richard Newman seems to have experienced the music industry from every angle in a career that’s lasted four decades. While today’s music industry sees the artist
more empowered than ever with a range of DIY options available before a traditional record deal is even signed, Newman is embarking on a new venture that hopes to unlock more opportunities for talented musicians who perhaps don’t fit the typical industry mould – or simply aren’t ready to engage with a traditional label, publisher or even manager. Called Hoxton Square, he refers to the new
company as ‘an A&R brokerage’ – a collective of studios, mixers, musicians, publicists and more, that can provide expertise and facilities for artists at the very start of their career. “I could see there was a hole in the market,
there was a problem,” Newman explains. “There’s a lot of great talent out there of all ages and some people aren’t wanting to go through the mainstream route to market. It’s essentially [an alternative] pathway for people.”
We have label services companies, which offer a menu of different services to artists. How much would you liken Hoxton Square to that? I wouldn’t liken it to that. I have a problem with the word ‘label’ because people are afraid of it, as they are with the word ‘publisher’ or ‘manager’. Labels do a great job and are very flexible, but aren’t for everyone initially. I’m more at the end of creating copyrights.
So could it be called an A&R services company? That’s absolutely right, I’m happy for it to be called that. It’s a broker between people who want to sell something and someone who wants to buy. You have artists on one side, with publishers, managers and record companies on the other. I’m already doing this for people who’ve got great talent but aren’t ready to take that first step at the moment.
Take us through your perception of the industry today and the bit you hope to provide an antidote for... I’ve been involved in the industry for four decades and over that time I’ve seen things change in the market, but I’ve seen just as many things not change. One of the things that strikes me is that the Top 75 album chart each week features a good range of what used to be called heritage artists. For me, if you’re in the Top 75, you’re a contemporary artist. It’s not just people of my generation that’s buying that music.
ABOVE
Richard Newman: The exec has producing credits on albums by legends such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page
The big thing at the moment is digital, but consistently each week 59-61% of sales is made up of physical albums. Looking at these figures, I think you can get carried away with talking about different platforms like Spotify and iTunes. They distribute the music and it’s fantastic that you can hear entire back catalogues on Spotify – but they are just distributors, they don’t create the music. My attitude is that we’re a wonderful industry but it all starts with great songs, a great band that can
“The big thing at the moment is digital, but I think [the industry] gets carried away with talking about different platforms like Spotify and iTunes. They are just distributors, they don’t create the music. It all starts with great songs and a great band that can play” RICHARD NEWMAN
play and so on. I met a 28-year-old woman the other day who wanted to be a producer and her friend had just won a singing competition and they wanted to know what to do next. She was asking me, “Am I too old?” I get that all the time and that’s why I came up with Hoxton Square – it’s [an attempt to make getting into the industry more user friendly]. It’s a creative environment.
What kind of activity will we see at Hoxton Square in the near future? There are going to be live events – a Hoxton Square evening with the idea of it being a baby step for people who can play in front of a live audience. We intend to do a number of them in different venues across London. It’s a laid-back kind of thing, but there’s a serious point to it because there are people in the world who might not be the best hustlers but they’ve got great talent. I want to give them an opportunity to work in a creative environment and give them a pathway to the industry. And by that I don’t just mean record labels, because we’ve got expertise across the Hoxton Square organisation in PR, design, photography, radio, TV, we have a facility set up for doing music for film and so on.
Who in the industry are you hoping will come forward to talk and work with you? Anyone who is looking to sign a new act or a songwriter, whatever part of the chain they might be in. In the other direction, I’ve got people in the industry I can approach and say, ‘I’ve got something you might be interested in’. But we’re not a management company or anything like that, we’re just about making deals and getting people to that point. I could make a deal with a manager or an agent, for example.
What’s the long-term ambition for the company? This could be the prequel to an actual label if people approach me and ask me to work with them in that way. With the skillbase and experience that we’ve got across the people I’m working with, it looks like a label structure, but it isn’t at the moment. We keep a focus on being able to step outside of everything to deal with someone who might not be at the stage where they necessarily want to think about a label or manager just yet. It could turn into a label, definitely, but we’ve got to prove ourselves first.
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