www.musicweek.com THE BIG INTERVIEW BLACK BUTTER
28.11.14 Music Week 9
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How Black Butter’s two music-obsessed ‘nutters’ are changing the face of British pop across their label, publishing division and management company - while attracting support and acclaim from some of the worldwide industry’s most influential executives
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EXECUTIVES n BY TIM INGHAM
A
lot of A&Rs chase the sound of what’s in the Top 10, and that can get you fast hits. But those big artists, those long-game artists, they always start off as a gamble.”
Henry Village makes a fair point, but he’s doing
himself down. Insight is, after all, the mother of good luck - and Black Butter’s “gambles” have paid off too many times over the past half-decade for serendipity to take all the credit. From Rudimental to Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne
and Gorgon City, Black Butter has evolved as a maestro of sniffing out undiscovered sounds with widespread potential. As a consequence, they have already achieved every exciting A&R team’s dream: pulling the stubborn beast of global popular culture gradually closer towards the underground. Unsurprisingly, this hasn’t gone unnoticed by
the UK music industry’s heavyweights, who have moved to add fuel to Black Butter’s ammunition:
BMG has a JV with the company for its publishing clients, while last week Sony Music’s Jason Iley revealed an exciting new partnership for Black Butter’s label, meaning Gossa and Village will effectively act as presidents of a standalone division at the major. Meanwhile, the firm’s Stack House management division is guided by industry legend Roger Ames - who has also invested in the entire Black Butter setup. Formed by Henry Village, Joe Gossa and Olly
Wood in May 2010 with just £5,000 in the kitty, Black Butter’s early months tell you everything you need to know about its lack of concern over establishing a ‘trademark sound’. As Gossa
“We’ve always just been the nutters on the ground, signing what we love and never over-thinking the commercial potential” JOE GOSSA, BLACK BUTTER
Better with Butter:
Henry Village (left) and Joe Gossa (right)
phrases it: “We’ve always been just the nutters on the ground, signing what we love and not over-thinking the commercial potential. We have investment now, but we have to maintain that attitude - it’s who we are.” Further evidence: the duo’s latest signing
couldn’t be less outside current radio-friendly tastes - a reggae act, Kiko Bun. (Village loves him so much, he semi-aggressively enthuses: ‘Kiko should be massive. He has to be massive.’) Born as an outlet for Village, Gossa and Wood’s
Stack House management company to issue their artists’ records, Black Butter’s first release was Lovestruck by London garage duo Man Like Me, who were managed by Village. Soon after came the Soundclash EP from
RackNRuin, featuring a then-unknown Jessie Ware on vocals - an ambitious effort which skilfully mashed together electro-house, garage, jungle and synth, from the producer who would later become half of Gorgon City. And then came P Money’s Ho! Riddim - which has since clocked up 1.2 million YouTube plays.
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