10 Music Week 28.11.14 THE BIG INTERVIEW BLACK BUTTER
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“Running a music company is all about taste,”
explains Gossa. “Because of the way we started, we’re still not afraid to try anything; our first bunch of releases were so different it was almost schizophrenic.“ Adds Village: “It took a while for our audience to understand what we were doing - we did grime, jungle, UK funky, drum and bass. It was a bit of a mess, but it was our mess.” The industry had already begun to take notice
of the upstart label by the end of 2010, with increasing support from the likes of Annie Mac, DJ Target and MistaJam on BBC 1Xtra and Radio 1’s specialist shows. But within a few more months, a Black Butter artist would hoist the company to impossible-to-ignore prominence. Rudimental arrived on the label with 2011’s Deep In The Valley (featuring MC Shantie), quickly followed by Speeding. Both tracks positioned the group as a funky house act unafraid of experimenting with dubstep and urban touches - a perfect encapsulation of the genre-agnostic, brave approach of their label. But then, in early 2012, came Spoons.
Featuring an up-and-coming MNEK, it was Rudimental’s first significant stab at a more soulful house sound - the bedrock of an A&R process that was to turn them into one of the most exhilarating chart acts for years. “[Black Butter] had a nice run in our first year
on club and specialist radio,” recalls Village. “We were signing things for management and putting out records because we had to - because we couldn’t get our artists deals elsewhere - while also investing in live. We weren’t worried about big radio plays. Then Spoons happened, and all-of-a- sudden we were on daytime radio. That was fucking weird, a massive turning point.” Rudimental would go on to sign with Warner Music’s Atlantic/Asylum (via Black Butter) for their
ABOVE Bun in the oven: Reggae act Kiko Bun has signed to Black Butter for records and publishing (left to right: SSB’s Laurence Abrahams, Henry Village, Kiko Bun and Joe Gossa); (top right) the Black Butter family, fronted by Rudimental, in its early days [credit: Marius W Hansen]
“For the last few years, Roger Ames has guided us through all the music industry bullshit. He has instilled structure and confidence in our approach to the business”
HENRY VILLAGE, BLACK BUTTER
platinum-selling debut LP Home - a No.1 in the UK and a Top 5 entry in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. The band, who have now sold over 3 million records worldwide in total, remain signed to Stack House Management. “Spoons was a classy and amazing record,” says
Village. “Then came [UK No.1 single] Feel The Love (featuring John Newman) and it just went off. I was so close to Rudimental - I’d known the boys for years, and always had a hand in guiding them best I could. We all knew I had to go and get them a proper deal because it was about to go bananas… so I did! Atlantic felt like the right partner. But I made sure that in the contract with Warner we got to keep the continuity of the brand - that’s why Feel The Love was a Black Butter/Atlantic single. Then we did an album deal and the rest is history.” As Rudimental were entertaining an
increasingly populist audience, industry enquiries regarding partnerships and acquisitions began to hammer Gossa and Village’s phones. During this period, the execs were introduced to the man who would become their future mentor: step forward Warner, EMI and London Records veteran Roger Ames, who invested in Black Butter personally and took the arising company’s directors under his wing. Ames was introduced to Village and Gossa by Charlie Lycett - who also became a partner in Black
Butter shortly afterwards. Village says Ames and Lycett’s input has proven invaluable. “Being introduced to Roger was a massive
turning point for the business,” he explains. “Having someone of his stature sitting us down and saying: ‘You have to do this, this and this,’ was priceless. He instilled structure and confidence in our approach to the business. That focus is why Rudimental turned from a cool dance act on a label selling thousands of records to an act with three million singles and a platinum album. For the last few years Roger has guided us through all the bullshit. Had he not come in, we wouldn’t have been able to grow like we have.” Gossa gives a specifically insightful example
of how Ames’s experience has benefitted Black Butter’s deal-making nous: “I remember going to Roger with a label deal we’d been offered that we thought was pretty decent. He looked at it, went ‘fuck that, fuck that and fuck that’, completely restructured it then said: ‘take this to your lawyer.’ “Our lawyer took one glance at it and said:
‘Boys, I can’t get you this deal. There’s only a handful people than can get you this deal, and Roger Ames is one of them.’ So back we went. Without any fuss, Roger personally brokered the deal. He’s just a master of the business of music.” Ames wasn’t the first industry grandee to notice
Black Butter’s ascension and want to get involved, however. Nick Worthington, whose past signings included Plan B, Basement Jaxx and The Streets, made clear his respect for Gossa and Village even before Rudimental began to explode. “After five or six releases, I went to meet Nick
and he said he liked what we were doing and wanted to work with us,” says Village. Adds Gossa: “To his credit, Nick saw the vision of what Black Butter could become early on. He
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