2013-05-22T14:45:29-04:00 Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=paul-carey Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Paul Carey Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2938216 2013-03-23T04:59:52-04:00 2013-05-22T05:12:01-04:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ Put in seven simple words, SXSW is THE BEST INDUSTRY EVENT ON THE PLANET!

It's a mad few days and the UK contingent seemed stronger than ever this year, bumping into the likes of Sony RCAs Peter McGaughrin on the way to the Chess Club all day showcase, or sharing a rickshaw ride with Kevin Godley from 10CC who is launching an amazing new music offering on the web, (watch this space for an exclusive) the Brits were everywhere and making bigger waves than ever in Austin.

The UK Music industry should be proud of all the events and buzz they manage to create in a hubbub of bands and gigs. From the official UKTI backed showcases at the British Music Embassy, which looked ultra cool again this year, to the Communion label shows, a gig in a Pentecostal church from Billy Bragg to a sold out and enigmatic performance from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Stubbs BBQ (thanks must go to the ever genteel Brian Message who waved in myself, Nathan Graves and a couple of stragglers we'd brought along with us). I had my band Skinny Lister with me who played 10 gigs including a very cool BBC America showcase with Frank Turner aswell as a St Patrick's night barnstormer at BD Rileys on 6th Street.

Austin really is a great city and the vibrancy during the festival is electric. The hardest thing about the week as ever is working out what to see and trying to connect with as many people as possible. The Four Seasons rightfully reclaimed its position as number one networking spot this year, with a really old school feel of deals being done over coffees and cocktails. Driskills hotel hosted a rather lovely brunch for US collection agency SESAC, which proved a great venue for some good connections with publishers and songwriters and fortunately there was no unexpected intervention from the venue's resident ghost.

The maddest thing about SXSW is the multitude of venues and bands as literally everywhere you look there is a band playing, warming up or leaving the stage, be it a gas station forecourt, the side walk of 6th Street(so many i can't even begin to recall just one name) the lobby of a Boutique Hotel(Emmy Lou Harris) or a hotel atrium(Skinny Lister gig number 8!). I attended a very cool industry event organised by NARIP, which proved a great opportunity to meet music supervisors from Microsoft, You Tube and also publishers such as Glassnote, but some of the best connections are made completely randomly. Anyone who knows me will know I love yoga. So it was a miracle at the end of the week to find myself awake before 11am and in a hot yoga class on 5th street with the afore mentioned Nathan Graves(Music Sales). Having flushed a micro-amount of the weeks toxins out of our skins, we resumed sx-mode and headed across to Whole Foods for a smoothy, en-route to Waterloo Records across the street, where we could already hear Richard Thompson was in full flow. A young lady passed by the counter wearing a cool Joy Division T-shirt which sparked a conversation. Turns out she was the head of music for a major clothing brand responsible for putting music in all their stores. Later she came along with a music supervisor friend to my band's official showcase, which she loved and hopefully now we're going to do some business.

I think the main thing heading to SX, is to come with an open mind, be ready and open to meet people. Talk to people, I lost my voice pretty much completely by thursday and as I sit here in Tokyo writing this its pretty much non-existant. SXSW is what you make it... on the upside, its the best opportunity you will get as an exec in the global business to reach out and meet the industry from every major country in the world. The Mushroom Records party on the roof of the W Hotel was probably the best location of all the parties I went to; the Hopeless Records drinks the busiest and of course the New Zealand Commissions drinks on Brush Park had the best wine! The best band I saw during the week was Vampire Weekend, whose new material is very exciting. Closely followed by The Specials, who reminded me just how important culturally they are to the UK. Prince played to 250, Jake Bugg seemed to be everywhere and every record label A&R i bumped into mentioned Flume. I missed Thomas Dybdahl at the Sonos Lounge by five minutes.

On the downside, as the SXSW organisation gets bigger and more profit motivated some things have slipped. Bands still have to spend a fortune to play there and having done that, they're at the mercy of things like part-time sound guys who don't give a f*ck and can ruin your chances in a dash. I saw that happen a few times at various locations across Austin. SXSW you've got to do something about that and remember thats the whole point.

All in all though, for that week, Austin is the coolest place on the planet and I know for sure I'll be back there again next year for the best industry event in the world.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2211142 2012-11-29T09:30:08-05:00 2013-01-29T05:12:02-05:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ 680 sales in its first week. Meanwhile Mumford & Sons rise and rise continued with their difficult second album not appearing to be that difficult at all with first week sales of 600,000, four hundred thousand of which were downloads.

In other areas, Emeli Sande came out of nowhere and became the breakthrough act of the year, memorably performing Read All About It at the Olympics, whilst her scruffy jumpered male counterpart Ed Sheeran equally sealed his place in hearts and minds and identified himself as a career artist with songs that strike a rich chord in these need for a torchsong times..

Robbie Williams stormed back with memorable performances at the O2 just last week, whilst brother in arms Gary Barlow deservedly scooped his OBE (surely the Knighthood is next!) for his exceptional work in pulling together the Jubillee concert and his endless charity projects and all-round good blokery..

The Mercury prize somewhat predictably, but never the less deservedly, also went to a band no-one had heard of at the beginning of the year, Alt-J who will have to develop their sound beyond the limits that The XX restricted themselves to and look unlikely to break out of, if they're to go beyond this initial success.

Plan B has probably had THE standout year of everyone, proving that given the right support and backing true multi-media music stars can emerge. Who knew that this first album gangster rapper from South East London, would have then turned into a Soul singer and then turned into a movie star with his debut onscreen appearances drawing great reviews in the Sweeney and his own masterpiece Ill Manors, which he wrote and directed. This week I was at the Artist and Managers Awards at the wonderful Troxy Music hall, where I was nominated in the Breakthrough Manager of the year category for my work with Skinny Lister. Plan B's manager Sam Eldridge picked up the Manager of the Year award and the affore mentioned Plan B (Ben Drew) stepped up to present the award, praising Sam and his label Atlantic Records for their vision and belief in his dream, before collecting the Artist of the Year Award himself.

One other thing that has emerged in the industry is a new acceptance that the reality tv route is now an almost credible option. See One Direction and look out for Lovable Rogues in 2013. Now the veil of secrecy around fast-tracking of artists into the X Factor and Britain's Got Talent has been lifted, it is now seen as a viable route for artists and managers to reach a huge tv audience and a potential mainstream shot at the big time.

Sadly another 12 months has gone by and the reality tv route and the 'half a slim chance in hell's' option of getting a slot on Later are still the only outlets for music artists on TV. As a point of interest and an aside, my band Skinny Lister made their UK TV debut this year, performing on a daytime ITV show. Great, you might say..and it was, but guess how much time they got to perform their single. 3 minutes? 2 Minutes i hear you cry? Try 45 seconds. The producer sided with me and told me there wasnt more they could do, because their viewers switch as soon as a music act comes on they dont instantly recognise! Something needs to be done about music options on tv, we need a major label to fund a tv show or an independent tv show to emerge from online onto our screens.. and please make it soon!

On another front, it's now the time of year that everyone looks forward to next year's big hitters, the end of year polls and the tips for 2013, a process which in my opinion is about as pointless as a trying to get an A&R person to come to a gig.

The truth is, as in the case of Emelie Sande only one or two of those tipped ever come to anything.

What I think will be interesting to see though in the next twelve months is whether the guitar band prophecy comes true. Recently, Universal Music Chairman David Joseph was interviewed by the BBC with an insight into where he sees the next twelve months going musically. He talked about the re-emergance of more traditional guitar bands, away from the dance/beats domination of recent years, which to many of us will be music to our ears. Radio 1 chief George Ergatoudis has also been making the same noises, saying he will support new bands on the station when they breakthrough. I've seen a few great bands in the last 18 months who could take the initiative and lead the charge The Chakras for one - a great band with songs like U2, without the wrap around coloured glasses, a band called Dry the River who if they can come up with a couple of big songs, could step up to the mark. Then there's Films of Colour who ply Athlete-Coldplay-Keane grade songs with epic guitar layers, have paid their dues and are ready for wider appreciation. Then there's a brilliant band called Toy, who really are something live.

I'd love to see this happen, I think the general public are ready for it and it will just take one band to step up to the mark, to lead the way. Whether there is anything like as brilliant as the Arctic Monkeys or Muse around the corner, I'm not sure, because overall it feels that over the last 12 months, the difficulties that the industry is facing, (lack of investment at the grassroots end, minimal tv and radio outlets and fewer and fewer chances for acts to breakthrough), is making the music people are having to make more and more generic, so that it is acceptable to the narrowing range of meaningful media outlets and routes to the mainstream market.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1928595 2012-10-01T13:16:19-04:00 2012-12-01T05:12:01-05:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ Music MBA. Backed by the music industry and spearheaded by an inspirational programme director Helen Gammons, the aim is to train a new generation of music executives in the business of music. My background in PR and now Artist management should make for an interesting addition to the course which covers all aspects of the industry from copyright law to merchandising, licensing and sync deals and beyond.

Talking about the music as a business is always a heady conversation, the music business is one of this country's biggest export, and contributes billions to UK Plc. As everyone knows though, the industry has struggled to modernise in the digital revolution and is licking its wounds over what might have been. On a positive note, the business is still vibrant with creative minds and young innovators and in talking to some of the first intake of students at Henley, its clear that they still see a big future in music as a business. My input is from the front line, which for the aspiring business leaders who will walk away with a Music MBA, should hopefully provide an invaluable insight into the realities of managing artists and bands in Music 2.0.

The main problem facing any aspiring act is where to find the first investment, that first 10 or 20 grand to record an album, another 20k or so to fund some grassroots marketing for three months and get the band on the road. Where to go to for that first 30, 40, 50 grand is becoming increasingly more difficult and there is a huge funding gap opening up, which artists are falling headlong into and being spat out of before they've even dared to dream. There was a day when record labels both major and indie signed acts, developed them, recorded some demos and invested time and money on potential. Those days are gone. Getting on the ladder even one rung nowadays requires a minimum of 50 grand and that's just to get started, labels are expecting online presence, press profile and radio plays and in some cases significant record sales before picking up an act, polishing them and presenting them as their own new signing.

This is a hot topic of conversation in the industry and a huge problem for everyone involved in developing the artists of tomorrow. I went to see an amazing band play on friday night at the Windmill in Brixton. They're called Low Moon Low and to me they represent the future of music. Amazing songs with complex melodies, incredible dual lead vocalists and a standard of musicianship you dont see that often. One to watch. Fortunately for them they've got me as a manager and interest already from a very cool label who have a real talent for picking up on bands early and giving them their first chance.

It really is an exciting time in the music industry, on Monday the Live Music Act came into law which means venues under 200 capacity can now host music and gigs without a licence... this is great news and hopefully will spawn a new era of bands to discover, bolster the live music scene and lead to a next music revolution, that is long overdue.

Finally, I hear that Radio 1 is changing and next year the promised charge of indie guitar bands to stave off the relentless rise and rise of the electronic beat and dub-step meltdown will arrive. This can only be good for all of us. More choice, more bands, more live venues, it's all good. But what to do about funding... to get there in the first place.. Nathan Graves CEO of music investment vehicle Imperial Music & Media plc has this to say, "Getting music ventures funded has never been more difficult.

Music Publishers and Labels have never been more selective and might only provide secondary funds to your business plan after you have proved some traction with fan followings or proved that key industry players have supported you. The problem is nowadays, they often follow, but rarely lead. Where they are essential still is in supplying hi-octane fuel to your campaign and global distribution when required. Private investment is the most interesting path to independence with friends and family topping the list of angel funds, along with a smattering of new VC start ups more recently. Where else do the investment funds get a high risk high return? Mining, Property, Gold, Technology....why not back a music property?"

I agree and would love to to see the industry and the government doing something proactive about funding bands. It's true, that the UKTI does sponsor British bands for things like getting out to showcase events like US festival SXSW and overseas trade missions, but that's not where the main problem lies. There are things like Kickstarter, Icebreaker and Pledge Music, which offer funding models to some degree or the other, but so far I don't know of any act that has broken properly from this kind of set up.

What I'd love to see is a BBC Introducing style system set up. Where new acts are selected for early funding opportunities democratically and based on direct feedback from fans aswell as industry buzz. They'd get an efficient budget to record with and enough money to get up and running; there is of course "so much that can be done online these days". The gaping great hole left by major labels, publishers and the bigger indies needs filling and filling quick else who will be filling the stadiums of 2050?]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1870380 2012-09-10T09:42:48-04:00 2012-11-10T05:12:01-05:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ The Rolling Stones and escorting Stevie Wonder backstage at the BRIT Awards. It's been a pretty exciting ride so far.

When I entered the industry at the age of 25, I remember one journalist telling me how I'd arrived 15 years too late and that the high times of champagne, first class travel and Rolls Royces was over. From where I stood though, it all still looked pretty glamorous and cash rich, send a courier for this, take a bunch of music hacks out for dinner and stick it on expenses, fly to New York for a meeting, the old days still seemed to be lingering on. My best ever weekend in the job consisted of flying to New York for a huge event at Madison Square Garden, upgraded to first class on Virgin both ways, an amazing room in a Schrager hotel, dinner with Elton John and Woodie Allen, meeting Bill Clinton, an aftershow party featuring Paul McCartney, Dan Aykroyd, Sheryl Cole and Jim Carrey jamming away and a limo back to the airport, before landing straight back into work on Monday morning.

Things have changed considerably even since then and most notably, the model for the music industry has been spun on its arse. People will no longer pay £10 for a CD, but will pay £100 to go to a gig. Record companies sadly still waste too much money signing the wrong acts, because all the execs are too scared to put their neck on the line in case they lose their job, expense account and parking space. A&Rs sit watching YouTube, looking for the next act to fill their roster and still pass up great act after great act, before saying 'well who would have seen that coming?' - just about everyone apart from you being the answer. Azealia Banks is a great example, she would have never been signed the traditional way, by courting label execs down to live shows and self releasing. No-one seems to have the vision to see these things coming. The power more than ever before is with the kids.

The most noticable change in the industry has to be how bands are promoted. Labels are waving their hands in the dark, without a clue how to reach their audience, it really is a whole new world of online weirdness out there... gone are the days of promotional campaigns, radio supporting records and bands three months in advance to the single dropping, the MTV generation is over, music on television is an afterthought and the preserve of pay and display TV channels. Labels don't have scooby how to make it work because there are no defined paths anymore. Gotye's Somebody track got millions of hits on Youtube and is an undeniable hit record... championed in Australia, it broke worldwide and became a global number 1. Azealia Bank's 212 had the word 'cunt' in it, a killer beat and so much attitude it became an online hit through word of mouth.

The problem is that even though the major labels, Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony Music are trying their very best and developing their own online teams, portals and outlets, even that just isn't ever going to be a) cool or b) surefire enough to guarantee enough people are going to be influenced enough to buy. I was pleased to read on the front of Music Week this week that Simon Raymonde from Bella Union is championing the idea of an online music tv show, which I believe is the future and an idea i've also harboured for some time. The appetite for music amongst young people is stronger than ever before, they love music. Radio is as popular as ever and the rest of their time is spent online, looking and talking about whats cool. So bring it on, let's get some serious channels for bands and artists to occupy and that will give labels more of a chance to reach the buying audience. We also need more radio stations, in the UK for new bands we have 6 Music and Radio 1. If you dont get on them and in with the little clique of djs and producers who hold the keys, you can forget it. I'd love to see more stations like Amazing Radio rising up. In the States where radio is less regulated there are so many opportunities to break new bands and give emerging acts some airtime. In the UK there is too much emphasis on being cool, rather than being good. Online there are loads of music blogs, basically music enthusiasts raving about their favourite bands, but even though the main newspapers and music mags have their online portals, this area needs more resources to really make a difference.

I'd love to speak to guys at the major labels about what their strategy is, because I just feel they're wandering around lost, trying to figure out where their audience has gone and how to reach them in a world where its easier than ever to get music out there, but harder than its been before to be heard.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1365663 2012-03-20T17:56:34-04:00 2012-05-20T05:12:01-04:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/
It's absolutely bonkers.

I had two bands there, Skinny Lister a folk band signed to Rob Da Bank's label in the UK and a band called Films of Colour who are building a nice following and showcased for America's versiom of PRS for Music, BMI.

The week was a blur of hundreds of gigs, agency parties, label showcases and meeting some really interesting and influential people. From a British point of view there was the British Music Embassy, a venue taken over for a week of events feature a small number of bands from the UK, which seems a bit of a shame considering the lust for British bands and music in the US.

A lot of other countries have their moment in the spotlight, the french showcase, tuesday was groovy dance music and Air-like pretentions, the New Zealand showcase, started suitably with some rather lovely NZ wines and ended with the excellent Avalanche CIty. The Canadian Showcase was well attended I heard and of course every other stage is rammed with American talent, being their normal shy and retiring selves and siezing their moment with both hands. I saw a rather excellent Ska band called The Pinstripes and gave $10 for a $5 cd, you kind of get carried away and swept along with some bands and I dont even like Ska, preferring Reggae and Dub.

The big names were of course there and Springsteen stole all of the accolades with his inspirational Keynote speech. Literally everyone was talking about it and I used it as a motivational pre-gig speech before Films of Colour blasted their sound.

On the streets its a fervour of band's going to gigs, friendly americans having the time of their lives and some amazing food and the usual quirkies.. 'Free Shrugs' being my favourite.

Working as I do in the music industry predominantly for me its about my bands and reaching out and meeting influential players in the music industry. Especially as my band's start to pick up traction, the US is an obvious place to be. SXSW really is a must for any new band treading that path and I'm proud to say both my bands turned alot of heads in the US.

What did strike me was the difference between the US and UK industry folk you meet... The US seems to be full of enthusiasm and fired up, actively looking for the next big thing and every exec you meet is really optimistic and buoyant about the possibilities and making some money. I think its just natural for americans, whereas by comparison, in the UK its always tales of wo and phrases like 'well its just really difficult at the moment' are often trotted out..

People show up and reply to emails, they're really interested in finding and backing the next big act, be it Hip hop or folk or death metal. This is where it seems to be happening.

What we seem to have at the moment is a cloud of musical pessimism floating above UK music execs right now, people seem to be too scared to take a risk, or back anything in case it doesnt work and they get sacked.

I attended the Music Managers Forum SXSW brunch meeting during my week here, headed up by Adam Tudhope who manages Keane, Laura Marling and Mumford & Son. We talked about all sorts of topics from the secondary ticketing scandal and how to close the loop holes that still glaringly exist there, aswell as the changing role of the manager and how really the manager's role has now turned into the early developer, A&R and initial backer of music. This space was previously occupied by major and indies labels and their development budgets, but sadly this opportunity largely doesnt exist. The problem this leaves us is where to find funding from to develop acts up to the initial level needed to get noticed and onto the level that major labels like Universal or Sony might sign them on. What came out of it, is that there are a few funds around, but nowhere near enough. The problem is the risk. Investors want a return and whether a band makes it or not, largely depends on timing, spotting a gap in the market and a sprinkling of luck. For an investor looking for ROI, its often not enough money investment wise to make it worthwhile to them nor a big enough guarantee for that return to actually happen.

On the plus side, the music industry is as cool and exciting as it's ever been, probably more so and if I were a music fan with a few pounds looking to sink into something interesting, i'd definitely encourage them to sink their hand into their pockets. In fact, call me, I know plenty of bands who could benefit.

This funding problem has to change though, we definitely need to find more ways of backing acts and I believe the government should also get more involved in supporting what is an incredible UK Export. If not then perhaps we'll see bands going to SXSW and saying, hey you know what.. they like us here.. they're backing us.. lets stay!]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1293819 2012-02-23T19:00:00-05:00 2012-04-24T05:12:02-04:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ Adele wows the Brits once more, gets kicked off to make way for an okay performance from Blur (aside from the drummer who was ace) and the guitarist who played that Song 2 riff well and the other one who was good on backing woo-hoos. Next we hear the TV audience is up to a high of six million, beating 2005's record. The previous morning I was woken to the news that Adele is selling an album once every seven seconds.

What to make of all this? People love music and music on TV is a winner according to viewers. Yet why do we still have so few outlets for music on television and why are they so difficult to get on? I say this as an artist manager who has experience at both ends of the spectrum, having worked with huge international artists such like Dame Shirley Bassey and David Bowie on one end of the scale and my current roster of up and coming artists such as folk band Skinny Lister and fellow HP blogger and artist Peter Grant.

Having managed Dame Shirley's last album project The Performance which I took from a concept in my head to her most successful selling album of her career, I know that the one thing that still sells albums is a TV performance. Online, press, even radio, doesnt really sell records, unless your a pop or dub step act with a teenage fan base. All the other areas of the media only go to support and allow significant profile to justify a TV appearance being booked.

On the upcoming band end of the scale, pickings are slim. Firstly, it's really hard to get on TV, secondly, there are virtually no big TV opportunities for breaking acts and thirdly, it's almost impossible to get the gate keepers of the TV airwaves to come and see new artists.

Long time industry TV plugger and campaigner for more music on TV Dylan White is right... we need a replacement for Top of the Pops, we need a breeder show for the excellent Later and we need more slots like the 4 Play music shorts on Channel 4 and a regular outlet for music videos and music documentaries (which people also love) on mainstream channels.

Daytime TV offers even less. According to some of the leading daytime execs, the reason they rarely book music acts on their couches is because ratings drop off and the kettle goes on as soon as the act breaks into song.

So, what to do? In a few years time, I believe there will be big budget online versions of all the shows that us music lovers are missing, the Tube, TOTP etc as TV and online merges into one.

But what we really need right now is more opportunities on terrestrial TV for young bands to reach an audience, because when they do, as Adele has proved by her 17 million album sales, there's money to be made in advertising revenue and record sales and everybody will be rolling in the deep.

I will be blogging from SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas, from 13-19 March. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1131081 2011-12-06T19:00:00-05:00 2012-02-05T05:12:01-05:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ BBC Sound Of list, this year looking forward to 2012. So
I thought I'd take a little look at last year's list and see how they'd all faired in the past year.

Last night I jumped online to have a look at which artists we were being told to get excited about 12 months ago. From last year's list, it has undoubtedly been Jessie J's year. I remember being stood next to her A&R guy and president of Island Records at this year's Brit Awards nominations launch and he turned to me with a very smug look on his face that said "this is gonna be huge". Jessie J is a great popstar, they got the image right, the songs are great, she's the real deal. For this year at least.

Next down the list is James Blake...well, he had a mini-moment this year, a Mercury Prize nomination, ruffled a few feathers, got a few people excited and then crawled back into his post-dubstep hole-come-bedroom.

Then there's The Vaccines. Great sounding band, they should be big. They should be more than just cool and cool-sounding (name-wise at least), but, they've got no songs. Jamie Woon is big in Kazakhstan apparently. Claire Maguire? Anna Calvi, also had a moment, picked up a Mercury nomination and went back into the same hole/bedroom as the aformentioned Blake. Daley? Esben & The Witch (only listed because it sounds like Noah & The Whale). Jai Paul... errrr... Mona, now that was a waste of £1m quid.

But Nero, now we're talking...Nero's Dubstep Symphony recorded live with the BBC Philharmonic for Radio 1, was one of the highlights and most excitingly cutting edge musical experiences I've ever witnessed. Warpaint however - on posters, but not on stereos. Wretch 32, an undeniable hit and close runner in my book for true second place retrospectively. Yuck=Yuck.

So the Sound of 2012, what to make of it? Well firstly, where are all the indie acts? What does this say about the state of the music industry in a year where indie label backed Adele has been a run away global success, where are the slew of indie acts being given a bigger chance to shine? This kind of very public major label elitism just makes it harder for all the young bands and artists on little labels trying to make it.

Sure it's never been easier to get your music out there, but its harder than ever to get heard. Secondly, supposedly this list is drawn up by journalists, media, producers and tastemakers in the industry. Okay, I consider myself to be pretty in touch and most definitely have my finger on the pulse of whats going on in the music industry.

So how come half of these names have only just appeared on the list, despite hardly any profile for the whole year? I'm sure I would have spotted Frank Ocean or Lianne La Havas on gig listings, doing support slots at the hundreds of gigs and music showcases and events I go to every year? It just feels like they've run out of ideas when it got to places 13, 14 and 15 on the longlist and picked up Time Out and picked the first three bands they see. And where is Lana Del Rey!!!!

Stand outs that definitely deserve to be there are Dot Rotten, Dry the River, the incredible Azealia Banks and Michael Kiwanuka all of which have songs and edge.

The rest... I'm pretty sure will be next year's forgotten ones.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.987036 2011-10-02T19:00:00-04:00 2011-12-02T05:12:04-05:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ coffin. Another one of those only in America stories I guess. But it made me think about my relationship with music.

To me music IS a matter of life and death...

I don't know where it came from. I'm not musical, I can't play the guitar and despite having a few piano lessons when I was a kid, the truth is it was only because my sister had lessons and I didn't want to miss out. Music is omnipresent in daily life, on tv, on radio, it's the soundtrack to our lives. The rhythms of life move to a musical beat.

So why is it that we value music so little these days? In my lifetime we've gone from selling singles for £3.99 on a 7" disc made of plastic, to the same not even being 'worth' 79 pence to download. In the same time people will happily pay £100 to go to a concert, but wont pay £7-£10 for an album.

Yet, we do still love it. I was reading in Music Week last week, that all the major record labels are gearing up for their seasonal releases in Q4, with new albums arriving from the brilliant Florence + The Machine, Coldplay and James Morrison aswell as stocking filling favourites Westlife, Susan Boyle and Kathryn Jennkins and the usual X Factor artists.

This year, despite overall CD sales being down 14% by value, the overall artist album market is down only 1.1% year on year, so all the major labels are bullishly setting out their Christmas stalls in confident moods. Well they've got to I suppose.

When I wonder is it, that the major labels are going to finally get it and work out why their sales revenues are stalling. For years they've been talking about becoming Entertainment Companies, not just signing acts based on a few good songs, but more so on their ability to generate money across all areas of business. When the wheels started falling off the record sales cart nearly 15 years ago, the major companies were quick to change the contracts they offered from simple recording deals, to what they call 360 deals, capturing income from other areas such as publishing, merchandising, ticket sales and brand associations, rushing to by up the leading companies in these field so they could justify taking their extra slice of the pie.

To a large extent though the major record labels are still falling short on their promises and rarely sign any act that doesnt fit their too cool for school equation; they're not thinking of the act as a business and looking at all of the revenue streams available and capitialising on making money across the whole music industry.

They're still hung up on a set of 12 or 14 songs on an album and whether a select number of djs and producers think they're any good.. The truth is there are very few proper A&R guys left in the industry that can do the job who look at an artist or a band and see the potential. There are a few elder statesman; stalwarts such as the excellent Chris Briggs (newly at Columbia Records), Colin Barlow (who will soon join Briggs at Sony) and Darcus Beese at Island(who signed Amy Winehouse, Jessie J and Mumford & Sons), they get it.

But the problem is below them, they're all so junior, with no business sense or nous enough to see an act's multi-platform potential and they're worried about getting sacked for making the wrong call... so you can guess what happens. Nothing. Read Kill Your Friends, its more like a documentary evidence than a fictional paperback.

What the music industry and major labels need is people working in A&R, who not only go to gigs (most A&Rs rarely go to gigs these days, just looking online at twitter and facebook stats) but can look at acts with proper 360 vision, not just whether a songs good, but at the live proposition, the possibilities for tv and movie syncs, brand associations and endorsements, at the whole picture and at making money across the board. That's the way I work as an active manager in the music industry, it's the potential.

The fact is, we do all love music, it keeps us a live and we take it to our graves. It's part of our spirit and our very soul. The music industry needs to keep itself alive by feeding its fire with the right fuel and acting like a business that is wide eyed alert and ready to live another hundred years and not end up six feet under.

Top Ten Songs to Live or Die By:

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Samuel Barber - Adagio For Strings
John Legend - Ordinary People
Peter Grant - Dear Friend
Aretha Franklin - Say A Little Prayer
Elbow - Mirror Ball
Elton John - Come Back in Time
Luther Vandross - A House Is Not a Home
Lou Reed - Satellite of Love

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.949225 2011-09-05T19:00:44-04:00 2011-11-05T05:12:03-04:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/ Angel Radio from going to the wall. Meanwhile, Ronnie Wood is the saviour of Absolute Radio with his new show that is raking in record listeners. Bob Dylan's on Radio 2 - what next, Weird Al Yankovich's all-hit breakfast show on Radio Lollipop?!

Seriously though, it's great that our elderly statesmen of rock are taking to the airwaves - well, I suppose if your new album's no longer deemed worthy of airplay on our national stations, why not take over a show, so you can play whatever you want?

But I'd like to see a bit of a shake-up in the way the music we hear on our national stations is chosen. I'm specifically thinking about Radio 1 here.

Radio 2 is a brilliant station these days with an eclectic playlist, whose transformation was masterminded by former controller Lesley Douglas and continues to develop through inventive programming, excellent documentaries and superb live sessions and shows.

Other national stations, Magic, Heart and the bigger commercial stations are followers rather than leaders when it comes to choosing the music they play.

Radio 1 however seems to have got caught in a self-obsessive spiral in much the same way as it did in the 90s, when its output turned the station into a pirate radio-sounding wind tunnel of repetitive and faceless dance music that was almost unlistenable (and I say that as fan of the genre, having grown up with house music as my teenage soundtrack).

Radio 1 has once again become too cool for school and ghettoized, caught in a rut where the playlist is dominated by same-sounding dubstep pop, which barring one or two exceptions such as the superb Chase & Status and Nero, is back to its mid-nineties low point.

What I think we need are more representative and varied playlists at radio, where there's a chance for all of these genres to shine and share the airwaves. As it stands at Radio 1 - or so I'm informed by the leading radio pluggers in the industry - everything has to be championed by a tastemaker or come from a particular scene (currently dubstep) to stand a chance of airplay support.

Consequently, daytime output is deluged with one generic sound and all the other genres are locked out until a chink in the armour appears wide enough for a band (or a singer or a duo etc) who've mustered enough support to break through.

For the last two years the talk in the industry has been about how things are going to shift back towards guitar bands. But so far, this has not materialised, because labels can't get the support from producers because all they want to play is dubstep because they think that's what the kids want and are listening to.

If they only went out to gigs and festivals as much as I do and saw the range of acts and types of music that young 16-24 year olds are really into, then our national airwaves would sound drastically different. Young people out there love folk, they love acoustic singer-songwriters, they love reggae, pop, guitar bands, female singers, duos, boy bands and girl bands and they love them all the time.

What do you think happens to all the fans of guitar bands or singer songwriters or soul singers when that genre of music isn't given national airplay, during times of mono-sonic doldrums? They don't just cease to exist. They're still out there, but they don't have any exposure to the acts that satisfy their tastes, which is a massive missed opportunity for radio stations eager to improve their reach.

You may argue that that's where 6 Music shines, but I think that all radio stations should have open minds rather than limited focus. BBC's Introducing is an excellent and well-executed conduit for music, but in this digital age where it could be easier to make and distribute music, the problem is still exposure.

One ray of light nationally is the superb Amazing Radio, which is innovatively taking the BBC's Introducing format one step further and featuring music from their amazingtunes.com site. Fans choosing the music effectively, moderated by a team of established music industry presenters such as the effervescent Gill Mills, with her new music show and Jim Gellately up in Scotland, as well as the Guardian's music man Paul Lester.

Another excellent platform that has emerged is the British Council's Selector Radio show. Recently nominated for a BT Digital Music Award for Best Show and fronted by Goldierocks, the show promotes British music globally.

The show currently goes out on FM in more than 30 countries worldwide to an audience of more than three million. Bands such as Dinosaur Pile Up and artist Jamie Woon, whose music has been played on the non-playlist constrained show, have found new audiences in countries as far apart as Mexico and Kazakhstan.

Dinosaur Pile Up received so much interest in Mexico City that they ended up going out there and playing to a sell out crowd of more than 3,000 people in a country they'd never previously been to.

We need more platforms like this. Open minded, anything-goes radio for all.
]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.941952 2011-08-30T19:00:00-04:00 2011-10-30T05:12:02-04:00

Paul Carey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carey/
Look at the amazing Adele. A normal girl from south London with a potty mouth, yet a voice that makes you cry, she's just notched up her 3millionth album sale in the US and is currently number 1 in the US iTunes charts following yet another spell binding performance at this weekend's MTV Video Music Awards. We should be proud of her success and realise that actually as a nation we're bloody brilliant at producing world-class music superstars. The ironic thing of course is that for all the desire and incredible demand for shows like the X Factor and Britain's Got Talent those big shows rarely produce the big stars. Okay, Leona Lewis did well for a while, but she's struggling to maintain the prestige she once had and who else has really gone on to international success? Will Young has proved to be a versatile and likeable talent, but only in the UK...so there's not so many.

What stands out about Adele's success to me as a manager working in the UK music industry is that her success has come about because she went the independent route. Her label XL Recordings, backed her and believed in her and allowed her to become the artist we see standing before us now. Whilst major record labels such as Universal, Sony and Warner's continue to blindly waste money on those hotly tipped bands that the media excitedly mention in those Ones to Watch lists every January,(that then come to nothing), its the brave old indie's like XL, Domino, Fierce Panda, Moshi Moshi etc who are the real industry leaders.

The recent riots in London dealt a blow to many of these independent labels when the Sony distribution centre they all depend on was burnt to the ground. Fortunately my acts that use the PIAS network weren't affected by the fire, but many indie labels such as Sunday Best and Domino were affected and lost all their stock. Fortunately the independent sector has rallied round and clubbed together to raise money to replace the stock they lost.

What I think this shows more than anything is that the major labels still haven't learnt from the past ten years of diminishing returns that have seen their biggest acts leaving to self release and sales slump year on year. They continue to sign acts for a million pounds and waste the same again on marketing it to an audience that doesn't want it. Whereas Indie labels listen to and are in touch with their fanbase and are constantly communicating with them and have their support. Unfortunately (and I say this as someone who does still believe in the major record labels) whilst they still remain excellent at selling to the masses once the hard work is done, exemplified perhaps best recently by Mumford & Son, they're becoming more and more impotent in their ability to find and nurture new talent - artists like Adele. As more and more acts find major success independently, its not going to be long until the major labels stop signing acts directly altogether and only offer licence deals for acts that are already selling records and having hits, before they get involved. This I would have thought would be a terrifying state of affairs for any major label to be in...

In the meantime we should all look to the indies for the next big thing, that's where we'll find the stars of tomorrow. ]]>