My Manager's Blog
Airports and the like...
I'm in the US right now with Tina Dico - this must be her 5 or 6th US tour in the past 3 years. It's bit of a suicide trip. Monday was a sold-out NYC, last night was Chicago, and tonight we're in Philadelphia. I don't know how she can do that kind of travelling then take the stage like she's been resting for the past couple of days. After only 3 days, I'm sooo tired, it hurts.
From Philadelphia, we travel down to Washington for a XM Radio session and then on to Annapolis to hang out with the US Navy and maybe do a show too. From there, she heads off to Canada to play 3 shows with her buddy Teitur, and I hit the West Coast for one day off (Saturday) before a certain Miss Kate Walsh arrives to start her first US tour.
In times of distinct despair in the music industry, I always take solace in the fact that the people I have chosen to work with work like there's no tomorrow. Gone are the days of being ushered from pillar to post and endless promo expense accounts. We cut our cloth accordingly, and know full well that if we didn't put this kind of time into what we do, then someone else will...it's dog eat dog, and with sales of music as pitiful as they are, managers and artists alike need to summon up untold amounts of energy if a good-ish career is to be carved out.
Now, back to work...
This week, I'm mostly listening to...
The new Blood Red Shoes album - saw them in Norwich a while back, and there's little out there right now (in my opinion) with such energy and gusto. For a two piece, they make such a good racket.
Had a couple of listens to the The Last Shadow Puppets album too - yes, at a basic level, it's bit of pastiche, but at another, to be 22 and write such well crafted songs as they do is amazing.
Finally, have been re-living my early 90's heydey and have slowly worked through all four Kitchens of Distinction albums. Why on earth they weren't massive, I'll never know. If you'd like to check out a song that sums them up, go for Third Time We Opened the Capsule....still does it for me.
Out...
First blog...time to vent some spleen.
Hey all...haven't written a blog before, but thought 'hey, what the heck'...it's the new vogue and if happening this will be, so enjoy it while it lasts and please forgive spellings....
I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this will know whom I manage and what kind of style and approach I have. We're going through a massive revolution right now - not just in music, but in every way we like to consume our entertainment. one of the new threats to purchasing music digitally (in my opinion) are the TV shows available on platforms such as iTunes. Just when you thought it was safe to look ahead, the little guys are going to have to compete with the likes of the BBC and Fox (as are our big grown up brothers in major record label land).
Those of you familiar with Kate Walsh will look back on last year as an almost halcyon bygone age on iTunes. She released her album last week of March 2007 and this was combined with the free Single of the Week slot. We were offered a ground-breaking price point of £4.74 to sell the album, which, after a weekend of fretting about devaluing music, we agreed to. By Thursday that week, the album was No.1 on the Top 100 and remained there for 2 weeks. This was amazing, and with hindsight, even more amazing. Never before had an unsigned artist hit No.1 on the iTunes Album Chart. In fact, the only Indie signed artist to have reached that peak previously was Arctic Monkeys. This lead to the invevitable bun fight from labels everywhere - some I'd never even heard of. She licensed the album, went on tour non-stop (120 gigs in the past year) and is now about start her first US tour and is contemplating her next (third) album which will likely be released next Spring.
My point about the BBC & Fox etc is this. iTunes share of the market and the overall size of the digital market (albeit still very small at about 7%) has doubled in the past 12 months. The most noticeable change in the buying habit on iTunes is that bands like The Enemy, The Courteeners, or other 'indie' acts, are now Top 10. A year ago, it was predominantly the supermarket artists like Take That and Amy Winehouse. A massive sea change has taken place in the last year; kids are buying 'their' music from iTunes whereas a year ago, it was more likely to be their parents. The upside to this is that stores like iTunes are attracting younger consumers who might finally not mind paying for their music. The downside for future Kate Walsh's out there is that the iTunes store has turned from something quite niche in to a virtual Woolworths. You get your pocket money and dip in to the store every New Music Tuesday.
For an unsigned or unknown artist, the chance to become the next Kate Walsh is (sadly) over. I'd love to be proved wrong, but with iTunes now a mainstream store (and having just surpassed WalMart as the biggest music retailer in the US), it would have to take an incredible artist or song to get anywhere near the heights of what Kate achieved last year.
Out...