M65

POP

Members Music Magazine Issue 65 64 June 2017 2017 September

THE POP ISSUE: HUE & CRY

THE SHAMEN

all eyes on the next generation, chart ch-ch-changes and the publishers steering tomorrow’s big hits

MARTiN SjøliE

STREAM-RippiNg

SPITFIRE AUDIO

digital edition

contents

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COVER FEATURE

POP PROVENANCE Meet the self-starting female writer/ producer/performers who are out in front in 2017

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THE HIT MAKERS

NEW RULES

Multi-million-selling pop publishers share their A&R tips

Charting mainstream success in the digital era

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25 14

JUST JOINED Meet two of PRS for Music's newest members 4

60 SECONDS Scottish pop stalwarts Hue and Cry celebrate 30 years in the biz

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SOCIAL @m_magazineprs @m_magazineprs prsformusic prsformusic m_magazineprs

cover photo: Cosima

I WROTE THAT

PICTURE THIS

Nicky Graham on scribing When Will I Be Famous for Bros

Mr C looks back on high times for The Shamen

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34

EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION

Editor Paul Nichols

Production & Design Carl English

Associate Editor Anita Awbi Content Editor Lucy Doyle

Membership Advisors Simon Aldridge Myles Keller

CONTRIBUTORS Amy Field, Maxie Gedge, Liam McMahon, Jim Ottewill, Stefania Pavlou, Cerian Squire, Alex Sharman, Coral Williamson.

PRS for Music, 2 Pancras Square. London N1C 4AG T 020 7580 5544 E magazine@prsformusic.com W prsformusic.com The printing of M Magazine is managed on behalf of PRS for Music

by Cyan Group Ltd, Twickenham. cyan-group.com Advertising T 020 3225 5200 E orla-tickton@media-ten.com Advertising does not influence editorial decisions or content. The appearance of advertising in M is neither a guarantee nor an endorsement by PRS for Music of the product, service, or company or the claims made for the product in such advertising.

ISSN 0309-0019Š PRS for Music 2017. All rights reserved. The views expressed in M are not necessarily those of PRS for Music, nor of the editorial team. PRS for Music accepts no responsibility for the views expressed by contributors to M, nor for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations, nor for errors in contributed articles or advertisements. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

M is printed on paper manufactured using chlorine-free pulps and the raw materials are from fully managed and sustainable forests.

m65_september 2017_3

just joined

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c cane

martin sjølie

C Cane is an unstoppable force currently causing a stir on the grime scene. Known for shutting down sets with her explosive bars, she was spotted early on by Complex UK as one of 15 MCs to watch out for, while MTV applauded her #gimmegrime freestyle session on BBC Radio 1Xtra as ‘one of 2015’s hottest’.

Pianist, songwriter and record producer Martin Sjølie is fast gaining a reputation as the go-to songwriter for Scandi pop success.

Perhaps best known as the main collaborator behind Norway’s pop starlet Maria Mena, his latest triumph has been with Sigrid, a 20-year-old fellow Norwegian whose pop stomper Don’t Kill My Vibe has been streamed more than 20 million times on Spotify.

Co-written with Martin, Nylon described the track as ‘the ultimate millennial empowerment anthem,’ while Sigrid has described how it came about as a result of a prior session with songwriters who didn’t take her seriously.

Born in Norway, Martin says he ‘grew up in church’ playing piano and conducting choirs. ‘That got me into music’ he explains.

Surrounded by jazz, gospel and pop, he

decided as a teenager that he wanted to be a producer and songwriter. A three-year course at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts cemented his ambition, and he went on to work as a touring musician for Norwegian artists including Marit Larsen – one of the country’s biggest singer-songwriters.

Busier than ever, this multi-lingual, multiinstrumentalist can be found hosting her own show on Reprezent Radio every Wednesday and making documentaries alongside Idris Elba, when she isn’t dropping nuggets of gold such as her session for Toddla T, that is.

One of Martin’s first studio roles was assisting producer David Eriksen, where he worked with pop acts of the day including Rachel Stevens. Since then, he’s written and produced songs for artists all over the world.

Alongside her emcee flows, C Cane also sings and plays guitar and piano. An artist with many strings to her bow, it’s no wonder then that PRS Foundation has got behind her sound, granting her Momentum Music Fund support to help her fast-rising career.

His recent work in the UK reads like a who’s who of British pop, with cuts for Sam Smith, Ella Henderson, Charlotte OC, The Wanted’s Nathan Sykes and RAYE all stacking up. With an ever-growing list of credits, there’s no way anyone is killing his vibe…

Currently filming with Sky Arts for a big undisclosed project to be broadcast in the coming months, C Cane’s new single Bad To Da Bone has picked up support from BBC Radio 1Xtra’s MistaJam and demonstrates exactly why she is one to watch.

Other new PRS for Music members this quarter include Superorganism and Dead Naked Hippies. Find out more about them at m-magazine.co.uk

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members & music

sixty seconds

hue and cry It’s been 30 years since brothers Patrick and Gregory Kane shot into the pop stratosphere as Hue and Cry with their 1987 breakthrough hit Labour of Love. A coded anti-Thatcherite anthem, it led them down a platinum-selling path opening concerts for the likes of Madonna, Simply Red and U2.

Back with a brand new album, Pocketful of Stones – their first record of original material since 2012’s Hot Wire – the pair discuss the secrets to their longevity and why Scotland is experiencing ‘a golden era’ for music…

Tell us about the new album: what was the recording process?

Greg: In 2014, we decided to start a record and set ourselves the task of ‘go into the studio in the morning and don’t leave the room until you’ve written a verse, chorus, verse, chorus’. We haven’t done that before but we’ve done our 10,000 hours. If you don’t know how to write a song by now, then…

Pat: Also with this record, it was on a coin toss: four years ago Greg wanted to do a funk record, I wanted to do a ballad record. He won the toss, so now it’s my turn.

We’ve always made songs which are funk, R&B and soul influenced and also songs which are very balladic. We’re continuing that polarity all the way through.

You’re known for your political and social commentary in your music – what messages can people expect from the new record?

Pat: This record was written in 2014, which was a very tumultuous time in Scotland with the referendum. The song It Happened Here is all about the experience of community engagement, and we were singing it all the way through Brexit. We were turning up in small communities who felt they’d been left behind. That song had as much resonance to them, whether they voted remain or leave, as it did in Scotland in 2014.

Sometimes records teach you what they are really about by the virtue of you making them.

How do you think your sound has evolved since the Labour of Love days?

Greg: I look back on old records and I’m quite happy with our playing and our singing, but we’ve got better at what we do. I was involved in sequencing in the beginnings of Pro Tools but… for me, technology’s come full circle and I’m back to just pressing play and record and seeing how it goes.

What advice would you give to musicians starting out now?

Greg: Be as multifaceted as you can. Don’t sit and watch the TV; sit on Adobe’s TV channel and learn how to work Photoshop and Premiere Pro. There’s no time to lounge around now.

Pat: As a lyricist, read as much poetry as you can. Basically have a diet of the best art you can find. The other thing is try and get out of the music business and give yourself periods of being in ‘real’ life because that will bring the salt to your lyrics. If you want to be doing this 30 years on like we are, then live a rich, substantive life.

Pat, you’re known for your soulful vocals. How do you keep your voice in shape?

Pat: My singing teacher is called Jo Thompson, she has a book called Find Your Voice and it’s been absolutely brilliant for me. I would also say singers, embrace your weirdness. People will leave you alone and that saves your voice. Singers’ weirdness is a thoroughly practical measure to preserve vocal health, strength and longevity. I’ll give you that for nothing!

You’ve said it’s a golden era in Scotland right now for musical talent.

What acts are you tipping?

Pat: Pronto Mama – what a band. They’re like a cross between Elbow, Earth Wind and Fire and Radiohead.

Greg: I’m on the board of the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award. This year’s winners were Sacred Paws, they made an unbelievable Afrobeat album.

What is your take on pop in 2017 – how has it changed since you first started out?

Greg: I still like the whole community aspect of it. I like seeing 50,000 people singing Adele’s songs. I watched Radiohead at Glastonbury and the spell that they cast over 60,000 people. We’ve never thought pop was any less an art form than anything else.

Pat: For this record we did a bit of research into the wave of male balladry that is happening with James Blake, Hozier and James Bay, and then also listened to Scott Walker and other classics. I’ve enjoyed the return of the male balladeer, I think that gave us permission to do this record. We thought there was a context for it to appear in, from recent pop music.

Pocketful of Stones is out now. Hue and Cry are published by Universal Music Publishing and Kobalt Music Publishing.

Read the full interview at m-magazine.co.uk/features

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members & music

OH DAUGHTER

A PARALLEL MUSICAL UNIVERSE

Up-and-coming Welsh composer Tom Green is a versatile talent who’s forging new links between classical music, contemporary culture and technology. Having grown up on a diet of everything from Messiaen and Stravinsky to Fats Waller and Jimi Hendrix, his ear is drawn to shifting sonic forms.

In October, the Welsh National Opera will premiere his first ever chamber opera, The World’s Wife. The work, which has been funded

by PRS Foundation, is based on Carol Ann Duffy’s collection of poems with the same title.

Scored for solo soprano, string quartet and loop pedals, and performed by singer Amanda Forbes and the Mavron Quartet, the work presents parallel tales of history and myth - usually told from a male perspective - through the eyes of women. Highlighting the feminist approach to his work, Tom also quotes music from female composers such as Clara Schumann and Barbara Strozzi in the score.

He tells M: ‘The World’s Wife is a poetry collection that follows the spouses of famous characters, such as Mrs. Darwin, Queen Kong and Frau Freud. The poems operate on many levels – they reinsert women back into our historical and mythical narratives, but do it with such gravity that we’re left wondering what stories we’re telling now, and who’s being erased from them. They’re also hilarious, and occasionally terrifying.’

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Tom was triggered to undertake the project when Diana Ambache, founder of the Ambache Charitable Trust for women composers, asked him how many dead female composers he could name. ‘I only scraped five and was embarrassed and fascinated,’ he says. ‘I’d allowed my culture to write women out of musical history, and I’d been tacitly involved: a direct parallel of what The World’s Wife confronts.’

He’s using loop pedals at the performance – a brave move considering they’ve been a huge source of media derision since Ed Sheeran’s Glastonbury Festival headline performance this summer. But for Tom, it’s less about constructing musical building blocks live on stage, and more about messing with the linear nature of performance. ‘Yes, the looper can operate as a texture and groove builder, but it can also be a memory box,’ Tom explains. ‘In The World’s Wife, one singer plays many characters, and so she uses the loop pedal to create duets and trios between them, melting her identity between the character of the moment and the character trapped in the digital.’

Over the last five years, London trio Daughter have built a solid reputation for their outthere dream-pop and gauzy guitar licks. With a nod to their 4AD forbears, they’ve dished up two languid albums of intense urban folk and experimental indie on the label, both of which have charted in the Top 20. Now, for their latest project, they’re transposing their sonics onto the world of videogame scores for the very first time.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is the new title from Square Enix, the company behind the successful Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy franchises. Before the Storm is the prequel to Life is Strange, the BAFTA Award-winning videogame which drew on real life issues and teen characters for its narrative. The 2015 original featured music from the likes of Mogwai, Foals, Breton, Sparklehorse and alt-J, but for their latest instalment, the game developers wanted something bespoke.

Daughter’s soundtrack, also entitled Music from Before the Storm, features brand new material alongside three tracks from their back catalogue.

It sees the band tread more experimental waters than ever, with electronic layering adding a new sense of urgency to their sound.

The World’s Wife receives its premiere on 15 October at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, before touring concert halls in Brecon, Swansea and Holyhead.

Singer and songwriter Elena Tonra tells M: ‘We weren’t really familiar with Life Is Strange but we looked into it and thought it was a really beautiful concept. Lyrically, the script was really influential... It made me think in a different way… about what I felt as a teenager or how I would feel in [protagonist] Chloe’s shoes.’

Read the full interview with m-magazine.co.uk/features

Read the full interview now at m-magazine. co.uk/features

Tom

at

members & music

PRS PRESENTS

HOW TO WRITE A HIT SONG

Glaswegian grunge-pop duo Honeyblood and Bristolian agitators Idles descend on PRS for Music’s Streatham offices in late September for a night of musical mayhem under the society’s PRS for Music Presents… banner.

Honeyblood (above) have been crafting their biting power-pop since 2012, rising from humble DIY beginnings to grace the Top 40 with their sophomore album Babes Never Die. Blending the surfy sounds of Best Coast with the stinging punk of Courtney Love’s Hole, they spike the sugar-rush with angst and acrimony.

Visceral punk-rockers Idles (below) bring with them a tirade of anti-establishment tracks that buzz with anarchist exhilaration. Taking a sideways shot at modern life, the five-piece are inspired by everything from celebrity baking ace Mary Berry to archetypal posh kid ‘Tarquin’.

PRS for Music Presents… takes place on 28 September and is the latest instalment in a series which has previously hosted Rag n Bone Man, Ghostpoet, Dream Wife, Boxed In, Lady Leshurr and D Double E. For live coverage, interviews and more, see m-magazine.co.uk/ tag/prs-presents

Classically trained composer, producer and hit-writer Paul Whalley has an enviable track record that spans successful collaborations with Mumford and Sons, Ellie Goulding, Nao, Wretch 32, Little Mix and more.

sticking to that recipe helps you achieve a good balance so that you don’t overload the listener, but still ensure bags of appeal. After you’ve heard the song once, you need to be able to remember all the core elements.

Currently based at the Tileyard Studios complex in North London, he’s heading up the Tileyard Education strand How To Produce Great Pop Records.

Pay attention to phonetics You need to make the listener feel like they’ve heard your song before. Scandinavian songwriting powerhouses spend a lot of time thinking about the phonetics of the lyrics, which is what I believe creates that sensation. Paying attention to how the words sound helps you shape the lyric to the melody. It makes your song phrasing more catchy and memorable.

Via online learning schedules and face-toface lectures, he’s sharing his knowledge with the next generation of songwriters and producers while still pursuing an active role in the industry. Here, he gives us his five essential tips for constructing a winning pop record: Write the second chorus first Nail the second chorus straight away and work outwards from there. It’s got all the bells and whistles, it’s going to be the full length version and maybe even repeated.

It’s the strongest part of the song. If you can nail that early on, the rest will write itself. I find that approaching a song that way round really helps you get into the flow. If you’ve built the part of the song with the most energy and the biggest heart, after that it’s all about subtracting things.

Embrace the ABBA formula I subscribe to the ABBA way of thinking, which suggests that each pop song should have five distinct hooks that you can recall at any point throughout the song. They can be vocal hooks, instrumental hooks, drum loops or any little signal that reoccurs. I’ve found

Idles #fundedbyprsf

Understand your audience Before you start writing, think to yourself, ‘Where is this song going to end up?’ Is it going to be played in a club, someone’s living room or is it destined for a headphones listen? You need to think about what people’s relationship to it might be because, at the end of the day, you want it to become everyone else’s song too.

Recording your song If you’re mapping out a demo or getting into production for the first time, always begin by recording some sort of skeleton drum beat.

It gives you the driving pulse and central heartbeat for your song. It’s what makes everyone tap their foot and nod their head.

From there, just record your core piano or guitar part, and a guide vocal to work around.

To glean more of Paul’s tips, read the full article at m-magazine.co.uk/creators m65_september 2017_7

members & music sound effect

Phil Taggart is one of the youngest faces currently tearing up the schedules at BBC Radio 1. Taking over Annie Mac’s threehour Sunday slot in February, he’s become one of the station’s most diverse spinners, getting behind emerging artists from across the musical spectrum.

Phil’s passion for music started at an early age: he joined his first band aged 14 and by the time he was 17 was writing for Alternative Ulster magazine. Then, while studying at the University of Ulster, he won the BBC/Skillset Young Broadcaster of the Year Award.

Away from his broadcasting career, Phil runs his own label, Hometown Records, and hosts a club night called Slacker, which has been showcasing new alternative acts including Rat Boy, Cabbage, The Japanese House and Blossoms since 2015.

The first record I ever bought was…

When I was very young I was writing to Santa for ‘good CDs’ and he was delivering a NOW compilation every year. I thought it was time to plunge deeper into a band. I’d seen the Parklife video by Blur on the TV and thought, ‘There’s my band’. I spent quite a while holding the cassette in the record shop in Omagh, longingly looking at my mum, knowing I didn’t have enough money. But this tactic didn’t work. A full-on temper tantrum in the car did though, and I got my hands on the album. Still holds up to this day.

The first song I developed an obsession for was…

I remember my mum telling me recently how her and my Aunty Mary were quite worried that I was running around the house jumping on things and screaming, ‘I’m the firestarter, twisted firestarter’. So I guess it would be The Prodigy.

My favourite cover version is…

There’s an album of covers of Bob Dylan’s Rat Boy, Cabbage, The Japanese House #fundedbyprsf 8_september 2017_m65

Highway 61 Revisited I got in MOJO years ago, which I cherished but have never been able to locate again. Nirvana’s cover of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World is incredible. I didn’t even know it was a cover until years later.

Special mention to The Clash and their rework of Junior Murvin’s Police and Thieves.

The song that should’ve been a hit but never made it is…

Can I just put a full band in? Everybody needs to wake up to Drones Club. They have so many great tunes and are approaching music and live shows differently than anyone else right now.

The last great record I listened to was…

The new Mac DeMarco album This Old Dog is pretty special. There’s barely two days that pass that I don’t delve back into it. It’s a comfort blanket record.

The song I wish I’d written is…

Any song! The songs I write are horrible. I had a phase of drinking wine at house parties in my late teens and playing these really twee,

lyrically obtuse songs. Nobody gave a shit, I’m not even sure I did.

The song that makes me cry is…

Daniel Johnston’s True Love Will Find You in the End. Everything about him is unique, he’s a rare and beautiful talent with an unfiltered connection between soul and song. I love him very much.

The song that I know all the words to is…

Buggin’ Out by A Tribe Called Quest. Nothing makes everybody wince in pain and cringe more than watching a Northern Irish man rapping Tribe.

My all-time favourite film soundtrack is…

This is a weird one but it stuck with me. The first Dumb and Dumber movie has such an amazing soundtrack. The whole album is mid-nineties cruising indie rock. The Juno soundtrack opened me up to Moldy Peaches and Dearest

by Buddy Holly. So on the basis of both those, the Titanic OST. Her heart did go on.

Listen to Phil’s selection at m-magazine. co.uk/tag/M65

members & music

your favourite pop track We ask you to think back to the first song you developed an obsession for: your all-time favourite single…

Nima Teranchi, Arrows of Love Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. There’s so much truth in there, nailed in a few simple words. If we’re talking feminist icons, Annie Lennox towers above almost any of today’s mainstream personalities and pushed things forward a lot more. On top of that, it’s a cracking tune! @arrowsoflove

Love Ssega From Off The Wall, Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough. What other pop classic has cowbell, horns, a killer bassline, rhythm guitar, glissando strings, falsetto vocals and a guitar solo all before the three-minute mark? Too good. The King of Pop on top form. @LoveSsega

John Digweed, DJ, producer and label boss I remember hearing Donna Summer’s I Feel Love and recording it onto cassette just so I could listen to it over and over, again and again. The fact it still stands up against the biggest club tracks of all time shows how ground breaking it really was. @DJJohnDigweed

Nadia Rose It wasn’t the first ever pop song I heard, but Spice Up Your Life by Spice Girls is definitely the first track I developed an obsession for. @nadiarosemusic

Laucan I had an Oasis cassette single when I was seven or eight, D’You Know What I Mean? and Stay Young. I played that a lot. Stay Young was the one. I’m sure it’s in my own music somewhere! @laucanmusic

Simon Aldridge, Head of Writer Relations, PRS for Music The first pop song I developed an obsession for has to be Dionne Warwick’s Walk On By. I remember asking my mum to play it for me because it made me cry… and I was only five years old at the time! @prsformusic Arrows of Love, Love Ssega #fundedbyprsf m65_september 2017_9

money & business IN FOCUS: STREAM-RIPPING

Research has shown that the latest trend in music piracy is stream-ripping - but what is it, and how could it affect you? were significantly more likely to be male, ABC1 social grade and between the ages of 16 to 34 years.

Of those surveyed, apps were identified as the most common type of stream-ripping service in terms of both awareness, 11 percent, and use, 54 percent.

Essentially, stream-ripping enables people to ‘rip’ their favourite music via streaming platforms and keep the files on their computer. The practice is fuelled by websites and programmes that allow users to turn a track they play via a service such as Spotify or YouTube into a downloadable file they can keep permanently.

There are a growing number of options for users looking to stream-rip music, but the landscape is mainly dominated by a few services which are responsible for a disproportionately high volume of this type of piracy. These include the site convert2mp3.com, plus the apps YouTube Downloader and Tubemate.

Unfortunately, when a track is streamripped, the artist, songwriter, composer, publisher, producer and record company behind it are denied the royalties they deserve. Although individual streams aren’t worth a great deal, repeat listens allow the pennies to add up: the problem is, streamripping means the perpetrator needs never hit replay on a lawful licensed service.

The apps source and download content from licensed services and deliver it straight to the user, while stream-ripping plug-ins offer browser-level functionality allowing you to rip streamed content directly. Stream-ripping software operates in much the same way.

However, the most popular methods of stream-ripping are via bespoke streaming and download sites, which curate music for the listener, while offering a button to rip the content directly.

Although the majority of traffic comes from direct access to these services, search engines deliver a significant proportion of traffic to stream-ripping sites.

The research A recent report, commissioned by PRS for Music in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), found stream-ripping is the fastest growing form of illegal music piracy, increasing by 141.3 percent between 2014 and 2016.

‘Stream-ripping is one of the biggest growing threats to the online marketplace,’ confirms Sharan Ghuman, who manages PRS for Music’s Anti-Piracy Unit. ‘Its availability across a range of services has accelerated its usage and popularity for both occasional and persistent downloaders.’

The research, commissioned independently from INCOPRO and Kantar Media, found that YouTube was the most popular source of content for these sites, used by 75 of the 80 stream-ripping services surveyed.

SoundCloud, Spotify and Deezer were among other popular licensed platforms most targeted.

The services Stream-ripping services can be split into five sub-categories; download apps, download sites, stream-ripping sites, stream-ripping plug-ins and stream-ripping software.

In a survey of over 9,000 people, 57 percent of UK adults claimed to be aware of streamripping services and 15 percent claimed to have used a stream-ripping service. Those who have used a stream-ripping service

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The main reasons they gave for streamripping were; the music was already owned in another format (31 percent), they wanted to listen to music offline (26 percent) and on the move (25 percent). Being unable to afford legal downloads (21 percent) and their perceived over-pricing were the next most common responses.

The future In September, YouTube-MP3, the world’s leading YouTube ripping site, was shut down after a legal battle with rightsholders. This was a landmark case for the music industry and sets the future agenda.

PRS for Music’s Member Anti-Piracy System (MAPS) has located seven million infringing URLs and removed over 80 percent of reported links since its inception in 2016 – some of which include stream-ripping and download sites. It has also forced 220 illegal websites to cease operating completely.

The key focus for both PRS for Music and the IPO going forward is their follow-themoney enforcement strategy, and the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit’s (PIPCU) subsequent Operation Creative initiative.

The follow-the-money approach is a way of indirectly curtailing pirate sites by squeezing the way they are funded. The rationale is that by cutting the source of revenue for these sites, the opportunity for people to profit from them is greatly reduced. Without advertising revenue, or payment processing services, such sites become commercially unviable.

The strategy has been endorsed by Intellectual Property political advisors within the government, and the new Operation Creative scheme involves close collaboration with the music industry to consider if new legislation is necessary to stop businesses advertising on infringing sites.

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NEW TECH TO TRACK YOUR TUNES the big numbers

33% Percentage of the PRS membership who say pop or pop/rock is their primary musical genre

50% Number of 2017 Mercury Prize nominees funded by PRS Foundation

16 PRS for Music is forging a new technological alliance which has the potential to shape how it distributes royalties to its songwriter, composer and music publisher members in future.

In parallel with its successful blockchain technology trial, the society has teamed up with several Music Reporting Technology (MRT) service providers to understand the extent to which the tech could aid accurate music reporting from festivals, clubs, online platforms, radio and TV, both in the UK and beyond.

When a sound recording is played or broadcast, MRT uses audio fingerprint technology to recognise the track within a few seconds.

Once identified, MRT matches the recording against PRS for Music’s repertoire database, enabling the accurate distribution of royalties.

This summer, the society launched an MRT trial to monitor large events and major festivals which host DJ sets, helping it gain further insight into music played beyond the information provided by set lists.

Number of tracks Ed Sheeran had inside the Top 20 in March 2017

continue to make the music that fills our clubs and festivals.

‘We all rely on each other, so it’s necessary that club owners, songwriters, artists and rightsholders understand and adapt to the changing climate and work together to keep all areas of the music industry alive.’

PRS for Music is also exploring MRT’s potential to monitor user-generated platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube, and has already conducted tests in these areas - partly as a way to verify the accuracy of YouTube’s Content ID system.

While trials continue in these areas, the society is already using MRT in partnership with tech firm Soundmouse to monitor 125 commercial radio stations and major broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky.

1969 The year the Official Top 40 was first broadcast on BBC Radio 1

Your next paydays Performing (PRS): 13 October, 15 December, 13 April, 15 June

It follows a pilot launched jointly by PRS for Music, PPL and DJ Monitor in 2016 to evaluate the use of MRT for DJ sets in clubs, bars, pubs and hotels. Starting in iconic London venues Ministry of Sound and Fabric, it has since been rolled out to clubs across the UK, and will run throughout 2017 with potential to be extended further.

For news programmes, where music usage is often repetitive, PRS for Music has found that MRT beats traditional forms of reporting, often via cue sheets, and is able to identify more sound recordings than were being reported manually.

Mechanicals (MCPS)

Adrienne Bookbinder, Publishing and Repertoire Manager at Defected Records, said: ‘If clubs adopt this technology, DJ sets can be monetised more efficiently, music creators will get paid more accurately and in turn can

This has increased the number of members the society is now able to pay, and it will soon become the first collecting society to remunerate music used on UK TV commercials via MRT too.

Recorded Media:

Non-Recorded Media: 14 July, 15 August, 15 September, 13 October

28 July, 31 August, 29 September, 30 October

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We’re here to help!

Members Benevolent Fund For more information call us on.. 0203 741 4067 Email: fund@prsformusic.com Supporting songwriters and composers ¡ Registered charity No 208671

money & business

business

VALUE GAP MUST BE CLOSED TO ‘AVOID CULTURAL BARBARISM’ ‘We could be in for an era of cultural barbarism’ if the European parliament doesn’t step in to halt the transfer of value from music creators to digital content aggregators, UK Music Chairman Andy Heath has warned.

Heath was speaking at the recent PRS for Music Explores event, which gathered experts from the European parliament, UK government and industry to discuss European copyright reforms.

Top of the agenda was current ‘safe harbour’ legislation within the European Union’s (EU) E-Commerce Directive, which is exploited by digital platforms such as YouTube and is currently under review by legislators in Brussels.

If this legal loophole, which allows content aggregators to claim they are passive hosting services and therefore not liable under copyright law, is not amended, Heath said: ‘We could be in for an era of cultural barbarism, the likes of which we have never seen. It would be disastrous for civilisation.

‘I cannot believe that any parliamentarians arguing for [the safe harbour rule to stay] would expect to go into the butchers and get free meat.

Where does their intellectual journey go from that position to the one that everything should be free on the internet? It’s asinine and it’s infantile. I am shocked that there is [even] a debate [about this].’

If we are reducing everything that has value to just stuff with a physical form, then the world stands to be a very dull place indeed and a very empty place. to just stuff with a physical form, then the world stands to be a very dull place indeed and a very empty place.

He continued: ‘It is going to be a dreadful thing for Europe. It won’t be very good for the music industry but it will be far worse for Europe.

What about the citizen as a creator? That is definitely a very important future movement in this world. That will be completely lost. I really think it’s that important.’

‘If we completely devalue intellectual property, there will be no other markets to have. On a personal level, I find it deeply upsetting that this has been turned into an industrial battle between Silicon Valley and Hollywood.’

Heath, who is also Beggars Group Director, spoke after Crispin Hunt, songwriter and Chairman of British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), who first raised the point that failing to rein in the global content providers is tantamount to ‘an attack on civilisation’.

Hunt and Heath were joined by PRS for Music Chief Executive Robert Ashcroft, MEP Mary Honeyball, Ros Lynch, Director of Copyright and Enforcement at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), Jackie Alway, Music Publishers Association (MPA) Chair and Agata Gerba, Acting Deputy Head of the Copyright Unit at the European Commission. The panel was moderated

by John Mottram, Head of Public Affairs at PRS for Music.

Hunt said: ‘Google has deliberately conflated the idea of freedom of speech and freedom of people’s work. If we are reducing everything that has value

See m-magazine.co.uk/tag/value-gap for more on this issue.

PIRACY UNIT SECURES FUTURE UNTIL 2019 The UK’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has received £3.2m in funding from the Intellectual Property Office to secure its operations until 2019.

The unit, which is based within the Economic Crime Directorate of the City of London Police, was established in 2013 to tackle copyright infringement – including counterfeiting and online piracy.

Since its launch, it has shut down a number of illegal torrent sites, diverted more than 10 million illegal music and film sites, seized online domains, closed down unlicensed streaming services and disrupted advertising revenue for any sites that encourage piracy.

It has also worked closely with PRS for Music on several initiatives, including a recent case which culminated in a 12-month prison sentence for a Liverpool man pleading guilty to large scale online music piracy.

m65_september 2017_13

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comment

In this era of musical abundance and time scarcity, how do new or niche artists get enough attention to make a meaningful impression anywhere?

Unlike the exhibition, which had a fixed number of works to pull from, music services have an infinite number of musical works to employ – and we are all aware of the problems this has caused and is causing.

CURATING THE VOID While holidaying in Rome this summer, I stumbled upon an exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art called Time is Out of Joint. The title seemed very apt in such a city, where the ruins of ancient and more recent pasts vie for attention in the cacophony of the present. The vibrant chaos is full of sound, and it got me wondering what might have been on my Roman playlist if I’d had the time to put one together.

All my significant family holidays and road trips, births of my children etc. have been marked by mixtapes. Most of them were compiled by my significant others, sequenced together with an equal measure of love and thought, personalised, meaningful and tailor made for each occasion. But hold that thought for a moment and let’s get back to the exhibition…

The concept of this exhibition was very much in the tradition of mixtape selection, whereby you might use music to communicate something in particular to the listener. It’s what everybody calls curation nowadays. In the exhibition, the curators used the artworks from the Gallery’s collection and presented them in a ‘new’ way. Freed from their temporal linage, the curators thought the artwork could be seen and appreciated afresh.

To some extent, they presupposed that the visitor could identify what was happening and knew enough about art history to know what was being played with and what the jokes were. I found myself trying to guess the themes, which were never that clear. Did I discover anything new? Not that I recall. There was so much to take in it was difficult to concentrate and there was always another room to go to. I could feel myself visually skipping.

If it was a playlist, would I go back and listen again?

I doubt it. It didn’t connect with me and I didn’t connect with it. Rather than giving the work new meaning, I felt that much had been lost.

The repositioning needed the viewer to understand what new connections were being made.

The viewer needed to be visually literate to read the signs.

The most pressing problem for music creators has become how in this era of musical abundance and time scarcity does anybody get enough attention to make a meaningful impression anywhere?

From my position as a music business academic I am concerned about how meaning is being lost in this atmosphere.

Of course new meanings are always being made, but what is increasingly evident is that there is a crisis of connection, or what Malcolm Gladwell called the ‘stickiness factor’.

All fashion and cultural production relies on things sticking, connecting and resonating with people. The sacred idea of ‘authenticity’ relies on some kind of grounding in experience, some mirroring of temporal, situated knowledge.

To recognise something, we need to see, know or sense what we are hearing. The discovery playlists and streaming platforms that provide endless seamless music in a theme do so in the same way as the exhibition Time is Out of Joint.

They are not necessarily a new exciting place of discovery but a place where the difference of histories has been removed, stripped away and reduced.

The elements become dislocated signifiers floating like digital detritus, which need resituating to breathe new life into them, to be recycled for future use.

That’s what hip-hop did so well, but as Simon Reynolds pointed out in his book Retromania, this dislocation has caused the music industry to go into reconnection overdrive as it increasingly recycles previous music styles and vies for consumer’s attention.

The consequence of this is that new or niche artists are finding it increasingly difficult to get any attention that can be converted into a sustainable career despite all the optimistic talk of digital royalties. The world of big data in music demands exactly that: big numbers. For new and niche music to break through and thrive, we are going to need new approaches that support these music makers not only for their economic potential but also for our overall cultural enrichment. Such an approach needs to be multifaceted and sensitive to our rich histories and diverse heritage. We should be communicating with each other rather than shouting into a cyber void.

Sally-Anne Gross is Programme Director on the Music Business Management MA at the University of Westminster.

She’s also Researcher at the Communications and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) and has conducted studies into the prevalence of anxiety and depression in the music industry.

She began her music career back in 1990 as a manager, working with a number of high profile creators including Adamski, William Orbit, Gotan Project and, more recently, members of Savages and Fiona Bevan. m65_september 2017_15

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The beat has maintained a consistent average of just under 120 bpm for about the last 40 years

Most pop stays in one key

POP

Lucy Doyle sits down with some of pop’s leading musicologists to figure out what makes a hit record in 2017.

How do you write a chart-topping pop song? It’s a question that remains as lucrative today as nearly three decades ago when Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty – aka The KLF – sat down to write their foolproof step-by-step guide, The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way).

Though the pair declared they were wasting their time ‘writing a book that will be completely redundant within 12 months’, the tome became a reference point for everyone from eighties’ parody band Edelweiss to noughties nuravers Klaxons. It also managed to prophesise the impact of advances in recording technology, something Joe Bennett, a Forensic Musicologist based at Berklee College of Music, says is responsible for altering the modern chart sound.

‘There has been a huge change in songwriting since the nineties, and that change is the invention of the digital audio workstation’ he confirms. ‘Nearly all contemporary pop songwriters now effectively write and produce at the same time.’

So with the advent of new technology and digital streaming, has the pop writing ‘formula’ changed? A researcher at Ohio State University certainly thinks so: in his 2017 study Drawing Listener Attention in Popular Music, Hubert Leveille Gauvin found that songs are getting shorter as listeners’ attention spans shrink in the streaming era. The average intro length is now five seconds, four times shorter than they were in the eighties.

Elsewhere, a recent study from US rights administrator Music Reports states that the average pop song on the Billboard Top 10 has at least four writers and six publishers, compared to just 1.87 writers and 1.68 publishers in the sixties.

With this in mind, Richard Witts, Reader in Music and Sound at Edge Hill University and author of The Passage: Post-Punk Poets, plus musicologist Joe Bennett share their tips for penning that perfect pop hit…

Timing is everything When it comes to time signatures, 4/4 is king. Why? ‘Because it's the most convenient type of music to dance to,’ explains Joe. Tempo meanwhile, has maintained a consistent average of ‘just under 120 beats per minute (bpm) for about the last 40 years,’ he continues.

Richard adds that songs are starting to slow down and ‘move into hip-hop territory’. Going through the UK Official Singles Chart during the week beginning 4 August 2017, he notes that many songs in the Top 10 are slower paced, including Power

by Little Mix at 85 bpm and Despacito (remix) by Luis Fonsi/ Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber at 88 bpm.

Perfect pitch If there’s one particular trend that crops up again and again, it’s the 6415 chord loop, otherwise known as the A minor, F, C, G sequence. You’ll find it in everything from Zombie by The Cranberries to this year’s smash hit Despacito, Joe points out.

In fact, it’s so ubiquitous, it even has its own Wikipedia page.

For those pondering whether to use major or minor keys,

Richard notes a prevalence for the latter in pop songs over the past few years, pointing out that every song in the Official Singles Chart Top 10 in early August is in a minor key, bar Rita Ora’s Your Song. ‘It really comes from the use of a more sophisticated repertoire of harmonies that originate from rhythm and blues, and jazz,’ he says.

Beginning and end ‘It's important to get the goods upfront - but it always has been in pop,’ says Joe, when asked whether song intros are decreasing in length to cater for today’s click and skip music listeners.

However, one anomaly this year has been with Despacito.

'It’s remarkable – an acoustic guitar solo for 30 seconds. I was so surprised, because if you compare it to Little Mix’s [Black Magic] two years ago, they can’t wait to get you on the dancefloor and pin back your ears with the chorus,’ Richard comments.

So what about track length? ‘Pop songs over the last 60 to 70 years have always been between two and four minutes in length,’ Joe says. ‘It stabilised at around four minutes in the late seventies and has stayed there ever since.’

Language of love Unsurprisingly, the subject matter of most pop songs involves romantic relationships. Joe reports that a data analysis of lyrics sees ‘love’, ‘baby’, ‘feel’ and ‘time’ come out top.

Rhyme is pervasive in pop too, while one popular songwriting trick at the moment is to start with a riff or loop that appears in the chorus. That way, ‘when the real chorus comes round, the audience's ear has heard it before so it seems even more hooky,’ he explains.

Something unique For all their commonly shared elements, the perfect pop song still needs a stamp of individuality to set it apart from everything else. Citing J Balvin and Willy William’s international smash Mi Gente as an example, Joe points to its vinyl crackle effect and manipulated vocal as ‘part of what makes it a cool record’.

The thrill of hearing something unexpected is explored in a recent study from the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, which found that harmonic surprise triggers a rush of dopamine in the brain: essentially the moment a person gets ‘chills’ from a song.

So there you have it: the golden rules of pop hit-making.

But if there's one thing we all know about rules, it's that they're there for the breaking – no better demonstrated than Despacito. Sung entirely in Spanish, it’s the most viewed YouTube video of all time (3.3 billion of the world’s estimated 7.5 billion people have watched it) - but lacks one of pop’s defining features: a backbeat.

Now over to you to write that perfectly formed rule-abiding/ rule-breaking pop wonder…

M65_SEPTEMBER 2017_17

GIRLS ALLOWED Anita Awbi checks in with the new wave of female writer/producer/performers who are calling the creative shots - and changing the face of British pop in the process.

‘I was around 18 and had been invited to play for a bunch of A&Rs somewhere in town. But you know what? I just didn’t want to go,’ says South London artist and current M cover star Cosima. She’s sitting outside the local pub chatting about her first big break – and what’s immediately apparent is how she owned it.

A smile creeps across her face: ‘I told my old manager I wasn’t going to do it. I just didn’t feel comfortable. Instead, they were all welcome to come round to my mum’s house and watch me perform there,’ she says.

Cosima had only uploaded a couple of self-produced tracks to SoundCloud and already the majors were circling.

On arrival in Peckham, they were given a cuppa and shown round Cosima’s teenage bedroom, ‘so they could get a proper feel for who I am and what I’m about’.

It was a bold strike that set the pace for her future career.

She’s since signed to Island Records and Universal Music Publishing – maintaining full artistic control – and released her first self-directed audiovisual mixtape, South of Heaven.

TUSKS, FEMME #fundedbyprsf

Over the last 12 months, her after-party R&B and soulful pop has racked up a cool 2.5 million plays on Spotify, while a performance with rap heavyweight Kojey Radical at the Boy Better Know O2 Takeover on the August bank holiday weekend has further upped the ante. Keen to deliver on the promise, she’s now working on her debut LP, with another mixtape expected to land before the year’s out.

Death of the diva So what has Cosima learned about the mechanics of pop? ‘It doesn’t really pay to be a diva in 2017,’ she says.

‘But what does it actually mean to say no? It means that in a lot of rooms you’ll be branded a diva, or crazy, or you’ll be “impossible to work with”. Really? It’s time we owned the word. It’s ok to say no sometimes.’

Alongside Cosima, hovering just above the radar, are a new wave of female pop writers navigating their way through the industry for the first time. From the deluxe synth-pop of TUSKS to the future-facing songcraft of Raphaella and FEMME, they’re all bringing something authentic and auspicious – if we, as an industry, are willing to get behind it.

profile PROFILE POP

Pictured: Femme

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POP

Alongside other ‘ones to watch’ – Raye, Jorja Smith, Kaleida and The Japanese House included - these are artists with a mainstream presence, playlist spots on BBC Radio 1, Spotify and Apple Music, and healthy social media stats. They’re also extremely savvy songwriters playing by their own rules.

But what are the odds of these artists achieving serious pop props?

Pop hurdles At the time of writing, Kosovan-British artist Dua Lipa has just scored her first number one single, New Rules. It’s the first time a female soloist has topped the UK Official Singles Chart since Adele in 2015, with her worldwide hit Hello.

It’s a curious situation. Right now, women dominate the pop zeitgeist: alongside Adele, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift et al, there’s a whole army of serious contenders to keep an eye on. But their presence is still little-reflected at the top of the charts and in festival line-ups, and the genre continues to be lambasted for its predominantly masculine DNA. At PRS for Music, only 19 percent of songwriters choosing pop or pop/rock as their first musical genre are female. This rises to 24 percent in the R&B/soul/reggae genre and drops down to just 12 percent in the dance/electronica category. Overall, female membership at PRS stands at 17 percent.

While this is a disappointing indictment for the songwriting community, green shoots are definitely appearing. New figures from the society, due later this year, are expected to show that the male-female divide drops greatly between younger songwriters, particularly among those aged 20 and under.

But there’s still work to do. PRS Foundation has recently partnered with Festival Republic for ReBalance, a three-year programme to address the gender inequity in live music. The initiative, based in Leeds, will select an eligible artist each month from 2018 to 2020, offering them studio time, travel and those all-important festival slots.

Its launch, in August this year, prompted Festival Republic’s Managing Director Melvin Benn to speak out. ‘Something needs to be done about gender equality in the music industry,’ he acknowledged. ‘It’s a wider issue that involves us (the live industry), but the solution doesn’t only rest with us.’

Pictured: Raphaella

There’s a quirky, individual, raw and edgy sound coming out of the studios, which people are starting to accept and go with.

Audible progress So, while the industry plays catch-up, female up-and-comers continue in their mission. Some are queens of ‘post-genre’ pop - and their sovereign rise surely spells exciting times for the marketplace.

One such talent is Raphaella, who melds sonic snippets from her Anglo-Persian upbringing with slick synth-led pop. Her tipping point came when she submitted a track she’d written, produced and performed to her independent publisher Phrased Differently.

‘I’d been producing my own stuff since I was at school and never really thought about it. I was in my own little bubble, I guess,’ she says. ‘But it was a big thing for me to take the step and say out loud, “I’m a producer”. I don’t want to speak ill about guys, but it can feel like a boys club in the studio sometimes.

Some guys are really lovely about it but there are others who feel like you’re taking over their castle.’

Since ‘coming out’ as a producer, she’s been dubbed ‘a triple threat’ by Music Week, penned for Rudimental, MNEK, Steel Banglez, Gorgon City and Wilkinson, and has also released her own Hype Machine-smashing singles.

Day-glo pop producer FEMME, aka Laura Bettinson, has also learned how to step up and stand out. Although she first got tipped as one third of Nigel Godrich’s Ultraista ‘multimedia’ trio in 2012, she has been crafting her own shiny future sounds since her early teens. Rather than opting for the major label route, which she figured she’d be ‘ill-suited to’, she put together her own all-female live band. Success has gently flowed her way, with the video for latest single Fire With Fire nominated

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01

POP

For me, it’s a great time to be making pop. at the 2017 Association of Independent Music (AIM) Awards.

In December, her show at Heaven, London, promises an allfemale pop line-up with Elle Exxe, Ronika and Salt Ashes supporting.

But she still remembers the early encounter with a record company that prompted her alternative route: ‘I had some pretty hilarious conversations with a woman A&R, who told me I was alienating half of my audience by not having men in my band. I thought to myself, “The project is called FEMME for fuck sake; it’s about women”. That was when I knew the major label route might not be for me.’

She adds: ‘Right now, I’m enjoying flexing my muscles as a producer. Everyone thinks popstars can’t produce: you get put in a machine and people do every single thing for you. But that’s really not how my project works.’

Great expectations From food’s farm-to-fork revolution to the latest wave of DIY musicians: provenance has become the last word in authenticity.

But for female pop writers keen to push through their own independent vision, provenance is not a fad, it’s necessity.

Cicely Goulder and Christina Wood, of after-hours synth-pop duo Kaleida, are a case in point. With more than 34 million streams across a handful of singles, plus two placings in Hollywood movies Atomic Blonde and John Wick, and a stunning debut LP just out, the pair’s maverick vision is starting to pay dividends.

Now signed to independent Lex Records, their partnership was cemented over screen composer Cicely and singer Christina’s shared love of Detroit techno and Björk’s arctic pop. Their rise

has been swift, impressive and completely autonomous.

Cicely explains: ‘We wouldn’t exist or survive if it wasn’t for the internet: that is the reality. It’s been an incredible opening for us.

She continues: ‘The whole album-writing process has been about finding the confidence to do what we want and not worry too much about trying to fit into what the industry expects from female artists.’

Christina adds: ‘I think there’s an expectation as to how people should be, how they should look. People like things to fit in a certain way because they want to know that it’s going to generate revenue.

Top: Cosima Above: Kaleida

Read the full interviews with everyone here and tune in to our pop playlist at m-magazine.co.uk/tag/pop17

‘But we wanted to do it all ourselves, in our own way. This is our own voice, nobody has interfered with it… Navigating the industry has been really challenging: it’s been the hardest part about this whole process, to be honest,’ she says.

New space Ensuring space for new voices in pop undoubtedly breathes life into a genre well into its dotage. And with an army of unbridled female writer/producer/performers primed and ready, we could be on the verge of a really exciting breakthrough.

For Raphaella, the writing is already on the wall: ‘UK pop is probably my favourite sound right now, because we’re starting to get really experimental. It feels like nothing’s too weird.

‘There’s a quirky, individual, raw and edgy sound coming out of the studios, which people are starting to accept and go with.

It feels like any day you wake up you could create an entirely different new sound and it’s open to you. For me, it’s a great time to be making pop.’

Elle Exxe, Ronika #fundedbyprsf M65_SEPTEMBER 2017_23

The move to a digital music market has altered the face of the UK pop charts inexorably. Recent changes have sparked debate over whether the weekly countdown is in harmony with the digital era, and a relevant barometer of success. With all this going on, who still cares about the Official Chart in 2017? asks Rhian Jones.

Earlier this year, critics declared the Official Singles Chart ‘broken’ when all the tracks from Ed Sheeran’s latest album ÷ appeared simultaneously in the Top 20. Thanks to the inclusion of streaming in the chart, Sheeran achieved the kind of domination no other artist has come close to matching as fans continuously playing the new music drove his streaming stats into the stratosphere.

Elsewhere, the popularity of places to discover and listen to music that have arrived with the digital era, like YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music, are soaring.

The Official Charts Company says that the growth of streaming consumption over the last year has gone from around 600 million a week in January 2016, to 1.2 billion a week in June, and now has an 88 percent share of the singles market.

Since then, the singles chart has been revamped to avoid another version of the Ed Sheeran show. New rules are expected to boost the number of chart hits by around 10 percent after a 40 percent decline in the amount of tracks charting in the Top 40 between 2013 and 2016.

A recent report by industry analyst Mark Mulligan found that among 16 to 19-year-olds, Spotify is the most popular music app with 53 percent weekly user penetration, closely followed by YouTube with 47 percent.

As of July, a maximum of three of the most popular singles (based on sales and streams) within the Top 100 by the same artist are chart eligible. In addition, tracks that have been in the Top 100 chart for more than nine weeks and have experienced three consecutive weeks of sales decline, have an accelerated stream to sale ratio of 300:1 applied from the tenth week onward.

Since the new rules came into play, two songs have hit number one despite not being the highest selling track in the UK that week, strictly speaking. Which raises the question—what does the chart exist for if not to reflect the most popular songs and albums?

PAUL J NEED

The Evolution of the chart Back when Top of the Pops (TOTP) was a weekly fixture on the TV listings schedule, the weekly countdown to the number one single was a big marketing tool for the music industry. At the peak of TOTP in 1979, viewing figures were 19 million. By 2004 that number had declined to 2.6m and the BBC axed it for good in 2006. BBC Radio 1’s Friday Chart Show is now the official countdown, and while we don’t know exactly how many people listen to that particular slot, we do know that the station recorded its lowest ever weekly audience of 9.5m from April to June, according to the latest Radio Joint Audience Research (Rajar) figures.

Pictured opposite: Dodie

What can the chart be good for?

While streaming data was introduced into the Official Singles Chart in 2014, and the Albums Chart in 2015, YouTube numbers aren’t included within that. However, for independent artists like self-releasing singersongwriter Dodie, whose YouTube diary channel was the catalyst for launching her career, it’s a vital promotional tool that’s resulted in a self-sustaining business without the marketing might of a label. Alongside a sold-out 10-date UK tour, she recently hit number six on the Official Albums Chart with her second EP, You, thanks to 6,645 streaming and download sales. Its predecessor, Intertwined, made the Top 40 last year.

Did the chart success result in any opportunities or further growth for Dodie?

‘Yeah, definitely,’ answers her manager Joshua Edwards.

‘It was a talking point for people in the industry as well as fans. It creates a story and helps with things like going to international territories and discussing putting on a live show. Regardless of the fact we’re represented by [agency] CAA, if you mention that an artist works in their own right and has reached the Top 40 in the UK Album Chart, with no help and really little money, it opens doors.

It’s also brought people like Vevo and our merchandise company Sandbag back to work with us because they see her as an artist, not just a YouTube star.’

POP-ANOMICS

From a publishing angle, what really helps us is that the independent scene is thriving and there are a lot of ways for people to earn income, whether through Spotify or Bandcamp.

Multi-tracking In the battle for consumer attention, the Official Chart is competing with all the other charts and playlists that have been launched by digital service providers over recent years. There’s Spotify’s Global and UK Top 50, the iTunes chart, Shazam Music Charts and YouTube’s video charts, all of which are used by the music industry to measure fan engagement, and can give a daily indication of what songs and albums are likely to chart highly in the Official list before the big reveal.

Top: Liam Payne Above: M.O Opposite: Ed Sheeran

Richard Nelson, who is Neighbouring Rights and Creative Manager at publisher Westbury Music, says that while high charting placings aren’t vital for a song’s success, they do add value to Westbury’s catalogue.

Thanks to a number of samples and features, the company has been involved in three songs that have hit the Top 40 this year: Kanye West’s Famous at number 33, Liam Payne’s Strip That Down at number three and M.O’s number 18 track Who Do You Think Of? ‘The use of samples in new songs has increased the popularity of the original titles. That brings other licensing opportunities, and sometimes we see more people approaching us to represent their catalogue or to find other songs they can sample,’ he explains.

However, for individual writers, radio play is more important than getting the kind of sales that might rocket a song to the top of the charts, due to the disparity between payouts for recording rights versus publishing. Nelson adds: ‘In particular situations, especially with producers, their writer’s share of a song is considerably more than their recording royalty rate, so increased performance income from radio and other channels can be more lucrative for our clients. If by consequence the song develops traction and results in chart success, it's a boost that helps them to do other things in the future.’

Says Edwards: ‘iTunes is great because it’s there and in people’s faces if you’re an iPhone user or looking for new music. It’s the same with Spotify, somewhere like New Music Friday has a lot of eyes on it industry-wise but also from consumers too, and the same goes for its Viral or Global chart. And if you’re high up in these charts, it really does help with numbers and getting added to other playlists so the songs continue on even after the campaign has ended.’

Tracking new trends in pop is about keeping an eye on all those mentioned above, as well as radio playlists and ticket sales. Then there’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr and Musical.ly—all platforms that fans use to engage with music and artists, and share new discoveries with friends. A number one gold-selling debut album was previously used as the traditional definition of a breakthrough artist, but with acts relying on ever-more diverse sources of income, Chess Club co-founder and RCA A&R Will Street says that measure is no longer fit for purpose.

‘I think people are going to have to view the definition of “breaking” quite differently. Album sales in general have declined but there are other aspects, like ticket sales, that should count. If you’re an artist who gets to Brixton Academy on your first album, does that count as breaking? You might sell between 10-30,000 albums to get there, which isn't traditionally a breaking artist, but I still see that as a major success for a debut artist.’

There are fewer opportunities to hit number one with an album too thanks to big pop acts like Ed Sheeran and Adele holding on to the top spot for weeks on end. Last year saw an average of three number one albums per month, so far this year it’s down to two with Sheeran holding on to the top spot for 16 non-consecutive weeks. Could the Official Charts Company reclaim some relevancy by including other aspects, like ticket sales and YouTube views, into the charts?

‘It would be really difficult to put restrictions on that and you’d have artists like Ed Sheeran, Drake or Adele who have massive audiences constantly within the same Top 10,’ Edwards points out.

Measuring future success So where do we go from here? While the chart will no doubt continue to evolve alongside music consumption, the most important goal for artists and writers is the thing that never changes - to cultivate an engaged audience and write good music.

Nelson concludes: ‘From a publishing angle, what really helps us is that the independent scene is thriving

and there are a lot of ways for people to earn income, whether through Spotify or Bandcamp.

‘Our ultimate goal is to be able to generate income from some of these other avenues, and writers should just continue to make good music that becomes popular, rather than try to emulate something that has a big machine behind it. Someone like Adele is successful because the songs are so good that people naturally gravitate towards them.’

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It celebrates excellence through world-class awards ceremonies – The Ivor Novello Awards, the British Composer Awards and the Gold Badge Awards, and offers its members an array of benefits to help support their careers as music writers. From professional development seminars, industry training, critiques and master classes, joining BASCA provides the opportunity to be connected to the UK’s most talented music creators.

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M65_SEPTEMBER 2017_27

SONG DOCTORS Tina Hart sits down with some of UK publishing’s most revered A&R execs to find out how they’re steering the hand of pop in 2017.

Within the music industry ecosystem, publishing A&R is an ever-booming business – just ask the Music Publishers Association’s (MPA) Chief Executive Jane Dyball. Over recent months, she’s declared A&R investment by British music publishers at an all-time high, with the gap between publishing and record label expenditure creeping ever closer.

The publishing sector is home to some of Britain’s most revered senior A&R executives, from major to indie, executive publisher to writer publisher, relative newbie to practically legendary. They may offer different services and cultures, but one thing these executives can agree on is a full and varied workload. So what’s keeping them busy and how are they cultivating the writers in their charge?

Sessions for success When organising songwriting sessions, it’s down to the publisher to balance the participants, creative direction and environment. An understanding of processes, personalities and tastes is important – get the mix wrong and the musical output will suffer.

Success isn’t just about securing the most high-profile co-writers; publishers have to study the craft too, scan international charts and trends and learn about what makes a hit in a particular moment, country, club, radio or streaming playlist. High on their priority list is motivating their roster of writers and producers, and engineering the best opportunities possible for them.

Sian Walter Senior Creative Manager Kobalt Music Publishing ‘It’s about knowing what kind of project excites the writer,’ says Sian Walter, Senior Creative Manager at Kobalt Music Publishing, who works with the likes of Fraser T Smith, Jax Jones and Iain James.

For Paul Smith, Warner/Chappell Music UK Senior International Creative Manager, it’s essential to think outside the box when putting writing sessions together. ‘We’ll reach out to songwriters beyond our roster if necessary,’ he says. ‘It’s better to have a share of a hit than 100 percent of a song that doesn’t go anywhere.’

Revealing further elements of session wizardry, Hiten Bharadia, founder and Managing Director of Phrased Differently, explains: ‘We try to combine diversity in styles to get something unique and encourage our writers to take risks creatively. We then get involved in tweaking, repairing and fine-tuning the song like song doctors.’

PUBLISHING profile

Album tracks used to generate steady income for writers but now every song has pressure on it to be a single. The negative is that it’s insanely competitive; the positive is that the best songs will cut through.

Alastair Kinross Senior A&R Manager Sony/ATV

To brief or not to brief? Sony/ATV’s Senior A&R Manager Alastair Kinross confesses: ‘There may be some strategy for a session if one writer I put in the room has good links to a certain project I'd want the song placed on. Mostly, I focus on making the best combination of writers and artists possible and worry about the home of the song later. Most of the best cuts I've known weren't written to a brief.’

Pitching Sometimes, the ultimate success of a song falls down to the jigsaw puzzle method - rearranging pieces until you get the best full picture - and that often requires publishers to actively get the song out to the right people so they buy into the merits of its wares.

When it comes to pitching songs, Walter says she reviews record label briefs then works on finding ‘something along those lines but with a slight twist’.

‘It can be the songs that aren’t quite the norm that jump out when pitching,’ she continues. ‘I pitched an instrumental track by Electric to SYCO for Little Mix. Iain James and Camille Purcell then wrote the topline. The song went on to become the girls’ hit single Hair.'

swaps and a final listening party, some camps are glamorous international affairs that are funded to the hilt, while others tend to be low-key get-togethers across unassuming studio complexes. Some see them as a great incubator, others as factory churn.

Either way, songwriting camps are a popular device in the search for that illusive hit, with record labels, publishers and some collecting societies coughing up the funds and logistical willpower to host them. But are they worth it? Independent publisher Bharadia sees them as brilliant yet intense creative opportunities: 'They always deliver great results and strengthen the writer’s personal network,' he enthuses.

Major publisher Warner/Chappell has an upcoming label camp that will see it put three of its acts in with a handful of songwriters over the course of a week. 'In the past, a session like that would have been focused on one artist that didn’t write anything themselves,' tells Smith. 'Today, label A&Rs are always thinking about who they can match up their songwriting artists with to get a hit.'

Smith also tells of a recent pop publishing success story, which resulted in a platinum-selling number one album: ‘I had writers involved in 12 tracks on James Arthur’s album. That came because we thought hard about what he wanted to say on this new record, then pulled in some of our key pop songwriters, such as Red Triangle and Adam Argyle. It’s important to work out how you can complement the featured artist.’

Bharadia reveals that Phrased Differently gets 70 percent of its cuts from pitching, although he acknowledges relationships and credibility can be destroyed through the process. ‘Only send a few songs and ensure that they are of unquestionable quality,’ he cautions. ‘If you believe in the song, you won’t give up on it until it finds a home.’

Carry on campers Among the writing community, there seems to be mixed feelings about song camps. Taking the concept of a single session and multiplying it with more people, studios, talent

Paul Smith UK Senior International Creative Manager Warner/Chappell Music UK

It’s better to have a share of a hit than 100 percent of a song that doesn’t go anywhere.

M65_SEPTEMBER 2017_29

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01/09/2017 14:33

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PUBLISHING

For the best songwriters, there’s never been a better time to work - they are more empowered than ever.

Janee Bennet Songwriter / Co-founder Raggamuffin Music Hit pop songwriter Janée Bennett (Jax Jones, Bakermat, Jess Glynne) is signed to Universal Music Publishing Group. She doesn’t partake in many camps but if she does, tends to go on them with people she’s worked with before, and describes a recent jaunt to Thailand with chart-topping producer artist Sigala as ‘exotic and fun, and attended by so many amazing writers and producers’.

Bennett is a publisher too. She co-founded Raggamuffin Music in conjunction with Bucks Music Group to develop upcoming talent. In a similar vein, she recently hosted a songwriting workshop at Metropolis Studios, after being approached by MOBO and the bank First Direct.

Future gazing The modern music industry has been transformed by the rise of streaming and shifting consumption habits - and within this axis of change there’s been a shift within publishing too.

Cross-cultural working is increasing too, and stylistic fusions are seeping through. 'We are looking more at American structures of artist development,' says Bennett. 'As well as more independent working: creating our own creative hubs, developing acts and options for releasing.'

But Kinross still raves about the abilities of our homegrown talent. 'We're in great shape in the UK,' he enthuses.

'Specifically in the rhythmic/urban space I feel like our producers are miles better than five years ago. I regularly meet young UK producers who can go to LA and sonically hold their own with local talent.'

Looking forward, Walter from Kobalt is keen to see gender imbalance level up. 'I would love to see some more female producers,' she says. 'Artists often tell me they are keen to work with female producer writers and unfortunately there are still not very many yet. I'm hoping this will change.'

In 2012, Calvin Harris album 18 Months became the first ever to achieve nine Top 10 singles - just one modern example of the changing nature of hit songs. Fellow homegrown DJ/ producer/writer types such as Disclosure, Rudimental and Jonas Blue have followed suit, becoming beloved chartbusting acts too.

Hiten Bhardia Managing Director Phrased Differently Peter McCamley Creative Director Sentric Music Speaking more on this, Partner and Creative Director at Sentric Music, Peter McCamley (who boasts 34 years of publishing experience) explains: ‘Producer-writers are now at the forefront and have been for some time. Many artists today write or co-write their songs, leaving little room for outside songs to be recorded.

‘This means songwriters have to build a relationship with the artist or their representatives,’ he adds.

Sony/ATV’s Kinross notes: ‘There are much more genuine “onehundred percenters” (writers who both produce and topline) out there than I can remember.’

Then there’s the holy grail, which in this day and age is more ‘hit song’ than ‘hit album’, as Bharadia notes: 'Album tracks used to generate steady income for writers but now every song has pressure on it to be a single. The negative is that it’s insanely competitive; the positive is that the best songs will cut through.'

Smith adds: 'The old mentality of “that will do”, around some writing for album tracks has gone. The aim is to do whatever is necessary to generate a hit. The biggest hits can earn more than an album. A part of this change is a big increase in the number of people in the room for a songwriting session - it can easily be six or so,' he reveals.

'For the best songwriters though, there’s never been a better time to work - they are more empowered than ever.'

M65_SEPTEMBER 2017_31

THE

DAVID FERGUSON LECTURE

Wednesday 1st Nov 2017 19:00 - 21:00 Kings Place 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG FROM POP TO CLASSICAL AND FOLK TO JAZZ, DISCOVER HOW SONGWRITERS AND COMPOSERS CAN INNOVATE AND EARN A LIVING FROM THEIR CREATIVITY. THIS INAUGURAL LECTURE HONOURS DAVID FERGUSON, THE LATE COMPOSER, SONGWRITER, AND CREATORS’ RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER.

Tickets

Keynote Lecture Andy Heath Chairman, Beggars Music and Chairman of UK Music

Panel Discussion Goldie Artist / writer Imogen Heap Songwriter, recording artist,

Students £5 General admission early bird offer (until 31st August) £9 General admission £12

producer and engineer

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Roxanna Panufnik Composer

Andy Heath Chairman, Beggars Music and Chairman of UK Music

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song writing

i wrote that Nicky Graham is the awardwinning songwriter, musician and producer behind multi-platinumselling eighties pop trio Bros.

Having discovered the band in 1986, he and writing partner Tom Watkins set about penning their arsenal of worldwide hits including chart-topper I Owe You Nothing and follow-up single When Will I Be Famous. With the latter celebrating its 30 year anniversary this year, and Bros reuniting for a string of stadium shows, Nicky gives us the inside track on their most iconic song…

I met Bros in the mid-eighties when they were in a little group called Gloss. They had long flaxen curly hair and they used to wear Duran Duran jackets.

At the time I was working with Tom Watkins. We’d hooked up when he wrote the song One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison for a group he fronted called The Hudsons. The track came out on EMI and was a club hit in the gay scene. The band didn’t have a follow up, so we got together to write When Will I Be Famous. The problem was, he couldn’t sing it – he was pretty tone deaf and the song is quite melodic!

We put the track on the shelf for a while, then dug it out again when Tom suggested we find a group to manufacture and sing it. I told him about the three kids I’d met out in Lightwater, Surrey – Matt and Luke Goss, and Craig Logan.

At the time, anybody who wrote their own songs was considered to be better than those who were ‘puppets’, as the media called them. So, although we wrote all the Bros hits, we credited them to ‘The Brothers’. I didn’t need the acknowledgement – I didn’t have an ego. It really helped launch their career, and once the train had left the station, you couldn’t stop it. The media couldn’t do anything about it.

Tom came up with the line, ‘When will I be famous’.

The problem was, when I was writing the music, I had a melody in my head and it didn’t quite fit with the line. Hence the chorus, ‘When will I, will I be famous?’

That’s how that odd little pickup came about in the middle of the line. But it didn’t matter, it worked.

I was living in Wimbledon at the time, and had a little studio in the loft of my house. In those days, computerised equipment was very small and basic, so I had a few bits and pieces strung together with my keyboard. All the Bros hits were written up there,

then I’d take them to a proper studio to polish them up. I did everything; played all the instruments, the bass, the drums, everything. I programmed the whole lot and produced it all. Then the boys came in and learned all the parts.

Above: Bros

I wanted everything to be very pop. The twins were beautiful and I kept thinking of James Dean when I looked at them. When Tom met them, the first thing he said was, ‘No way! You need to have short hair.

You need to look like James Dean in the 1955 film East of Eden.’

Suddenly Bros posters were up in everyone’s bedrooms and that was it. I remember it very clearly - everyone was wearing powder blue jeans, white t-shirts and Dr Martens.

Their image had to scream California, you know, ripped jeans and bottle tops on their shoes. They were aimed at teenage girls, and it worked perfectly.

Suddenly Bros posters were up in everyone’s bedrooms and that was it. I remember it very clearly - everyone was wearing powder blue jeans, white t-shirts and Dr Martens.

I always remember a lyric that Annie Lennox wrote: ‘You don’t want to be a legend in your living room’.

Before Bros I’d been writing songs I thought were really good but never had an outlet. All of a sudden, the door opened. With When Will I Be Famous, I thought, ‘That song is going to be a huge hit’ and all the other Bros hits just tumbled out after it. It was as though the floodgates had opened and I was free to write anything I wanted - within the confines of what I had decided was safe for them to do.

I didn’t want to give them anything too musical or too extreme. It had to be pop and kids had to be

Right: Nicky Graham

able to dance to it. Everything I did for them had a fantastic groove.

It’s strange to think that, even today, When Will I Be Famous still resonates with people. My daughter, who’s nine, went to a dance class recently and they were all given t-shirts saying, ‘I want to be famous’.

Isn’t it funny that the sentiment is still there, 30 years later? Kids aspire to being famous and the song captured that. For the Brosettes, they felt like they were part of it – they were helping to make the band famous.

When Will I be Famous Written by: Written by Nicky Graham and Tom Watkins.

Published by Warner/Chappell and BMG m65_september 2017 _33

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The Shamen and Jerry Sadowitz on location for the Ebeneezer Goode video, 1992 Beginning life in Scotland, electronic act The Shamen struck gold after rapper Mr C joined in the early nineties. Their accolades included winning the Songwriter of the Year Award at The Ivors in 1992 and reaching the top of the charts with their rave anthem Ebeneezer Goode.

Twenty-five years after its release, Mr C recalls how they came up with the iconic banger as well as the trippy video featuring Scottish comedian Jerry Sadowitz…

I met The Shamen’s manager Charles Cosh first. It was at a party at Clink Street in London Bridge. I was DJing there, along with Eddie Richards and Colin Faver. It was a full-on acid house event and it blew his mind.

It was a year or so after the rave that Charles asked me if I would be interested in getting involved in a Shamen song they were working on called Move Any Mountain. Paul Oakenfold recommended me and Charles obviously already knew me. I was known as a rapper before acid house even started, but then I switched my style to house music in 1986 and started DJing the year after.

I liked the idea and the name of the band.

I’d previously read a Carlos Castaneda book, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, so I was already into shamanism.

Plus the track’s subject was really up my street. It was about being positive, being able to achieve whatever you want if you believe in yourself.

It was a year or so later that we worked on Ebeneezer Goode. It was Colin’s idea to ask Jerry Sadowitz if he wanted to star in the video - he was a crazy comedian and there were parts of the song that matched what he was about. Especially lyrics like, ‘Very much maligned and misunderstood’.

So he was the perfect Ebeneezer character and it worked out brilliantly. We shot it in various parts of London and had a lot of fun.

There was one part of the video where Jerry has got a huge penis on his nose. You only see it for a split second. It’s so quick it’s hard to take it all in but Richard Heslop, who made the video, is an absolutely genius. He made Jerry everything that we wanted Ebeneezer to be.

The success surrounding the song was expected. When we had written it, and we were making the music, I knew straight away.

34_september 2017_m65

I said to Colin, ‘This is a number one hit. This is going to absolutely kick right off. It’s so catchy’. The pop world had gone a bit stale by that point. There wasn’t a lot of character in pop anymore, and I think Ebeneezer Goode added fun, and a lot of mischief.

People were starving for it at that time.

Obviously, with the nature of the song, I knew we would get in trouble. And we did. The BBC wanted to know why we were singing, ‘E’s are good’. But we had explanations for everything. It was Colin’s idea. He said: ‘In London they drop their H’s’. We denied the drugs references of course. We told

the BBC it was all about this guy, Ebeneezer, who is a fictional character we made up. He’s actually a composite character of eight different people that we know. A couple of DJs, a lighting engineer, a sound guy. Once the record got to silver all the people that we based it on received a disc as a thank you for being an inspiration.

We also did Top of the Pops with Ebeneezer Goode. They agreed to let us play it live, which is the only way we would do it. I look back at it now and it just brings a smile to my face. How did we get away with that shit?

I Quit My Day Job Because I Make More Money From My Music.

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