11 minute read
Laura Monks & Tom Lewis Decca
Laura Monks Tom Lewis
Laura Monks and Tom Lewis, co-Managing Directors of the legendary Decca label, talk about their plans for Q4 and beyond, the challenge and inspiration that comes from such a diverse roster and the impact of streaming on classical and jazz…
For a label that is steeped in tradition more than most, Decca isn’t afraid of change or, to deploy a word used by Co-Presidents Tom Lewis and Laura Monks, adventure.
In fact, they argue, the label’s roster demands change and ensures adventure. Over the next few months, for instance, the team will be working with artists ranging from outré modern jazz collective Steam Down, to housewives’ choice Andrea Bocelli, to maverick pop genius Brian Wilson, via Actual Living Legend Diana Ross. All aboard!
Decca, its joint bosses agree, likes nothing better to surprise – sometimes itself, more often than not, the outside world. It is, to paraphrase Monks, a very young label that just happens to be in its nineties.
Or, as Lewis puts it: “I think from the outside people might assume that Decca’s a very conventional label, but with the lineup we have and the goals we set, we have to innovate all the time; we have to find new ways of telling stories.”
As with many of the Decca team, both were once aspiring and quite serious musicians (Lewis: “I went to Texas to study jazz for a year – the most important thing I learned: I wasn’t anywhere near good enough”; Monks: “As a teenager, I I was going to be Justin Timberlake’s backing dancer/trombonist. I was sure that was a thing”). They have spent close to 30 years at the label between them, Monks rising through the digital, marketing and commercial ranks, Lewis making his name in A&R.
In early 2020, they were promoted to be co-MDs, reporting into Decca President Rebecca Allen – who left the label three months later to go and head up EMI.
Monks and Lewis stepped up and are now in overall charge of a label that doesn’t just pre-date rock n roll, it pre-dates the Wall Street Crash.
Yet rather than talk history, the executive duo are thoroughly forwardfocused, looking ahead to Q4 and beyond, concerned only with the current roster and excited above all about the continuing (emphasis on continuing) adventures of Decca.
When you were made co-MDs, what did you discuss between you in terms of your priorities, the sort of company you wanted to help run – and the lines of demarcation?
Monks: We both wanted to have a young, future-facing label, and that goes for individuals within the team, as much as artists that we’re signing.
We wanted to transition our audience into the digital space.
Lewis: Laura and I complement each other very well. My background is in A&R, hers is in digital marketing, and the commercial side of things, and we’ve found that we approach problems and challenges from different angles, so we both get the opportunity to see things from different perspectives
We know where our strengths are, but we both contribute across the board – she talks to A&R as much as I talk to Marketing – and we just work really, really well together.
A couple of months after your promotion, of course, Rebecca Allen left Decca for EMI. What difference did that make to your role, and what are your reflections on her time leading the label?
Lewis: Becky and I worked together since I joined, in 2003, so we knew each other incredibly well.
I loved working with her. I found her inspiring, very open, very positive, brilliant at leading the team. She just empowered people.
When she went, it was a surprise, almost a surreal moment, and it was a challenge for Laura and I, because we had to sort of pick things up and retain the energy that Becky always brought, but also impose our own sense of culture and our own priorities in the sense of where Decca could be going.
Mainly, it was an amazing moment for Becky, and also for Decca. I think the whole team felt, Wow, to get that job [President of EMI], coming through Decca, it made everyone feel like, you know, we tell a great story here; we’re a small, dynamic team who can compete with the best. people person, and that always helped with the evolution of Decca’s team. And she’s also been such an amazing mentor for me, as a woman in the music industry.
I think while it was a bit of a shock, it was also quite a natural handover. I feel like we have just sped up the evolution that Becky started
How do you think Decca is different these days, or perhaps different on the inside to how people imagined it might be from the outside?
Monks: I used to have a poster on my wall, and I’d written on it, ‘Be Surprising’. I think that is at the core of a lot of what Decca does.
We excel in classical music, we’ve got one of the most prestigious classical labels in the world, Decca Classics. We have Mercury KX, which is building an amazing roster within the alt classical/electro classical world. And we’re in the adult pop lane, where we have unique, international-facing artists.
I think that is what Decca is great at: finding excellence, finding unique artists,
Diana Ross
creating careers and building longevity for artists internationally.
Lewis: What’s interesting is that when we celebrated the 90th anniversary, two years ago, we were reminded about elements of Decca’s story over that time, of adventure and innovation, that really did resonate with the culture and the character of the label today. We almost have a tradition of not being especially traditional, or perhaps conventional is the word.
And we have to find really interesting ways of working with our artists, because some of the more conventional routes to market are perhaps areas that we spend less time in, like we’re not necessarily always all over pop radio, and we don’t always work with artists who set their sights solely in the top of the singles chart.
It means you’ve got to ask a lot of your team, and I think that’s the thing that surprises people, the youth and the vitality at Decca, the sense of constantly looking at things from all angles and finding new approaches.
Steam Down
It’s about being innovative, flexible, enterprising and adventurous. Those are the sort of hallmarks of the culture that we’re trying to create.
What’s the state of the relationship between two of Decca’s key genres, classical and jazz, and the streaming services?
Monks: It’s incredibly exciting, and it’s wonderful to see all the DSPs engaging with different genres of music. Maybe initially, when they were trying to build their services, there’d be just one or two playlists in those areas, and we’d all be clamouring after editorial support from them.
Now the conversations have moved more to being about partnerships, there’s a realisation that people need and love this music in their life.
At the beginning of lockdown, for example, there was a huge upsurge in people listening to music for their peace of mind, and it was powerful.
The services have matured and people’s understanding that they can discover music of all genres on streaming has grown; it’s just a really exciting time and the opportunity is endless.
Lewis: Some artists have grown up, and developed what they do, entirely within the streaming ecosystem, and they’re really innovative in that space.
There are others who are having to redefine how they’re thinking about how
they create and how they communicate.
We’re talking to a number of our core classical artists, saying, rather than waiting two years or three years for an album, why not just have a constant outflow of material and look at your audience and your output in an entirely different way? We’re asking them to take risks, and I think that’s going to be really interesting.
I saw some incredible stats recently showing that classics and jazz, are the second and third-fastest growing genres on streaming platforms, year-on-year. And it also showed that they’re attracting a younger audience than ever before.
Some of the ideas about who might or might not be listening to this music have changed dramatically as a result of streaming. Because, actually, our genres, and the artists we work with, are incredibly important for the rich tapestry of listening around the world. If everything was all about big pop hits, the world would be a lot less colourful. Our job is to provide that colour, and to provide these spaces from which other artists can emerge.
Take Jacob Collier, for example. He grew up in the jazz space, and he’s now working with some of the biggest pop artists in the world, because they love the angle that he’s taking on music.
What are some of the highlights of Q4 that you’d pick out?
Monks: Well, for a start, it’s been a total thrill
Aurora Freddie De Tommaso
to work with Diana Ross, who is, of course, an absolute icon. The global storytelling that we’ve been able to do with Diana has just been so fantastic and the album [Thank You, released 5 November] is incredible.
We continue to work with Andrea Bocelli and we recently put out a 10 year anniversary edition of a concert he did in Central Park.
We’ve really enjoyed the growth in his online audience in the last year, especially since some of the initiatives he did at the beginning of COVID, including digital performances; that’s really paying back now with a very engaged online audience following his TikTok, watching his YouTube videos and listening to playlists of his on Spotify. We work with him just as we would any of our younger artists.
Aurora is an incredible artist, and her fan base, I’ve never seen anything like it; they are obsessed with her, from Brazil to Japan. We couldn’t be busier with her internationally, and it keeps growing; she’s magical. There’ll be a new album at the start of the year. [Five-time Grammy winner] Jacob Collier will be completing his [four volume] Djessie project over the next 12 months.
On the classical side, I could pick so many, because our roster is second to none, but I’ll mention a young man called Freddie De Tommaso, who seems to be potentially stepping into the very big shoes left by Luciano Pavarotti.
And we couldn’t be happier that Gregory Porter has some new music coming, as part of a collection we’ll be putting out, and that he’s playing the Royal Albert Hall. We’ve missed him. He is like the uncle or older brother to every single person in this label. When he’s in London, everybody knows it, there are smiles on all the team’s faces.
That’s what I mean about Decca, you go from a jazz singer to an opera star to an altpop princess – and you started at Diana Ross.
But no new Ball & Boe!
Monks: [Laughs] Yes, we’ll be doing a marketing push in December, but we sort of felt, how many times can you say Together Again, again?
We did the Christmas record with them last year, and they’ve still got a long way to go with us, but for this Q4 we’re putting out their three records so far as a box set.
Lewis: When I look at this Q4, it’s hard to see a greater line-up of global legends. As well as Diana Ross, we’re doing a record with Brian Wilson. He’s going back to solo piano, to explore the melodies and ideas of original compositions that have basically defined 50 years of pop history.
We’re working in a similar way with Richard Carpenter. And then, with our affiliates overseas, we’re working on a new record of Nina Simone remixes. And her influence will never ever diminish.
We’re doing a record of symphonic duets with Nat King Cole, with guests like John Legend, we’re very excited about that.
That’s the Hall of Legends if you like, but then at the end of the year we’ve got an EP from Steam Down, a cutting-edge UK jazz outfit with elements of grime in the mix.
I’m particularly excited about them, I think they are right at the forefront of a whole new wave of the British jazz – and if you’ve been to one of their shows, it’s a quasi-religious experience.
I hope that gives a sense of where we’re going, and of the scope of what we do at Decca, because that sort of defines our history. We’re the label that brought you Pavarotti and Solti’s Ring Cycle, but we also signed The Rolling Stones and David Bowie. n
