Fear and Gloating with Lost Wages

or Why The Irish Music Scene is a Sickly Child Trying to Impress his Action Figure

To coincide with their festival Hard Working Class Heroes arranged a series of panels discussing various aspects of the music industry. What became clear over the two days are that Irish artists are very focused on learning how to become more self-reliant and in fact are more dedicated to having international success than I think ever before. Another realization is that we are an island of not a whole lot of people and we are continuously crippled by our willingness to be subservient to what we assume are the tastes and practices of the music industry abroad.

Areas like national PR, festival organizing or video direction are international practices but in many ways self contained areas of the music industry and seem to get on alright on their terms. But when the topics turn to Irish artists attempting to sell records things become very hazy and speculative.

A vast gulf opens between panelists when you hear reps from Virgin and Kobalt talking about wanting to take a risk signing CHVRCHES or some unheard of British band and hearing the MD of Universal Ireland talk about how excited he is about the Coronas new album. Exiting stuff! And guess what else? The head of Universal asked the MD of Universal Ireland who The Riptide Movement were – we are told that’s big news.

On the other side, a talk had been given by four artists at different stages in their careers. Niamh Farrell from Ham Sandwich is grateful that the band, after ten years, now has a live booker; Louise McNamara of Heathers mentioned that they only make money from licensing to television shows and adverts; Leanne Harte has taken up a full time job to support her music career after being tipped for success over five years ago and Liza Flume is putting out her own material with little support in Ireland except from passionate hobbyists. Not to say any of these artists are doing badly, but it shows that having major label backing, good PR, playing all the festivals, having devoted fans and great reviews will not give you a security, income or freedom that many people imagine this level of success would afford you.

But Irish artists aren’t encouraged to go much further.

What even is the yard-stick for success in Irish music?

Many panellists talked about being optimistic about the future of Irish music now that labels were looking to Ireland for the next Kodaline or Hozier.

But no one on this entire planet actually needs another Kodaline or Hozier except someone who is trying to bulk up their roster in case Kodaline or Hozier actually blows up. Face it – these bands are bands that have been noticed abroad and have had a few TV or festival appearances.

Having a video that was a viral success that Ellen picked up on is not a thing that happens to everyone, but it happens a lot. Remember the fact that for a lot of people in America Hozier was introduced to them the same way Crystal Swing was.

Touching as the video in question is, with a runaway viral video you have to fight to be a musician and not just a “youtube star”. When a lot of people have money invested in you now there has to be an active campaign in selling you as a true musician and not just the Tay Zonday of civil rights. An Irish man making it to number 64 in the Hot 100 should not be the great hope of Ireland. But like rats drowning in milk we envy the ones at the top who are drowning in cream.

Ireland has been so deprived of musical success stories that people still without irony say “the next U2”, despite how they just exemplify being one of the most disliked bands in the world. But we don’t ever actually expect anyone to be that level of famous and Irish as U2 were in the 80s and 90s. But as low as the sights are set, being heard of in another country shouldn’t be seen as ultimate success for an Irish band and definitely doesn’t mean that you can make a living because of it.

Another myth being propagated is that Hozier is an artist that came out of nowhere. They were built up with a marketing plan by large companies in Ireland. Hozier had been in development and doing demos for big labels for years. MCD’s Caroline Desmond nabbed him years back and kept him in development so when he appeared it seemed as if from nowhere.

And this is not to say that having backers is bad, but there has been a lot of work gone into Hozier from MCD and other companies before they let him launch so it’s not an applicable model for a working band. So if you think you want to be the next Hozier you should probably already be signed.

So let’s get our press packs together and tour the length and breadth of Ireland a hundred times and sell the record that put you into debt for nothing on bandcamp for the longhaul and wait until the Irish Music industry takes note.

The problem is that the “Irish Music Industry” does not exist. Anyone who’s ever claimed to see it describes it as a bunch of children standing on each other’s shoulders, wearing a long coat pretending to be an adult.

We have no infrastructure in Ireland. And from outside I’d say it looks pretty ridiculous.
What does EMI, Sony and Universal do in Ireland? They don’t have any A&R, they have little artist development, they don’t sell very many Irish records in Ireland and less abroad. These offices don’t seem to be in charge of anything. What they do is release novelty records and act as a blockage for artists that are “in development”. These artists may or may not ever release a record – what’s going to happen is whatever the actual offices of these companies (which are in real countries) decide.

We still think that these labels have any interest in the things we make here, that they plan to do anything other than recycle national jokes like Pat Short or Gift Grub and every few years sign seven bands that sound the same. Remember The Thrills or Director and the other identikit bands that were tipped for “greatness” through their sheer mediocrity and Irishness? The scene is strewn with members of bands left high and dry by record labels from trends past. But bear in mind that both Hozier and The Coronas are on Island or Island subsidiaries which makes up a large part of the Universal records sprawl under which artists like Angel Haze and Childish Gambino were snapped up. Haze leaked her own debut album after it had been shelved to force the label to release it. In response the label released the album but pulled its advertising campaign. Whereas Childish Gambino did get his record released and soon after went to Twitter to ask someone to buy him out of his contract.

If these trendy and cool acts with strong fanbases are left to dwindle in their ranks, being the new kid on the giant roster doesn’t sound so secure anymore.

The money isn’t in records. So licensing has taken its place to a great degree, which is a much needed subsidy if you are a band who fit the criteria. A TV spot or an ad can help a bit towards your rent for the month but you have to be making songs that make people want to buy things or look good in a death scene. If you’re not doing that then you may well be encouraged to do so.

Even if you’re not looking to the majors, they set the tone of the conversation. There is no money in running an independent label in Ireland. But the rep you can get by discovering an “international artist” can keep you going for another couple of years. So the push from a powerless office of one large company for blander bands pushes the smaller labels to look for blander bands, which leads to the worst part. Irish musicians internalise this push for blandness readily.

Now let’s get this clear, I see the reasoning behind a band like Snow Patrol or Kings of Leon changing their sound to better fit stadiums and medical dramas, because they are currently two good souces of revenue for these bands. It’s a shitty move in terms of developing your art it’s good money and it can push your band from the mid-level to being career pop musicians. But Irish bands try to sell out when they have nothing to sell. They act like they are advancing their career when they don’t have a career to advance.

And fair play to The Coronas for getting signed to Island. This was presented by many to be a topic of hope and excitement showing that graft pays off. When it only proves that it only takes years of touring, Mary Black being your mother and writing a single that sounds like a lame follow up to that Bastille song.

And I know a lot of this can be written off as personal taste. And for bands like the Coronas or the Riptide Movement, which I may not personally enjoy listening to – I wish them and their fans well with this next stage of their career. What I am saying is that the world of international music at large doesn’t care about Ireland. So the only people being put forward by Ireland are artists that have been workshopped for years to find the right sound to market or ones that have built up a dogged fanbase with relentless touring of Ireland in order to try and get a label and get a hit. But in a major label it is the responsibility of the A&R department to get a band a deal and build them up so you can report back to the label with the only thing they understand – money. They are the ones who sign a band and then have to continuously justify spending money on them to the rest of the company.

But I’m serious when I say there is no A&R in Dublin. Any that do exist just work off hype and do not go around attending gigs. So without any real A&R or development here, bands here take it on themselves to mould into a more marketable form – not for the public, but for the foreign scouts. How grim is that.

The Dublin branch of Brighton Institute of Modern Music exemplifies this attitude.

Artists and songwriters in BIMM are encouraged to make themselves into a package that you can sell to a major label. The lecturers are largely musicians who achieved almost moderate success at one point who are in need of extra income. No beef with that. And they’ve got a lot of good teachers. But the anecdotes I’ve heard over the years indicates that a good deal of the staff are looking for you to aim straight down the middle of the road and try to please the imagined industry. The industry is imagined because they have no connection to Ireland despite a few people who might have signed some contracts ten years ago.

The trouble is that with such a small nation, we are left with a limited range of teachers who pitch their charges towards a poor range of tastemakers. Because someone played in a band that was once on a major doesn’t mean that they should tell you how to write songs. Just because a random graphic designer with a blog doesn’t like your stuff enough to write a one line description of it doesn’t mean that you’re not doing the right thing artistically.

And then indie labels don’t help a whole lot of the time.

Fair enough if you want to create a specialised label. You want to put out DnB 12”s or punk cassettes or be the only electro-acoustic label in town – that’s brilliant, we need you.

On the other hand you could also be the prick who picks up six dreary folk bands on your roster in case one of them becomes the next Mumford and Sons and you get a long-awaited payday. Or maybe after Mmoths got a few write-ups in the paper you signed all your mates who had a crack of Fruity Loops because you realised that it’s so much cheaper than keeping bands. Your label can have an image and an identity that is not based on genre. Just get some bands that sound different from each other.

No one understands saturation.

Remember when Other Voices started and the entire first series was Glen Hansard introducing a series of friends with loosely woven sweaters staring glassy eyed into the middle distance? And they all sounded like him? Remember that. Well now there are two West End musicals based on the only two films he’s been in. And while Glen can be found at many a tube stop masturbating to his Oscar, Mundy wanders the streets of Dublin hoping someone would recognise him. Hansard didn’t even bring his own band to the states when he blew up, what did you think he was going to do for Ger Wolfe?

We need to stop trying to do things on other people’s terms. What claims to be an industry is basically the same role as being a fashion buyer for Dunnes Stores: Predicting last year’s trends.

And that is not casting shade on any shop employees. But if you claim to know what’s best for an Irish artist based on picking up on old trends or want to jump in on the success of longhaul pop-sloggers like Ed Sheeran – Fuck you.

Seeing all of the people at the HWCH talks does reaffirm the idea that there are a lot of people wanting to go out and do it for themselves. It comes from an ideological level, the need to create and be a part of something. And there are so many amazingly fascinating and daring musicians in Ireland who will have to fight the hard fight because there will be no support from the industry as long as the Irish end of things only wants to keep everything safe and reliable. It is a blockage that as artists we Irish must circumnavigate. We need to be able to show the diversity of music in Ireland to people who give a shit about it.

There is a need to find inexpensive and readily available outlets for your music and a need for solidarity between artists. This is a point where the enthusiasts can turn pro and challenge the necessity for financial backing on the terms of others.

Learn how to do what you want to do.

Not what you should do.