Interview with Joe from Field Recordings
As well as working for Field Recordings (a subsidiary of Universal Records run by Rollo from Faithless, an example of a small off-shoot of a major label), Joe Taylor runs Nuxx Publishing. Among his clients there is Nizlopi, whose self-released JCB Song reached number one in December 2005.
Click below to read the interview.
How much do you, as a label, feel threatened by the high use of illegal downloading by the general public?
I don’t feel threatened by it. It’s an opportunity that needs to be monetized.
Do you think this affects small labels as much as it does larger ones?
It affects everyone whose music is on the file-sharing networks, which is everyone except the very smallest labels.
Do you think that the decision of bigger bands to give their music away for free is going to have a big effect on small bands and labels?
There are two sides to this. Firstly there is a growing tide of free music both legitimate and illegitimate. It does get harder to sell music when there is a lot of music available free legitimately. But there are also lots of exciting opportunities to distribute music in new ways, and with much lower distribution costs than ever before.
What Radiohead have done is very exciting and food for thought for everyone. I publish The Crimea, who gave their album away free and got more publicity for this than they’d ever had before, reached more people with their music than they could have done by selling it, and boosted their fan-base as a result. So there are opportunities for smaller bands as well.
Do you think that many small labels are going to have to look at getting backing from majors to support themselves in the future?
No, I think as a smaller label there’s more than you can do for lower initial costs than ever before. But of course the shrinking CD business is a problem for all labels, and indies have always had to look at getting backing from majors.
What can smaller labels do to combat the changing tactics, which could be seen to be aiding larger bands in the industry?
Since the advent of iTunes, majors no longer have the same control over the distribution system so in this respect the playing field has leveled.
