Punk Rock Ist Nicht Tot

Amazing Radio

Last modified on 2010-09-14 22:23:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Life can be pretty difficult for unsigned bands these days.

With the music industry in decline and record sales falling most record labels seem uninterested in taking risks and nurturing new talent. The most obvious signs of this are the way the airwaves are flooded with sound-a-likes of the latest hip band.

When The Libertines exploded onto the scene with ‘Up The Bracket’ in 2002 it wasn’t long before the station’s playlists were swamped with the efforts of a hundred pale imitations. If your band doesn’t sound like the latest big thing it’s going to be pretty difficult to get signed, and if you’re not signed, the chances of getting your songs heard on the radio are, with the notable exceptions of 6music’s Tom Robinson Introducing and XFM’s Xposure, virtually zero. It’s a vicious circle that’s seemingly impossible to break.

Determined to even the playing field, Amazing Radio, who describe themselves as an ethical radio station, aims to change all that by exclusively playing tracks by unsigned bands. Amazing Radio is the UK’s newest national radio station, available on DAB and the internet, and it has some entertainment heavyweights behind it; founder Paul Campbell is a successful TV and radio producer, and former BBC head of music entertainment Trevor Dann (it was Dann who famously banned Status Quo from BBC radio playlists) is not only a DJ but also in-house consultant.

So how does it work? Artists upload their songs to sister site amazingtunes.com for streaming, free download or to sell at a fixed rate (currently 79p per track). Amazing Radio promotes the music that has been uploaded to amazingunes.com by playing the most popular tracks (decided by the amount of plays, downloads and purchases as well as how many times they have been rated/recommended). The tracks that receive the most airplay make up the Amazing Chart, which is published on amazingtunes.com as well as in industry magazine Music Week.

That sounds great on paper but what about in practice? Neither the station nor the website carry advertising, so interested in what the artists got out of it and how the station financed itself, I spoke to station founder Paul Campbell. He was quick to point out that the artist gets 70% of the profit from each download and unlike some other stations and websites they don’t have to sign over the publishing rights to the songs they upload. But if there’s no advertising, I asked, how can the station finance itself?

“The most important thing to say first is that we are incredibly low cost,” he said. “This is partly because we’re based in Gateshead, which is a lot cheaper than somewhere like London (we’re the first national radio station ever based outside London – a shocking fact if you ask me, 80-odd years after broadcasting started in the UK).

“We run incredibly tightly and we never waste a penny. So whereas BBC 6 Music costs something like £8m per annum to run (although I’ve seen £9m reported): our total running costs of our entire operation are lower than the BBC Director General’s annual salary – under £800k per annum.” Paul told me.

He went on to explain that the station’s revenue streams came from four main sources:

Downloads: For every track sold via amazingtunes.com the artist receives 70% of the profit and Amazing gets 30%

Sponsorship: Although the station doesn’t carry advertising it will shortly be taking sponsorship for shows, i.e. ‘the breakfast show brought to you by ACME Trading Co.’

Records: Amazing are soon to set up a record company to give the most popular bands the opportunity to release physical copies of their records.

Royalties: The last revenue stream revolves around PRS (royalty payments). As Paul explains: “Because our music is 100% PRS-exempt, it’s possible to play it in shops, offices and business premises without a PRS license. We’re now being besieged by businesses asking for us to supply music to them to allow them to stop paying PRS, which many businesses seem to hate. Again, we do this ethically (the way it works out, we can give about twice as much to the artist as they would have had from PRS, if they’d got anything at all through that route) although it’s much cheaper for the shops themselves: it’s a real win win.”

So that’s the business model covered, but what about that rating system that helps decide whether a song makes it to the radio, the stakes are pretty high for bands – how does the station ensure the system is fair?

“There are both software and human interventions to stop the system being rigged,” Paul said. “We also continually monitor activity, of course, to look out for spamming….we’re 100% certain this can’t be rigged, and that it is fair. We also think the system is subtler than pretty much everything else around, since it’s so broad in its assessment of popularity.”

This all sounds pretty good, but is it too good to be true? Could there really be a commercial radio station whose primary concern is helping unsigned bands get the exposure they need?

I asked David Lightfoot, front man of unsigned band The Fades and Chris Hutchison of The Stereo Shutdown, who were recently top of the Amazing Chart, what they thought of Amazing Radio’s model and was met with opposing views.

Over to David:

“The problem is – the average music listener probably has no interest at all in listening to unsigned bands, so the majority of plays you get will be from other unsigned bands and/or your own music fans who you’ll have to hound incessantly to get them to listen to you…

“There are loads of sites giving the artist 70% of the revenue now – that doesn’t really mean a thing, it’s all about the thousands of bands signing up and driving traffic to the site. Where’s the quality control with these things? It just means that any old crappy band that has a recording can sell it online.”

However Chris disagreed: “We found Amazing Radio to be quite positive as a marketing tool… we played a show on Tuesday night [7th Sept] and were surprised to see that there were a few who had come as a result of Amazing Radio. I think all in all it’s one of the best for features, downloads etc and to have the radio station actively playing new bands to people – it’s a great idea.

“I think that its only downside would be the limited cross section of people who will listen to the radio channel are the ones actively seeking new music which isn’t a huge demographic, however all in all it’s a very well designed website with excellent features and one that we have had a great reaction off of.”

But what of the radio experience for the listener? The feedback on the website is really positive so I spent a week listening to Amazing Radio rather than my usual 6music. After a while I started to miss hearing more familiar bands and songs but I did find some new music that I liked and it was nice to then be able to visit amazingtunes.com to find out more about the bands and download the songs I’d heard. The DJs are generally OK and it’s great that Amazing is willing to give amateur DJs a chance (you can submit audition mp3s via the Amazing Radio website) but some of them are a little too lively for my liking. Although I have gone back to 6music, I still dip into Amazing for short bursts most days and to get me to tune out of 6music is quite an achievement.

My biggest reservation is whether the British public will take to a station that plays only new music. This is, after all, a public that has shown, via appalling shows like X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, that they have a preference for being told what they like rather than seeking out new music for themselves.

I guess only time will tell but there doesn’t appear anything to lose for bands wanting to upload their tracks. In the meantime check it our for yourself and let us know what you think!

Mark Cousens

www.amazingradio.co.uk
www.amazingtunes.com

www.myspace.com/thestereoshutdown
www.myspace.com/thefades

Sonisphere Day 3 – Sunday

Last modified on 2010-08-11 13:20:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

As Slayer, the first band we want to see today aren’t on til 3pm things are a little less rushed and half of us enjoy a pre-gig sunday roast in the local whilst the others stick to the all day breakfast. A cab is ordered for 2.15pm which should give us plenty of time but he’s running late and when he eventually arrives we realise
that, despite what the cab company told us, we have yet another taxi driver who doesn’t know how to get to Knebworth. By the time we head off time is running out and it’s going to be tight if we want to make the whole set. Tempers are getting somewhat frayed as Nick starts to throw his toys out of the pram and even Ian, who is normally pretty relaxed, calls the driver an idiot. Ivan is up front talking to the driver about god knows what but by the look on his face the sooner we’re out of his cab, the happier he’ll be. Luton’s taxi divers may well be a bit thick but fortunately they are also thick skinned and despite the abuse he gets (mostly gentle piss taking) he delivers us to our location, albeit too late to see the start of the show.

Slayer are not a band I’m familiar with and probably aren’t quite as heavy as I was expecting but they are really good and are clearly enjoying playing to a very large crowd. It’s a pretty good lineup for the latter part of the day. Following Slayer grunge rockers Alice In Chains take the stage, another band I’m not really familiar. Alice in Chains have two singers, one blond the other looking like Lenny Kravitz who pretty much take it in turns to sing the songs. The Lenny lookalike has a better voice, reminiscent of Chris Cornell, but doesn’t really look like the frontman of a grunge band but they deliver an explosive set and the boobies are out on the large screens again  

Next up are The Cult, taking the stage to audible groans from the audience as an announcer states something along the lines of ‘The last time the Cult were in the UK they played songs from Love, but tonight it’s all about the future as they leave the past behind and bring you songs from their new album’. Fortunately the band were having a bit of a laugh at our expense as they launch into a feroious version of Lil Devil. Today is all about the Cult for me and they are fantastic, though Ian Astbury has clearly put on a lot of weight and it seems to be affecting his vice as he struggles to hold some of the higher notes. Though they play most of their hits, the set is over far too quickly and disappointingly they don’t play Edie (Ciao Baby), nonetheless it is still the highlight of the weekend. It’s a difficult act to follow but you couldn’t ask for a worst act than the piss poor Pendulum, I’ll never understand the attraction of this band. Iggy and The Stooges raise the level again with an energetic hour of punk

rock including Raw Power and I Wanna Be Your Dog and then it’s time for Iron Maiden. Me and Ivan take a back seat and grab a couple of beers for this one while Ian and Nick get further to the front. I like Maiden but tonight is dsiappointing as the band decide to play mainly newer tracks rather than those everyone knew. I could name more songs that they didn’t play than ones that they did, in a festival like this the headline act should give the audience the greatest hits set they want to hear, we paid enough!

The journey home is easier tonight as we get a cab quickly and with no arguments (Ivan stayed off the wine today). At £35 it’s also the cheapest of the weekend! The pubs are shut early tonight so it’s a quick burger in the local chicken shop and to bed. The end of the final day and not only are we all still talking but we might actually do it again next year! 

Sonisphere Awards:

• Best band: The Cult
• Worst band: Pendulum
• Most disappointing band: Skunk Anansie
• Best discovery: Slayer
• Idiot of the weekend: The steward who asked me if the bottle of beer I was holding was plastic, on my way out!

Sonisphere day 2 – Saturday

Last modified on 2010-08-03 11:52:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Kicking off with a full english seems to be the only sensible way to start a day of hard rocking so it’s off to the local hostelry for a splendid fry-up before we head back to Knebworth. Getting into a cab we get a dreaded sense of deja vu as it quickly becomes clear that yet again we have found a driver who doesn’t know where Knebworth is. Only this time we also have a cabbie who ‘doesn’t like road signs’ (his words!) it just gets better and better! Fortunately by now we have worked out how to get to Knebworth so we end up directing him to our destination.

We finally arrive to join a surprisingly large crowd and watch Anthrax deliver a remarkably loud set, with added visual stimulation provided by various female members of the audience who seem to be compelled to bare their boobies whenever the camera picks them out on the large video screens. Spendid!

Next up is Apocalyptica, a kind of heavy metal string orchestra who are sadly crap. For the rest of the afternoon we spend our time alternating between the two main stages like a human ping pong, stopping off each way for a beer and a visit to the toilet (as the day draws on the toilet visits beome more frequent, and the toilet is swapped for the nearest wall). On the main stages are Papa Roach (very good, despite their frontman being an arrogant cock), Good Charlotte (Blink 182-ish but still enjoyable, though halfway through me and Nick shoot off to the Red Bull tent to see the excellent Japanese Voyeurs), Skunk Anansie (disappointingly dull), Motley Crue (on good form and one of Ian’s favourite bands – he had a look of pure joy on is face for the entire set!) and Placebo (excellent, rockier than on record, the highlight of their set was a great cover of Nirvana’s ‘All Apologies’).

By now it’s 8.45pm and me and Ian have managed to lose Nick and Ivan (not deliberately), but it’s time for Rammstein, one of the bands I’m particularly keen on seeing. The stage show is an unbelievable display of pyrotechnics, including rockets being fired from the sound stage into the band! They play for an hour an half to a crowd approaching 50,000 and though it seemed to go incredibly quickly it was long enough for Ivan to emerge from the crowd completely pissed. It seems he had been on the wine, which if you know Ivan, is as dangerous as given Gremlins water.

What follows is allsorts of bickering as we leave the site and join the queue at the taxi rank. Ivan refuses to join the rank and staggers off to steal someone elses cab, which remarkably he manages to do! It costs us £50 this time but at least we haven’t had to wait in the queue with all the normal people that don’t have an Ivan in the group! We decide to finish the night with a couple of pints in the local boozer which leads to another argument between Nick and Ivan as Nick gets Ivan a lager but Ivan wanted a Guinness so won’t drink it, leaving Nick having to pay for an extra pint. Still, for the second day in a row we manage to retire without any punches being thrown!

Sonisphere day 1 – Friday

Last modified on 2010-08-03 11:54:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

When I booked the tickets for this 6 months ago we (Ian, Nick, Ivan & me) decided that camping was not for us and we wanted a hotel. It seems we were not alone in this decision as the closest hotel I could find with 4 available rooms was in the centre of Luton, a good half hour taxi ride away from the site. On arrival we found that rather than being booked in for 3 nights, the hotel had cocked up and we were only in for the friday, after some jiggery-pokery and I suspect the cancellation of some other bookings (as I type this I’m sitting in reception next to a woman whose furious that her reservation appears to have been cancelled, she was booked into room 3  – coincedentally the room I am in - shhh!).

We jump into a cab and 30 minutes later we’re lost. 45 minutes later and we finally arrive at Knebworth, not the right entrance but it’s close enough! Understandably thirsty by now we head staright to the bar for a beer. And we wait, and we wait – it doesn’t look like they’re quite ready for us! Eventually we get our pints of Carlsberg (probably the worst lager in the world) and check out the site. It’s quite amazing how many people are wearing stockings, corsets and tutus, some them are even women, but not many – is this a rock festival or a transvestite convention?

Prepared for an afternoon of rocking out we head over to the stage to catch hair metal gods Europe. They’re pretty good, a dire version of No Woman, No  Cry is cancelled out by an excellent rendition of ‘The Final Countdown’. Gary Numan is excellent though the sound isn’t great, difficult to hear his vocals. Headliner Alice Cooper is fantastic, playing through most of his hits he starts and finishes with ‘School’s Out’ and the crowd go wild both times. His usual macabre act is in full swing, tonight we see him hung, beheaded, locked in a cabinet and spiked to death, he cuts the head off a baby, strangles a nurse and stabs a ninja – and not a copper in sight. Awesome. Last up are the vastly underrated Terrorvision. In a serious case of underestimating a bands popularity they are playing in a tent rather than one of the main stages and it is rammed. The band play an explosive hour of hits and album track and the audience bounce along to every one of them, for me, as good as Alice was, this was my highlight.

Time to head back to luton and things start to go a bit tits up. The cab we booked can’t find us and the cabs on the taxi rank are charging £50 to get back – the rate we were quoted was £30! We hang around for the taxi we booked but as time goes on (it’s been 30 mins since he phoned to say he was at the main gate and he still hasn’t found the official taxi rank where were waiting for him) we realise he probably won’t show and find another cab that’ll take us back to Luton for £40. By the time we get back to the hotel we are tired and cold but still able to see the funny side and though Ivan and Nick have been bickering like a married couple and Ivan has done his very best to wind up every taxi driver he’s spoken to, we haven’t tried to strangle each other, yet!