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Five Years Of Supporting Australian Music With TIM McLEAN SMITH From XMUSIC · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi and Tim McLain Smith and CEO of EX Music,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: co founder. We're an Australian company that's taking on the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: world with new music and Chris it's great to see you.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I have you, Yeah, we see Thanks to join us
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: today made always a pleasure. Don't read it over to
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: discuss the fact that X Music is celebrating your fifth
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: birthday this year, mate, So what sorts of presence do
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: you expected.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Mate, We're expecting no presence. We're giving the fans the presence.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We've got four shows coming up. There's some alcohol that
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you can buy to celebrate it, some new music, surprising music.
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  Speaker 1: We've dropped one project X single, Hunger Strike, which is
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: a project that we've started to raise money for Support
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Act and Hunger Strike is for men's mental health exclusively.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We've got the second single dropping for Mother's Day, which
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: will be a cover of Adele's Hello, which is also
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  Speaker 1: going to the McGrath Foundation, so look out for that.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: One features Carli Jewell and Tailor Made Rejects and Sound Affliction.
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  Speaker 1: So it's come up really nicely and that'll be out
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  Speaker 1: just before Mother's Day.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure if you're actually rare of this or not,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: but I can hear all that project that stuff as
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  Speaker 2: it's being created because the guy, one of the masterminds
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: of it is directly straight upsite my place. So I
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: get out one and I can hear him pumpet it,
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  Speaker 2: so I'm getting the full song.
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  Speaker 1: Damo has been working day and night on these things,
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  Speaker 1: so he's been working really hard. So yeah, I know
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  Speaker 1: you live across the road, so you'd probably hear it
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  Speaker 1: before me.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I can tell who he is working bloody out
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  Speaker 2: on it because there's always noise coming out. For those
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: who aren't too familiar with x music, I might not
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: have heard of you made, like, give us a brief
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  Speaker 2: history on it and tell us exactly what you do.
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  Speaker 1: So ex Music is actually a big part of a
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  Speaker 1: sports entity business that is due to launch in the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: next year or so.
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  Speaker 3: It's been worked on for about five years now.
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  Speaker 1: XPC is the company and where the enter entertainment side
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of it, and that's where it started from, ensuring that
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  Speaker 1: the shows that will come out, the events that we
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  Speaker 1: do will have you know, world class music and you know,
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  Speaker 1: talking to triple A artists about being at these events
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and then also developing local artists to be a part
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  Speaker 1: of that as well, and from that we wrote some
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: theme songs and started getting into some music and then
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  Speaker 1: started looking at bands and like signing them, thinking it
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  Speaker 1: was going to be sort of a bit, you know,
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  Speaker 1: three or four bands for a little while and see
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  Speaker 1: how we go. But in the last three years especially,
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  Speaker 1: it's growing quite well and growing great reputation and also
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  Speaker 1: you know, open years and looking around and trying to
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  Speaker 1: help local acts get a world stage.
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  Speaker 2: Nice. That just sort of makes you realize how quickly
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: time goes by. Like when you were telling me that story,
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  Speaker 2: then I had a flashback, and so it's probably five
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  Speaker 2: years ago you were telling me that same story.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been scary that, you know. Co founder with
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Gary Francisco. We talk about it every year.
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  Speaker 3: It's like another year's gone and it's like, wow, this
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  Speaker 3: is cool. And then.
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  Speaker 1: At the start of the year we're looking at different
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  Speaker 1: things and it's like, holy crap, that's five years for
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  Speaker 1: our first release in March, and then literally away we
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  Speaker 1: went with only a couple of releases in the first year.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's been five years.
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  Speaker 1: Ago that we did it, but now you know, we're
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  Speaker 1: looking at roughly twenty five thirty releases a year to
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  Speaker 1: what was probably three releases in the first year.
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  Speaker 2: Before we get too much into the ex music side
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  Speaker 2: of things, made like tell us a bit more about
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  Speaker 2: yourself and what qualifies you to be in charge of
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  Speaker 2: I guess there's going to be the next biggest label
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  Speaker 2: in Australian music.
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  Speaker 3: So I've forty years in the industry. I started when
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  Speaker 3: I was twelve.
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  Speaker 1: Now worked in retail, played in bands myself, so I
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  Speaker 1: get an understanding of the musician side of things, recordings
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  Speaker 1: and stuff. I was lucky enough in ninety four coming
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  Speaker 1: out of retail to join Sony Music.
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  Speaker 3: I worked with Sony Music for twenty five years and with.
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  Speaker 1: Bands of A CDC and Midnight all locally and all
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  Speaker 1: the idle pop artists and also you know internationally, working
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  Speaker 1: close with you know, Pink Floyd and you know big
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  Speaker 1: part of it, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, Estates and
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  Speaker 1: things like that. You know, got up to a high
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  Speaker 1: executive role at Sony eight years ago, then joined eleven
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  Speaker 1: seven who you know, we had Motley Crue and Papa
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  Speaker 1: Roach and five Finger and then continued into Better Noise
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  Speaker 1: and so you know, which is the number one biggest
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  Speaker 1: hard rock label in America. So you know that's my category.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, I've always worked with bands in regards
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  Speaker 1: to people reaching out and asking for advice and helping,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, it's come across, you know, something that
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  Speaker 1: a passion of mine of working at with the majors
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  Speaker 1: and how they worked, wanted to do things a lot
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  Speaker 1: differently and you know, almost become part of the bands
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  Speaker 1: in regards to you know, how they work and give
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  Speaker 1: them advice and you know, talk mainly about growth and
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  Speaker 1: what's best for them and trying to get them touring.
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  Speaker 1: So that's sort of where I've come from.
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  Speaker 2: There is a good point there. But like some of
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  Speaker 2: the artists that you just name that you've been working with,
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  Speaker 2: like during the upper echulin on music, So why come
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  Speaker 2: full circle and want to work with the ground level
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  Speaker 2: of music when you know you sort of climb to
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  Speaker 2: the top and then you coming back in and give
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  Speaker 2: them from the other end.
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  Speaker 1: My biggest buzz in this industry is hearing new music.
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  Speaker 1: I remember and it still happens now. You know, when
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  Speaker 1: my friends would say to me, oh, I just heard
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  Speaker 1: the latest Food Fighters single blah blah blah, and it's like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: that's all right, it's out now, but you know, I'd
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  Speaker 1: heard it for six months or so and working with
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  Speaker 1: the marketing, the ideas and you know, being able to
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  Speaker 1: come up with crazy ideas and pulling them off, you know,
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  Speaker 1: like launching an album in We wore in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of no Where, you know, a CDC album and the
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  Speaker 1: rock in the.
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  Speaker 3: Middle of nowhere we put it.
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  Speaker 1: I put thirty Elvis's on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: floated a fifty foot statue of Michael Jackson down the
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  Speaker 1: Sydney Harbor. We you know, all that sort of stuff
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  Speaker 1: is fun because and that's part of what music. People
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  Speaker 1: discovering music, and you know, music is for people either
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  Speaker 1: you know, something emotional memories.
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  Speaker 3: You know, everybody goes, oh, that song reminds me of this.
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  Speaker 1: And the amount of time you know, I did over
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  Speaker 1: close to probably eight hundred instore signings with artists at
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  Speaker 1: Sony Music and the amount of times that you know,
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  Speaker 1: artists here that you know, that song saved my life
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  Speaker 1: or you saved me from this, And that's what I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to get back into, you know, the growth of
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  Speaker 1: brand new music and hearing and then trying to help
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  Speaker 1: young artists, you know, get out into the world and
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people get buried. And it's unfortunately, you know,
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  Speaker 1: with how people can release music now, there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of quantity out there, not quality. And you know, the
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: labels used to be the gatekeepers. They're not anymore. Anybody
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  Speaker 1: can do it. So I'm trying to help them get
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  Speaker 1: above and rise above all the stuff that's out there.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, it's hard, but you know it's it's fun.
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  Speaker 1: And as I said, my biggest passion is hearing new music.
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  Speaker 1: And with some artists it's a little bit more. I
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  Speaker 1: work from the studio up with them and other artists
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  Speaker 1: that's delivered and you know, we talk about strategy and
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  Speaker 1: as I said, become part of the band in regards
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  Speaker 1: to you know.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not a label.
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  Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, give us it and we're going to
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  Speaker 1: throw it out there and we'll see what happens. It's like, no,
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  Speaker 1: we're all in this together, and if it fails, we
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: all fail.
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  Speaker 3: If a success for all success, and.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go and you know, let's let's work together instead
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  Speaker 1: of you know, I've seen with labels they work against
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  Speaker 1: the artists and it never works.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So I was a very first band that
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  Speaker 2: you signed for ex.
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  Speaker 1: Music actually as a pop artist called Iron Paris who
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: is now acting and doing stuff in so she was
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  Speaker 1: the first one, and then from there Chris Peters who
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  Speaker 1: was a country artist.
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  Speaker 4: And our first heavy hard rock was ex Caliber and
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  Speaker 4: the reason, the main reason for that is, you know,
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  Speaker 4: Dan and I were talking about writing the songs for
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  Speaker 4: XBC and there's theme songs to come from that thing,
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  Speaker 4: and that's.
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  Speaker 1: Where it all started. And then we worked with Stronger
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  Speaker 1: was the first release. Then we got into No Sense.
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  Speaker 1: So ex Caliber was the first major rock and hard
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  Speaker 1: rock band and from there it's pretty much been all
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  Speaker 1: hard rock and rock bands. So it was quite interesting
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  Speaker 1: that the first artist was a pop artist and the
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  Speaker 1: second one was a country artist.
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  Speaker 2: You can only go up from there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's country rock. And Chris was actually he's
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  Speaker 3: a producer.
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  Speaker 1: Very talented guitarist, and he was actually in a band
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  Speaker 1: that I worked with at Sony called Syndica and now
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  Speaker 1: we're a hard rock band and he decided to go
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  Speaker 1: to country about ten years ago, so yeah, it's interesting.
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  Speaker 3: He's a great songwriter as.
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  Speaker 2: Well so well, and am I allowed to ask how
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  Speaker 2: many bands you got on your Ustino or is that
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: sort of thing I've discussed.
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  Speaker 1: Now we're twenty six bands on the label. Now we
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  Speaker 1: two just about well, we've announced them on the website.
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  Speaker 1: They're coming up once from America and you know, some
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  Speaker 1: talented Risbane.
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  Speaker 3: Rock bands coming up as well. So yeah, we'll be
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  Speaker 3: up to thirty by the end of the year.
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  Speaker 2: Nice. We've even branched out in the international market as
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  Speaker 2: well last year, signing band called Boulevard of Eyes from
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  Speaker 2: the USA. So is it being based here in Australia,
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  Speaker 2: is it harder to look after a band in another
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  Speaker 2: country or is it the same sort of principle.
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  Speaker 3: It's pretty much the same principles.
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  Speaker 1: It's just regarding you know, expectations and what we can
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  Speaker 1: offer to what they want.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: I've had several conversations.
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  Speaker 1: With bands from the US and from Scotland and from
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  Speaker 1: the UK. Sometimes it's you know, it's always been honest
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  Speaker 1: and open and some of them don't take up on it.
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  Speaker 1: Some of it's like, well, you know, we you know,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: we still present music to radio around the world and
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: we've present to media around the world, so that side
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  Speaker 1: of it, you know, it's an easy side it's just
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  Speaker 1: taking what we do here and doing it into the
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  Speaker 1: American market. And you know, I've got a pretty good
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: background in the American market.
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  Speaker 3: So it's good.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, Boulevard of Ires was the first signing that
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  Speaker 1: we had and the new signing is coming up later
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: on the year, the Black Ridge Union, so their album
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and stuff will come probably November December this year.
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  Speaker 3: But they're another good band.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, it's great to have those footholes into
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  Speaker 1: America because you know, the Australian bands wanted tour there,
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  Speaker 1: so it would be good to have that connection. And
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: you know, Boulevard of Ires came to it in Australia
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  Speaker 1: November last year, so you know we've got the opportunity
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  Speaker 1: for bands to.
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  Speaker 3: Tour here as well.
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  Speaker 1: And you know we've had conversations with a band from Japan,
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  Speaker 1: so you know we're open for you know, all the years.
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  Speaker 1: I had an interesting guy I came from Jamaica about
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: a year ago, which we didn't sign for many reasons.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it is quite as I said, going back
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: to hearing new music, it's amazing what you get to
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: get to hear, and it's like, you know, most of
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: it's great and some of it's not.
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  Speaker 2: So what things do you look for? I guess when
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: when you're considering sliding a band agge music.
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  Speaker 1: I love, you know, it's all hooks, got great songs
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  Speaker 1: and you know every song doesn't need to be a
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: number one single. It could be emotion, it could be
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: you know, melody, it could be the groove. Some some
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: bands have just got a great knack for really great riffs.
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  Speaker 1: You know, as I said, I've worked with bands from
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: ground up with even with lyrics and things like that,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and then you know, having catch or you know, sometimes
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  Speaker 1: some bands have just.
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  Speaker 3: Caught my eye alive.
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  Speaker 5: You know, they're just really good live and it's like, right,
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  Speaker 5: how do we get that live apt to a bigger
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  Speaker 5: stage and how do we you know, grow their music
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: to get to that opportunity and then you know, working
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: with the the sounds that you can have, you know,
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: it's it's quite interesting.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Some every bands in a different level and it's about
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: you know, you could be from scratch and we can
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: make you great, or you could be great and make
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: you bigger and better. You know, every band's just got
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: their own idea where they want to go, and it's
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: then whether we have the right chemistry to mix to
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: make it better.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's sort of mentioned before, like you go everywhere
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: from pop to country, you're a rock to metal, but
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: everyone's got their own personal tasted music. I guess, Like
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I know, I struggle with this a bit bit heavy
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: from time to time. But how do you how do
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: you separate yourself from sort of style of music do
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: you prefer when it comes to listening to bands objectively?
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: One of my greatest things that I got to do
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: it Sony. I looked after the whole catalog, so I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: looked after from classical to death metal. So listening to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: all that and having to you know, make sure that
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: you understand it. My dad was a jazz musician, so
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I had a bit of you know, understanding of that.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: And you know, to me, I don't hate any form
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: of music.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: It's just whether it's good to your ears or whether
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: as going back to before, hasn't got an emotional connection.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Is there something that can bring memories? And you know,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: that might be hard with some death metal bands or
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: screamos and stuff because you don't sometimes understand the lyrics
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: when they play live, but you can compensate that with
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: lyric videos and stuff. And it's like, Wow, they've actually
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: got a great message. And most those things have got
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: great melodies or hooks or.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Something into it.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: So you know, you can what I listened to personally
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: to what I you know, to what I listened to different.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: But it's quite interesting when people have asked what you
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: do and it's pretty much I listened to music twenty
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: four to seven.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: It's a hard life, you know, it's a great you know.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: An old boss of mine used to say, when you've
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: got a job that is a hobby, it's a good
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: job to have.
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  Speaker 2: True, how do you go? I guess what. A lot
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: of bands that your sign and are fresh, you know,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: like they haven't been around for long, and they're probably
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: used to doing things their own ways. So you come
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: on board and you try to guide them and give
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: them advice. But is it hard to sort of get
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: them fall into line. I guess sometimes when they they
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: used to doing everything their.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Own way, it's never falling into line.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: It's as I said, it's about becoming a part of
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: their family and trying to explain this is.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: The way of the world. You know.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: One of the things I also learned that's saying to
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: you was that a lot of the older bands, especially
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: social media and all that sorde of things, just had
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: no idea and couldn't understand it. And even today some
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: of them don't and they trust you to guide their career.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: And the world has changed so much in the last
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: fifteen years. Every year it changes so much, so you've
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: got to listen. And as I said, sometimes it's listening
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: to what they want, listening to the music and having
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the conversation about this is the song I would go
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: with first, and then telling them why, and hopefully that
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: why is enough for them to go, Okay, we understand.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: And we've had a couple of conversations where you know,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: this is what we've got and we're coming out with it,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: and it's like, no worries. We'll work with it the
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: best we can and we'll make it bigger and better,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and that's fine. Other times it might be like, well,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: if you do it this way and release it seconds
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that are first, you know, because sometimes especially with you know,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: digital platforms and stuff, it's about algorithms, and I use
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: a common thing about feeding the beast, and if you're
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: not feeding that beast algorithms, you will lose a lot
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: of followers. Really quickly.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: And sometimes you don't have to release a big song
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: and a single and videos, and you just have to
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: release a song that keep the fans happy. And sometimes
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: you can do that and say, well, okay, we can
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: go with that song and it'll be a core song
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: and we can you know, push it out and we'll
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: do all this.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: But don't expect, as I said, I'm always honest about expectations,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: and say, don't expect this to happen, and this to happen,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: but hopefully it'll help you grow your social media or
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: hopefully grow your own digital platform followers, and then then
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: you can hit them with a better song or a
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: bigger song or whatever.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: So and you're right, you know, because some of it.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: We've got a couple of acts on the label that
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: are I call the heritage acts that older ones have
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: been around for ages. But they're so much fun to
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: work with because they've got a new sense of life.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: You know, they've been doing stuff, or they've been bitter
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: because they've been burnt by an old label or whatever,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: and they you know, to have someone come in and
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: give them a new set of life and say we're
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: going to do it differently, totally different to how you
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: did it with them. It's all about, you know, how
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: we can make it bigger and better, but also keeping
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it fun and fun for them is sometimes playing live.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: So do you actively go out looking for bands or
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: do you more way from recode?
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I've probably so many different ways. As you know, some
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: bands have come through heavy. There's been bands that come
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: through the site that send me music. I've seen bands live.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: You know, you go to see someone else play and
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: then end up at another part and you see a band,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and you know, conversations start.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Whether it goes anywhere or not.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: You know, I've had some really interesting conversations with bands
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: that have been amazing, but they don't want to change
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: in the way they do things. So they think, oh,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: we can do it all ourselves, and it's like okay,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: good luck. And some of them have done okay, and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: others never hear of them again because it is it's
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: daunting to I get as a musician, it's really daunting
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to give your music over to someone else and trust
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: them with it and trying to help them understand that
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: we're here.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: To do the best.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: We're going to work for you, not against you, and
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: you know, if we can get that across to them,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: then you know it's actually a really fun thing to do.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: But some bands are just as you said, and some
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: of the younger bands are the ones that are set
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: in their ways because they just hear all the stories
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: about labels and stuff, and it's like, you know, it's not.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: All like that.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I do get to pubs, I do see things,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I do hear things. I've got people, Hey, you should
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: come and check this band out. I saw them the
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: other night, so I'll go to their next show and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: check them out and see them. Some of are done
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: through touring with the X Music live stuff. They end
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: up being supports and stuff. I've even had bands say, hey,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: we've played with this band the other night, you should
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: check them out, which is very unusual. Most bands don't
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: want to share. But you know, some of the bands
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: are really cool and they're like, yeah, we play with
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: this really cool band the other day.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: You should come and check them out.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Ye say, Ben's looking for label representation, Like, what's the
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: best way for them to approach you about X Music
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: and what sorts of things should they have in place
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: already before they do make that introduction.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: The easiest way is to go to exmusic dot Au
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and there's a part there where you could send me
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: messages and send me music and you know, send directly
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: to my personal email address. But you know, I'm happy,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: as I said, for years of experience, happy to hear
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: raw material. As long as there's new music. We can't
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: really deal with anything that's already out because it's such
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: a nightmare in the back end of DSPs and stuff
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: to work with.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: But if you've got new music and you know, we
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: can work with that.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: And you know, again going back to the Black Rege union,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: you know they've had a couple of songs and they're
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: going in the studio and recording everything and done, and
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: you know it's probably going to take them six to
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: seven months to do it. So I'm happy to wait
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: for these things to come because you know, generally fans
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: don't know the music's coming, so there's no reason to
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: rush to you know, as long as you get it right.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: But yeah, if they send stuff to exmusic dot Au,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: go through.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: So go to the site and go there. They can
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: send submissions there.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: So and I've listened to everything and I actually get
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: back to everybody who comes through there.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Well, So for only any younger bands or older bands
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: out there listening this. What are the benefits of signing
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: with a label like X Music.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: It's allowing you to have creative control.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Also, you know, as I said, going back to working
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: as a member of the band, the fifth sixth member
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: of the band, going through the stuff, getting the knowledge,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: trying to guide you in the right spot, having conversations
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: about scheduling.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: What you want to do.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: But one of the original meetings that I have on
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: a zoom is asking what their expectations are, but what
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: what do they want to get out of it? And
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: if it's you know, if it's we want this, this
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and that, then we go right, that's what we'll work
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: towards and gain you whether it's bigger followers. You know,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I had a band who came through me a studio
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: that I rehearse at, and you know, they wanted to
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: play live and everything. So we're now getting them shows
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So there's all sorts of different reasons,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: but the key one is, you know, keeping the control
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: and having someone guide you that wants to be a
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: part of your band. Other than telling you what to do.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I don't like to tell people what to do. Because
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I'll guide them and hopefully they listen. But if you
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: try and tell someone to do something, they usually do
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: something completely different.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: And you know that doesn't work for either partners.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: So I think it's important to point out too because
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: as you said before, like there are a lot of
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: people out there who had bad experiences with labels or
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: they speak to someone they know in the band and
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: this is in their contract that they don't like and that.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: But every band you work with, you sort out different
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: contracts with don't like things that suit their needs, their
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: once and where they go. Just like they don't just
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: step in and it's black and white what you do.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: And it's actually an open discussion, isn't it.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And that comes from the first conversations that we have.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: It's like, you know, we because we offer you know,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: we've got a website, we've got a store. You know,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: some stores take us up on the store and have
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: we do all the merch for them.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: We do everything.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Some bands, you know, Frankenbak for example, already have that
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: all in place.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: They don't need it. That's great, you know, but we offer,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: especially younger bands.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: It's like you know, merch these days to go and
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: buy you know, twenty lots of merch and not sell
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: sell two three at a show and sitting all that.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: There's different ways of doing it.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Now that we have a merch company that we work
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: with who are fantastic, and we've got a shop for
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: you to sell that with, you know, and I don't care.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: We set it up and we sell three tea shirts
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: like it's there for them to use. You know.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we get big enough that they'll sell a lot more.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: But the opportunities there so that they can start doing show,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: start selling much not putting out laying a lot of
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: money where you had to do it used to have
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: to do.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: But yeah, each conversation is different.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: It's about what they want and then working towards their
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: goals by the end of it.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool. Now you've got you actually celebrate your
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: anniversary in fine style with the first of two Melbourne
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: shows at music Land on April the thirtieth, featured Gallacoma
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Sisters Dolkarli Due on Electric State, and the following night
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: at the same venue with Franken Boxercada, Stone Awaken Hate
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: then Electric State again before heading a Newcastle made the
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: second to play the Den with Todam Wayward Kings, Whitefoot
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: and storm Flower, then finishing at the Soapbox in Brisbane
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: and made the third with Gallacoma Awaken the Hate Taylor
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: made Rejects Sound of Fiction, Slither and Runs but sounds
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: like a lot of work, mate, fun but a lot
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: of work.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been you know, we decided to do it
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: in January February to try and put these shows together.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: You know, in Melbourne.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: It's been quite an interesting thing because when Next Music
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: first started growing, we had all the metal bands in
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Brisbane except for Dela Coma, and then we had all
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the rock bands in Melbourne except for Frankenbach. And then
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Newcastle had a sort of a bit of a mix
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: with Sydney with a rock and you code you sort
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: of hard rock, so trying to get the tour with
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: each other and stuff, and then you've got you know,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: an Adelaide, we've got Audio Rain with hard rock and
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: now Perth as well with Electric State Who. That's why
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: they're on the both shows is because.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: They're flying over. So you're going to come over.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: I'll put you on the Heart the Rock night, and
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: then we'll put you on the hard Rock night and
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the Metal Night because they sit right in the middle,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: which is great and everybody in Newcastle and Sydney gets
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: to see Cod and Waywood Kings and Stormflower and White
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: for the lot. They suit each other so well. They're
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: all different, they're totally different genres, but together as a
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: show they are amazing. And then in Brisbane, you know,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: sop Soap Box have been fantastic to us. We had
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: a heavy fest there last year, which is awesome to
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: be able to use that room, and you know you're
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: going to get a good mixture of you know with
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Dell Awaken the Hate, who are pretty hardcore heavy guys,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: and then you know Taylor made Ree Jackson and Slither,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: some awesome new Brisbane talent up there, Sound Affliction and Runt,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: who's a new band who I think could be massive
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: in the future. They're just they're going to grind out
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and you know it's going to be a great day
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and bit of fun because it's the public holiday the
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: next day, so Brisbane you can come out and play
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: because you get the next day off, you know, so
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: there's no excuses, and we're starting early and finishing early
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: so that you can go home to sleep if you
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: have to.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Where can people fight out more infation get themselves to
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: get to these shows.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: Ex Music dot Au.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: There's a touring section there they can just click on
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: and go to there and it's got all the dates
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: on there, plus other shows as well.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Now this one is right a bit closer to my
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: heartmade like you've also got some special X music liquor
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: that's just come out to seal Like firstly house met
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of times these ones. They're pretty harshly alcohol
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: when you get them made up by this, But how
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: good is this one?
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: So a friend of mine who is a part of
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: a label, who we had a chat when I was
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: up in Brisbane in January with the harassmus and they're
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: launching a brand new six thousands of launching their label
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: and I said, oh, you know, I'd love to do
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: this one day and she looked at me dead in
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the face and said why not?
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Right, Okay, So we have a whiskey and a vodka.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: It's limited to the fourth of May to purchase and
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the whiskey is a four year old austrained whiskey.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: Beautiful.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: It's you know, we're not gonna It's not one of
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: those bottles that you collect you can actually drink this
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: stuff and right, and the Vidka is actually probably not
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: gonna tell you this, but that's actually an award winning
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: vodka that's just been been a one only a couple
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: of weeks ago, so it's really good stuff.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: And you know, it's quite funny.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: When we were at a show in Newcastle a couple
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: of months ago with Code Them and the fourth codem
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and Way with Kings and stuff, There's a lady who
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: was talking to Luke from Coden right at the back
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: and she goes.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm going to get a vodka. You know, I
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: love Vodra and orange.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: And I said to her, I said, well, soon you'll
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: be able to buy a Code and vodka.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: And she's like, what, I want to buy a Code
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: and vibe. How can I do that?
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: And I said, just keep on their webs, keep on
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: their sites, their socials. In the next couple of weeks,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: we're going to announce it because not only do we
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: have ex Music Whiskey and vodka, but most of the
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: bands have their own versions of it too, so you
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: can get your favorite artists logo on there and again,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: whether it's keepsake or whether you want to drink it.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: It's the it's beautiful stuff, so you will be drinking it.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: So if you start, if you open the bottle, you
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: won't finish. You will finish it pretty quickly. But if
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: you want them, yeah, you can have the band's logos
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: on there as well, which looked really cool.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: No, No, I'm troubling that. I had a bottle of
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: slipknot signed whiskey by the whole band sitting on my
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: thing and I just cracked it open one right, There's
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: half dozen people in the room and there. You can't
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: open that, And I'm going, what signature is still going
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: to be there when I drunk it?
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Just you know, like we did when we were younger.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Put dr Jean dry back in there and see a
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: lot up.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Hopefully I don't find it.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: I'll finished up. One more question about X music, bro, like,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: what what's your your long term vision for X music?
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: I guess like if you set goals and targets, so
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: are you're more just rolling with things as I happen?
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: No, there isn't. There is a major thing coming. As
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: I said, I mentioned XBCEE at the start.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: When this sport launches, it's going to take on the
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: world and ex Music is going to be a big
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: part of that and.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: The idea will have you know, by.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Eventually we'll have twelve events around the world. It's not
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: an Australian thing, it's a global events. And part of
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: that from the X Music team is that they will
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: get to play at these events and then stay.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: For example, if we.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Did an event in l A one month, the next
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: one would be in Vegas. Then the bands that will
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: be a part of that would stay in America and tour.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: So, you know, we want to.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Build and you know, X Music Lives is want to
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: build a big touring company for the world and will
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: be part of this. So you know, we're taking the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: taking the bands to a bigger audience. You know, we're
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: expecting you know, over two or three million viewers every
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: every event, so it's you know, it's it's going to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: be a very great platform to launch bands, to launch singles,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: to launch albums, but from that they can then tour
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: the rest of the world by by doing this. So
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that's that's the goal is to you know, to try
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: and help these bands tour as much as possible, but
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: to get notoriety through you know, these these bigger events right.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry several things for your time. Rather happy birthday
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: to you and next music and we'll share a whiskey
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: of a vodka at the Soapbots