Kierszenbaum communicates with fans on the site every day, asking what they want and how they want it, and says they are very vocal about their requirements. If we promote good pop music and the kids invest in that, I think it's going to help all of us. When I find a band I love but can't sign them because they're already signed to someone else I put them on Cherrytree Radio. I get up in the morning and I listen to music, I go on the internet and I look at the charts. "Some of my colleagues are a bit freaked out about that, but think about it – it's all kind of one thought. The radio station, programmed by Kierszenbaum, plays plenty of artists who aren't signed to the label, while the label's site features interviews with outside people contributing to pop music, such as Glee music producer Adam Anders (there's a RedOne interview coming up), and a live lounge called the Cherrytree House (also featuring non-Cherrytree artists). These platforms do not only promote Cherrytree artists. Online platforms such as Cherrytree Radio play a vital part in its mission to bring the mainstream to what he calls pop-alternative music. Kierszenbaum maintains that Cherrytree functions like an indie, even though it's inside a major, and what makes the label different is its constant contact with the fans.
He can say: 'This Robin Thicke record didn't work so we're going to try another one, and then another one' – and then, eight years later, he sells a million records." But we have less pressure because Jimmy Iovine has such a great track record and he's such a visionary that he gets a bit more time. "Some of our favourite bands through the years took two or three albums to break," he says. Kierszenbaum laments today's pressure for immediate success. Frankmusik relocated to LA after his debut album failed to set the charts alight in the UK. La Roux only had a top-five hit after five US tours. UK artists who want to break America have to be ready to spend a lot of time there. Not all of Cherrytree's acts have such instant success, though. "A lot of bands would go 'Screw you!' but they got together with the production team Stereotypes and devised this electro hip-hop sound, making them the first Asian-American act to go to No 1 in the US with Like a G6." When Kierszenbaum first met Far East Movement he told them they didn't have their sound down. When you do trust it and it works, you'll recognise that feeling when you have it again."īeing a musician does help, however, when it comes to communicating with artists. When something moved me I would either not notice it, ignore it or over-analyse it. I didn't use to be as good at recognising my internal barometer. Spotting great songs is a separate skill that you need to hone by making mistakes.
That's like when people say: 'A CD only costs 86c to make.' Oh yeah? Why don't you go buy a blank CD? What about the music on it? That took producers, arrangers and writers who have practised for years."ĭoes being a songwriter help in his record label job? "It doesn't make you spot great songs any better. "Some people think you can write a song in 10 minutes. "I usually only contribute one song to each album, as I don't have time to do more," he says. He doesn't write with the artists on his label unless they ask him to. But Kierszenbaum seems to have the balance right. Amanda Ghost famously had real difficulties and ended up parting ways with Epic amid some very negative press coverage, and Rick Rubin has come in for some criticism for his running of Columbia. Juggling running a label with making music isn't easy. Having had his first major hit with tATu's All the Things She Said in 2002, he went on to co-write and produce five of the tracks on Lady Gaga's The Fame – including the title number – as well as producing Sting and co-writing and producing songs for many of the artists on his roster. Maybe it's because Kierszenbaum is a songwriter and producer that he prefers to be this hands-on with his artists.
0 kommentar(er)
