How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

Danny Champion

Where are you based?

Mainy in Bristol UK but I have split my time between there and Manchester UK for the past 4 years.

Where do you work? What do you do?

I launched a music business related podcast in 2017 called Behind the Music Business where I interview people who work in the music business.

I am also one of those wonderful ‘freelancers’ that does a bunch of things around the music business. My background is in Music publishing and Synchronisation and for the past 4 years I have been lecturing in various topics and working with up and coming bands and entrepreneurs in Bristol and Manchester whilst I set up my own business. The plan was for this to be launching in 2020 but it looks like it will be more like 2021 now considering all the issues we’re currently facing with the Covid-19 crisis. Feel free to check out www.dannychampion.co.uk though for more information about me.

What are you listening to?

As I write this I am listening to Aeges 2016 album ‘Weighless’. 2019 was mainly about Bring me the Horizon (I gave Amo a lot of listens before I really started to appreciate it) and Tool (I waited 13 years for that album). 2020 so far has been about bands like Polaris, and Monuments (should be dropping a new album this year). There is some great stuff being done by metal bands at the moment so I have been really appreciating that.

How do you discover new music?

Depends really. I have a lot of mates who are working with new acts and are in the ‘creative’ areas of the business so I often ask for tips from them and I’m always asking/forcing students into telling me who I should be listening to, especially if its genres that I appreciate but don’t know a huge amount about (electronic/dance/hiphop).

There’s a blog that I use called ‘Album of the Year’ when it comes to the weekly new releases as well. It’s basically just a list of what’s coming out each week and the first thing I do on a Friday morning whilst eating breakfast is add the interesting ones to a playlist to listen to. I usually add at least 8 or 9 albums to the weekly listen list from there. There’s also a few Youtube channels as well. Finn McKenty who runs the ‘Punk Rock MBA’ is a good source for some of the more underground US metal stuff that I like.

I follow a fair few Spotify playlists as well. Mainly official Spotify ones or ones attached to labels. across a few genres (Metal, Punk, Hardcore, Drum and Bass, Chillout/Ambient and I find these to be really useful in finding new stuff. Especially if you change the order of the playlist. Start from the bottom and work up to the top to find the hidden gems. I also try to get recommendations from my students as well but I do find that quite a few of them are not as on top of new stuff as I would be expecting, maybe this is down to the sheer amount of music that is available to us at the moment. I do enjoy some of the liquid Drum and Bass that some of them have pointed me in the direction of though.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

I am 95% streaming now. I signed up to Spotify in 09 and have been a premium user since 2011 (so says my 2019 Spotify wrapped thing). I have been gradually getting rid of CDs as well as they have all been digitised anyway and I really only ornamental these days as the only CD player I own is the one in my car.

I did buy the recently re-released Tool album (expanded book edition) though but that was more as a collectable and I think thats the first CD I have bought in a few years. If I buy physical these days it’s the occasional Vinyl but that’s it.

Where do you do most of your music listening?

Music is mainly listened to at home whilst I am working and when I am in the car between Bristol and Manchester. I do A LOT of podcast listening so these past few years the hours I listen to music have definitely taken a hit.

It’s nearly exclusively from Spotify so it’s all from my phone or laptop via bluetooth speakers but I’m going to jump on the smart speak bandwagon pretty soon though.

I do need to invest in a nice set up to listen to the vinyls though but I have my wedding to pay for before I can justify that sort of splurge and get away with it. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

I’m not doing this anywhere near as much these days as I did when I worked at peermusic publishing or soundlounge. There is just so much music out there to have to sift through. If I’m listening to pre-release stuff it has been sent over to me and it’s usually a streaming link for something like Soundcloud, which still happens a fair bit and I always welcome up and coming writers, producers and artists sending me stuff. The plan is to launch a boutique publishing company focusing on working with UK based performing songwriters so I am keen on hearing new stuff from all genres.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

The frustration is mainly how much there is. The streaming thing is amazing because you have the pick of so much to listen to whenever you want but then sometimes that choice is just overwhelming so you end up just listening to the same stuff over and over again. I also still like listening to albums, even via streaming platforms. I think this is quite common with fans of heavy music as well. So, even though I understand the need for constantly releasing singles I do still prefer the full album to listen to.

Always send music in an email via a link. I still get the occasional mp3 attachment (especially from composers who want to write for media) and more often than not they just get buried in my computer and then deleted when I don’t remember what they are.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

I bloody love a list (so very cool I know). I used to keep a log of all the albums and films I watched each year and would give them a rating as well so that I could do my ‘best of’ lists at the end of the year. I think I did this from 2008-20016 or something ridiculous like that. I have stopped doing this as the admin was just getting ridiculous and it was another way for me to procrastinate and not do the important things I needed to get done.

I do have a playlist that I add albums to each week for me to listen to on Spotify, If I like the album I will move it to my ‘Albums’ library, if I don’t like it it gets removed so there is still a log of those releases that I have enjoyed. There are currently about 600 albums in that library (that’s probably why my Spotify takes so long to load).

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

There are a few close friends who I will regularly tip off about new music. People I have been in bands with over the years or some of the people from uni for example.

I’ll often send new music that has been sent to me that I might be doing some work with in a professional capacity to people I know in the industry for feedback and the like as well. Some of that stuff is still pretty raw and unrefined but a few will cut through eventually and helping them get on to a few peoples radar is always quite rewarding.

Anything you want to “promote”?

I’m going to have to be shameless here and plug the podcast ‘Behind the Music Business’. As of this moment there are 44 episodes available with an eclectic mix of guests. You can listen via Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, Acast or any other podcast app you might use.

I did have another 10 interviews scheduled for this past month that have been cancelled due to Covid-19 but will be rescheduling them for over the summer so there are more episodes to come probably not until September now though. I gave myself the challenge of getting to at least 100 episodes so still got a bit of a way to go.

One of my fav episodes is with Alex Lodge of Thirty Two Music. The guys over there also have a label called Truant Records. They release some amazing stuff there so do check those guys out. 

There is a plan for a youtube channel to be launched in conjunction with it as well but that is likely to be later in the summer now as well. There will be links to all of this on my website.

And as mentioned earlier I am still working towards launching other things so that I can work with emerging talent more so am keen to hear from writers and performers out creating music in any sort of genre. There are guidelines for sending your music to me on my website as well.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

I’m Shell, a new music journalist, radio presenter and producer who does a wide array of work in the music industry from lecturing, hosting stages and events, promoting to assessing funding applications for PRS Momentum Fund and Music:Leeds.

Where are you based?

Manchester mainly but i love to travel across the north to support musicians and local music scenes in other towns and cities. I work in the music scenes of Yorkshire, Merseyside and Manchester mainly.

Where do you work? What do you do?

I present at Amazing Radio and XS Manchester and I work for BBC Music Introducing at BBC Radio Leeds and BBC Radio Manchester where I sometimes present too.

What are you listening to?

Currently listening to the latest amazing radio uploads to amazingtunes.com for this week’s show. I usually listen to 300 tracks a week on this platform. Amazing Radio is a radio station that allows artists worldwide to upload their music for free to be considered for airplay via the website! At the moment I’m obsessed with Porij, PVA, Public Practice, Working Men’s Club, Nancy, VC Pines, Havelock, Joesef and Celeste.

How do you discover new music?

I discover a variety of ways, listening to both the BBC Introducing Uploader, The Amazing Radio uploader, live gigs, blogs such as Never Enough Notes, Popped Music and websites like The Line Of Best Fit, Clash Magazine, DIY Magazine and Dork, streaming services, word of mouth, PR, social media.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

Generally on the uploaders, streaming services and then radio / LP. I still own vinyl, i still own cassettes and i have a stack of cds but they’re of limited use as i don’t really have a cd player anymore!

Where do you do most of your music listening?

At home mainly, and mainly laptop based, i do have noise cancelling headphones too that help if i’m on the move.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

There is less focus on premieres these days as music is much more instant in the way it drops, but i still hear most of my pre-releases from the uploaders or PR in my emails / social media.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

Being so overrun with emails that things get lost! Things automatically importing to Itunes (it can’t just be me?!) links being sent via social media, these get lost really easily. Always best to ask how to best deliver music to someone and send it that way! Ie upload to the uploaders for radio play is most useful for me, find out from the person you’re interested in hearing your music and tailor that to how they prefer listening! The uploaders can be problematic to use on the move so i would say always lead with your strongest track and focus on one song, more songs just dilutes things and we’re not sure which is your best track, so think about it and plan a focus track if you’re an artist!

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

Playlists, blogs, lists! I set up playlists in Spotify, i also put playlists together on Amazingtunes.com and the BBC Introducing uploader too, i sometimes blog my fave artists, albums, lists too and keep a track of things there! It’s really hard to remember what grabbed you in January in December of the same year! I use google docs and lists too!

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

Of course, on radio, blogs, I’ll talk to people, i promote gigs too.

Anything you want to “promote”?

Sure, listen to my radio shows on Amazing Radio without listeners I can’t continue to curate new music! Follow me on socials too! I blog and share info and advice for new artists as much as i can! @shellzenner on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Also come to my nights a band on the wall, they’re called FREE VIBES, they’re free in and they support new artists across the north! Listen to the artists of tomorrow, today! Last years Christmas Free Vibes we had Grimm Twins and Afghan Sand Gang performing which was insane as they’ve both done really well in 2019! We’ve had Faux Pas, Slap Rash, The Goa Express, Ellysse Mason, False Advertising, Blanketman and more playing them too so plenty of emerging artists that have since blown up!!

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Photo Credit: Kuba Wiatrak

Who are you?

Adrienne LaBelle

Where are you based?

The unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (aka Vancouver, Canada).

Where do you work? What do you do?

I work at Mint Records, a well-established indie record label that’s been putting out mostly Canadian indie rock and punk since 1991. I write grants for the label’s touring bands. I also do a lot of other things, including tour booking, radio tracking, band wrangling, event organizing, and a whole mish-mash of other projects. I’m currently focused on a new Safety and Inclusion initiative at the label, and preparing for the onslaught of upcoming festivals and conferences. I’m also a musician, toiling away in my spare time, currently trying to finish writing an album of my own for my new(ish) project, Garbage Dreams.

What are you listening to?

I’m all over the place with what I’m listening to these days. Cate le Bon is my longtime fave and I’m usually listening to her at some point on a daily basis. I’ve recently been enjoying stuff from the Éthiopiques collection again, Mulatu Astatke and Alemayehu Eshete are some faves. Post-punk and indie rock are always floating around in my ears. I still listen to a lot of Vancouver bands, and to be honest, a lot of Mint bands, even when I’m off the clock! If you really want to dig deep, it’s up for all to see on my Spotify page. I make monthly playlists as part of a very low-key podcast I co-host with Orono from Superorganism called Mistakes & Mixtapes. We each choose a song a day and then, presumably we chat about our playlists with each other at the end of each month, but since we’re both very busy and generally live on opposite sides of the world, we’ve mostly just been making the playlists and not doing so much of the recording the podcast part!!

How do you discover new music?

At the office Mint’s label manager, Ryan, is usually playing Spotify on the office speakers, so sometimes I’ll just Shazam a song if something I don’t know comes on that I like and don’t already know. I do the same while watching movies and TV series etc. I’ve been trying to learn more about the world of music licensing so I’ve been doing a lot of focused TV-watching in the name of research. But we also get sent a lot of demos at the label, I’ll listen to those. I do a lot of glancing at blogs and podcasts, I’m on a handful of mailing lists for music news in general. I recently started listening to some record-label specific podcasts that I highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more about the other side of the music (Other Record Labels, The Future of What). Bandcamp has done some really great editorials that get me looking at music that I think I would otherwise never encounter and that platform in general is such an amazing resource. I am friends with a lot of music-minded folks on social media, so I’ll take note of recommendations and try to give things a listen. I follow other labels and see what they’re putting out, I try to keep up on the new releases. Blogs in Canada like Some Party and the Cups n’ Cakes Network are focused on Canadian content, so I’ll check those out to keep tabs on what’s going on, and of course I keep up with Exclaim! on the regular. CiTR is one of Vancouver’s trusted college radio stations and I try to listen when pals have shows, though I’m not an avid radio listener during the work day, as it can get too distracting. But I do the radio tracking for our releases every week so I’m usually checking out college charts and taking notes on who’s showing up there. In the US, for blogs I love the Grey Estates, and KEXP is always putting out great content as well. Our lovely publicist Nathan at Riot Act Media is usually promoting great artists, so I like to keep up with their roster. I still go to quite a few live shows, though don’t get out to live shows in Vancouver as much as I used to. But I’m often at festivals and conferences for work where I see a lot of new bands. I’m also a sporadically touring musician and I tour-managed one of our bands this summer and ended up finding a lot of new bands just through researching who to play with in various cities. I think booking and going on tours is a great way to find new music!

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

I’m listening to a lot of Spotify playlists right now because my record player is currently out of service and needs to be fixed! I also just really enjoy making playlists. It brings me back to my youth when I made countless mixed CDs. I love making themed playlists but I also really enjoy listening to full albums and it’s just not the same to me when you’re playing an album from a streaming service.

I miss the process of engaging with the physical product, looking at the album art, pulling the record out of its sleeve, carefully placing it on the turntable, and flipping the record when it’s time, and then putting it back and selecting the next one from the collection. There is a very lovely, tactile ritual to listening to vinyl and I don’t think anything can replace that experience for me. It’s my favourite way to listen to recorded music by far.

I mostly buy vinyl on tour from bands I’m playing with or from bands who are touring through Vancouver. I will occasionally treat myself to digging around at the local record stores in Vancouver, though I find that I’ve been doing that a lot less than I used to, just because I end up buying straight from bands at live shows more often than not and I’m not exactly rolling in money! But I do love to support the record stores when I can! Red Cat, Neptoon, and Audiopile in Vancouver are all great stores run by lovely people!

I still have a CD player in my van but I don’t drive that much and will often connect my phone via aux cable and play my Spotify playlists but I do sometimes love to just put a CD in the player and then I usually drive around listening to the same CD over and over and over and over. Currently, I’ve got Built to Spill’s There’s Nothing Wrong With Love in the van and I’m nearing my exhaustion point with that one, as is anyone I’ve driven around in the last, oh four months or so. The hidden track on that one gets me every time, and it’s also such a relic of the time and format.

I used to buy a lot of cassettes because my car (before the van) had only a cassette player. But I’ll still buy cassettes mostly just from touring bands to support them, though I rarely actually listen to them because I don’t currently have a working tape player!

Where do you do most of your music listening?

I listen to music a lot, most often it is via Spotify either on my commute or in the office. When I’m at home, I have playlists for various moods and activities that I’ll put on. As I said, my record player has been broken and it may even be time to upgrade so once I deal with that, there’s going to be a LOT of vinyl listening at home because I’ve really been missing it!

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

We are sent a lot of demos at Mint so I do end up hearing a lot of pre-release music via our Slack channel that’s usually connected to private SoundCloud streams from artists directly. I check out premieres when they are drawn to my attention, usually via social media or blogs but I’m not usually seeking out new premieres specifically. I still really love music videos so when someone premieres a new video, that is actually my favourite way to experience a new artist or a new project or album or single. I find it more engaging and it’s easier for me to understand where an artist is coming from. Sometimes hearing so much music all the time, it’s hard to give my full attention to something specifically because there’s just so much content everywhere and only so many hours in a day.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

I am always fearful of links in emails for music, but if it takes me to a trusted source like Soundcloud or Bandcamp or Spotify, that’s my preference. I rarely download files to upload to iTunes just because of space and priority and I’m scared of downloading anything, especially if it’s coming from a relative stranger as in the case with new artists submitting demos. But, I definitely think that links in an email is much more likely to get a listen rather than say sending a physical demo CD.

I appreciate the versatility of being able to listen to things digitally while I’m out and about, but I am a sucker for physical products and that will always be my preference for engaging with art in the way it was originally meant to be presented. A lot of time and thought goes into album artwork and design and concept and it’s not really the same on a digital platform. I’m sure that’s already changing with the times but I think no matter how many extra features you add to a digital release, for me it doesn’t really compare to the physical product in my hands and that goes for the whole listening experience.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

Spotify is currently really my biggest storage facility. I have playlists galore. I also use Shazam a lot, and then will go back and look through the list of songs and add ones that I want to revisit later.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

Mint works with a lot of up-and-coming bands, so whenever we have a new release, we are usually sharing a lot of new music from new artists. We also have guest curators updating our monthly Mint Picks playlist, which is nice for me to both find and share new music! Personally, the biggest way that I share new music is through my aforementioned podcast. Whether or not we release an episode, I will usually make my playlists public at the end of each month. Perhaps this year we will record more episodes so there’s a bit more actual story sharing going on beyond the playlists! Either way, I will keep making my song of the day playlists and anyone who’s looking for something new to check out is more than welcome to check there!

Anything you want to “promote”?

Mint released some really great albums in 2019: Kiwi jr’s Football Money, Dumb’s Club Nites, Necking’s Cut Your Teeth, Woolworm’s Awe, and Jay Arner’s Jay III.

Some other really amazing records came out of Vancouver last year that I feel deserve some attention. Divorcer’s Debt Jubilee and Only a Visitor’s Technicolour Education were both notably great releases (there are a lot of really great bands in Vancouver right now, too many to mention!) A Vancouver staple, Apollo Ghosts, released a beautiful album in October with all proceeds going to support the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the UNIST’OT’TEN Legal Fund. It’s a beautiful album.

Mint has some great releases coming out in 2020 as well! Only one has been announced so far, lié’s You Want It Real comes out in February and we’ve got an exciting new artist joining the roster in April so everyone should keep an eye out for that!

I’m really excited to go to Treefort Festival for the first time this year! I’ll be playing with Garbage Dreams and supporting Necking, promoting Mint, etc. so if any of you readers find yourselves in Boise in March, let’s hang?!

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Photo: Alan Jeffries

Who are you?

I’m Kyle Cunjak, a musician, photographer, and arts professional just trying to steer clear of the 9 to 5.

Where are you based?

I’m based in Atlantic Canada. Originally from New Brunswick and currently living in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Where do you work? What do you do?

I operate Forward Music Group, a management company and label collective that works with a variety of artists and provides resources and support to foster sustainable careers through composition, exhibition, and performance.

Our office is in the North End of Halifax, kitty-corner to the Marquee and Seahorse venues and dangerously close to a French bakery. We share the space with our longtime Canadian publicists, Pigeon Row, and try to maintain an open-door policy for the community if anyone wants to come in and pick our brains.

My main job, i.e. what actually pays me, is working as a session player and sideperson to a number of musicians, while also performing in bands like The Olympic Symphonium and Force Fields where I co-write.

Occasionally I’ll also do various work as a photographer, which is what I went to post-secondary school for.

What are you listening to?

Currently listening to a lot of unreleased music from friends and collaborators as we plan things out for the 2nd half of 2020.

In the office I’m usually listening to ambient or piano-based music so as to not interfere with work and keep a calm vibe. Favourites are Nils Frahm, Ahmad Jamal, willamette, Sarah Davachi, Oscar Peterson, etc…

At home I can’t get enough of Aldous Harding’s new album Designer, Makaya McCraven’s Universal Beings, the new Lost Wisdom album from Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron, and Sandro Perri’s Soft Landing.

How do you discover new music?

I actually need some new ways to discover music. Relying on the algorithms is predictable and boring these days. I haven’t found anything through that method that’s excited me in quite a while.

Thankfully Bandcamp is good for discovery. Especially their year-end list of things you may have missed. That’s how I first heard of Noname’s Telefone and RJ Miller’s album Ronald’s Rhythm.

Radio is also a great way to hear new things. At home in the kitchen we’re often tuned to the local campus/community radio station CKDU or our national broadcaster CBC but online I’ll listen to Danish online station The Lake, BBC 6 Music, WNYC, etc…

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

On the go I listen on my phone, usually via streaming services (downloaded though, we don’t have great data plans here in Canada), and at the office via desktop files or streaming on bluetooth speakers.

At home I listen to LPs the most but still use cassettes, CDs, and even MiniDisc sometimes. Collecting vinyl is fun and even though I’m trying not to add too much to my collection at the moment, one of my favourite pastimes is browsing through the stacks at record stores.

Where do you do most of your music listening?

Since I’m usually listening to podcasts while walking around, most of my music listening is done either at the office or at home.

I have a Pro-Ject turntable, an Aiwa cassette player (which I found on the side of the road in a garbage pile), and a Yamaha 6-CD changer (which was given to me as junk to play around with in High School and just broke last week) all going through a Yamaha tube amplifier into Signet speakers. Nothing fancy but they sound good.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

Thankfully I have a lot of friends and collaborators that trust me with unreleased music so I don’t have to go searching too hard for it.

If I know someone has a new record coming out, I’ll drop a hint and see if they send me a pre-release link. That usually does the trick.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

I was actually thinking about this recently. Unreleased music is sent via so many platforms – Dropbox (which I absolutely despise), Soundcloud streams (preferred, though not downloadable – see “data woes” above), random files that usually aren’t properly meta-tagged (a pain, but somehow less annoying than Dropbox), etc… There are advantages and disadvantages to all except Dropbox which is always a disadvantage. Did I mention I dislike Dropbox?

We get a lot of demos, which I try to at least listen to even though don’t have the capacity to respond, and they are in every format you can imagine.

When we’re sending out advance copies to industry, we’ll usually just create a Soundcloud playlist so the music is listenable but can’t easily be ripped. I’ve recently heard about this service called Byta that I need to check out though 😉

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

In streaming, I’ll add stuff I like to some of our various playlists like Currently Listening, Sick Beats, Chill the Fuck Out, Perfect Country Songs, etc… so I can go back and remember things I’ll inevitably forget about.

At home my vinyl is organized alphabetically and in different genres (Pop, Hip Hop, Country/Bluegrass, Jazz, Ambient/Contemporary, Soundtracks) but the CDs and cassettes are a bit of a mess unfortunately.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

You know the inevitable “what’s new?” question that you get when running into casual acquaintances? That’s when I try my best to slide in recommendations on new music in lieu of the weather or whatever the heck else people talk about. Try it!

Anything you want to “promote”?

Atlantic Canada punches above its weight in my opinion and I’d love for more people to be aware of all the great musicians and songwriters that are out here.

In our camp, we just announced Jennah Barry’s upcoming sophomore album, Holiday, which is really exciting and comes out in late March 2020. She has a few singles out now and there’ll also be a video in the early new year. Sarah Pagé’s debut, Dose Curves, was a recent release and helped us reach a lot of milestones this year. Extremely proud to have worked on that record.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

Louise Dodgson

Where are you based?

Manchester, UK

Where do you work? What do you do?

The Unsigned Guide, a UK music industry directory created to put emerging bands & artists in touch with music industry contacts who can help them further their careers. I run The Unsigned Guide day to day so it’s a mixture of keeping the directory up to date, creating blog content, answering enquiries from our users, and about a million other bits & pieces! We also have a blog called Spotlight which features 5 tracks from our unsigned/emerging members every month so we get to listen to music submitted to us which is always a nice part of the job.

What are you listening to?

The Cure, Missy Elliott, Karen O & Dangermouse, Lizzo, LIINES

How do you discover new music?

I get to discover a lot of unsigned and emerging music through my job which is fantastic. Other than that – listening to the radio, checking out support acts at gigs, and my mates will usually alert me to stuff they think I’ll like.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

I’d say I stream music about 80% of the time. I do still play my old CDs (my car is really old & only has a CD player!) so they’re great for a longer journey. I haven’t bought a CD for a while but will do occasionally from gigs. And I do have a load of old vinyl I still play, and I try to add to the collection with new releases too.

Where do you do most of your music listening?

The radio is permanently on in the office so we hear a broad range of music, new and old, on BBC 6Music. We also have a listening session every few weeks to the tracks we’ve been submitted by emerging bands and musicians to select who we will feature on the next Spotlight blog and our Amazing Radio show. Other than that, at home I usually listen to a mixture of Spotify playlists I’ve made when I’m cooking. On a weekend I often I put on the record player and if friends/family come over I like to dig out old vinyl to play in the background whilst we have a chat. And I like to try & make sure I pinpoint a newly released album every couple of weeks and give that a listen, usually on Spotify.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

We get sent a lot of pre-release music from emerging acts so that’s how I get to hear most stuff – through SoundCloud, Spotify, Dropbox etc.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

I actually love the flexibility of streaming and prefer being able to check out a new release on Spotify and see if I enjoy it. Sadly I can’t afford to purchase vinyl releases of all the new music I’d like to, so it’s good to be able to have a few preliminary listens and if I’m really into something I’ll eventually end up buying a physical copy. Streaming gives me that opportunity to check it out. But you can’t beat vinyl packaging & design – the joy of holding & looking at a lovely vinyl cover & sleeve just can’t be replicated digitally.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

At work – we have email submissions from all the acts that send us a track so I store the good ones in a folder to refer back to. At home, if I come across a new track I love I’ll add it to one of my Spotify playlists. I like mixing up my golden oldie faves with newly released unsigned music, so there’s a big variety of genres from across the years. It keeps things interesting!

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

Yes, obviously we chat in the office about any great tracks we’ve been sent to feature on the blog. As I mentioned earlier, we include 5 unsigned/emerging tracks per month on our Spotlight blog. That blog is also sent onto a 40+ music industry professionals who are keen to hear what we’re championing & take a listen to see if there’s anything they like the sound of, so I guess we’re tipping new music to them whilst also helping spread the word about the great unsigned tracks on the blog. I also send tracks onto my friends & family if I come across something I think they’ll particularly like.

Anything you want to “promote”?

I guess just keep an eye on our blog feed; we post our Spotlight selection in the first week or so of the month. There’s always some really exciting talent on there. Personal favourites of mine in the past would be LIINES, Milvus Milvus, Memes, The Noise & The Naive, Marsicans, False Advertising and Gaffa Tape Sandy.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

I am Lio Kanine. Firstly, I am a Music Junkie. Second a Lover of Life and everything in it. And well third the Co-owner of Kanine Records and one of the founders of The New Colossus Festival.

Based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY since 2000, I have worked in pretty much every aspect of the music business. From working in small indie record stores (Rebel Rebel, Rough Trade), to running club nights for 15 years in the NYC/Brooklyn area (booking bands, djing, promoting), managing bands, A&R and Sales at various indie labels (Mexican Summer, Rough Trade), working in physical and digital distribution (Alternative Distribution Alliance), to currently co-running my own record label (Kanine Records) and helping start The New Colossus Festival in NYC its been an amazing adventure.

But I would have to say my greatest feat has been running and maintaining the healthy environment that Kanine Records has had for the past 16 years. From releasing numerous debut releases from indie greats like Grizzly Bear, Chairlift, Surfer Blood, Braids, and many more we have helped culture a true environment of music love. And we continue to do so each day with each new release. You can find the same musical love within many of our newer releases by artists; Agent bla, Tallies, Pearl Charles, Hockey Dad, Honey Lung, Beverly, Fear of Men, Garden Centre, WEAVES, Professor Murder, Living Hour, The Natvral, Wooing, Honey Cutt, and many more.

Where are you based?

I am based out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. We call the neighborhood Willyburg. It’s a great neighborhood full of amazing people. You have four free skateparks, tons of music venues, an amazing record store (Rough Trade), tons of cool bars, restaurants, and shops all within walking distance from your front door. And with Delis open 24 hours you can always get what you need.

Where do you work? What do you do?

For Kanine Records, an independent record label that my partner, Kay Q, and I started back in 2003, I head the A&R and retail sales division. Our goal is to discover new talent and help artists build a career out of it. I truly love discovering new talent and watching it grow.

For The New Colossus Festival I handle the booking for all of the bands/artists. Our goal is to provide a platform for new / upcoming artists from around the world to perform in NYC (Manhattan) often for the first time in a stress free environment where they can promote their music to new music fans. The festival is not only just for artists and their music fans, but also a way for industry professionals to network while enjoying the beauty that the Lower East Side of Manhattan provides, full of music culture, great food, and enriching history.

What are you listening to?

I’m always listening to thousands of new songs and 100s of new albums a week. Not kidding. I’m a rapid music buyer of vinyl so I’m always collecting great records from the 90’s and new releases from ‘indie’ oriented artists.

But I’m always listening to demos from brand new bands/artists for the label and bookings for the Festival.

Some of my favorite new demo submissions for TNC Festival have come from: Zoongide’ewin (a cool shoegaze band out of Canada), Alexia Avina (indie folk out of Montreal), Hussy (very 90’s alt rock from London), Roxy Girls (UK), Ceremony (US, amazing shoegaze that fits well with all fans of A Place To Bury Strangers), Jeanines (US indie pop at its best), Frankiie (great indie rock from Vancouver), Red Telephone (I caught this band live in Wales and loved it. They reminded me instantly of Placebo, Suede, and Strangelove from the mid 90’s in the UK), Flying Colours (shoegaze hidden down in Australia), Gurr (cool German garage rock / pop lead by two super strong females. Most importantly super super fun with an amazing live show), Hoorsees (young kids from France recreating a fuzz Pavement sound that oozes coolness), Kings of The Beach (garage rock from Spain that makes you party), Donna Blue (indie pop from the Netherlands), and Kaelan Mikla (icy cool new wave from Icleand).

For Kanine Records, we have been super busy working on new records with a ton of artists including: Honey Lung, Tallies, Living Hour, Nicole Yun, The Natvral, Pearl Charles, Garden Centre, Surfer Blood, Weeping Icon, and Agent bla. But most recently we’ve been listening to a ton of songs from Honey Cutt as we have their debut album coming next March 2020 and it’s fantastic sunshine indie pop from Mass via Florida.

For my own music pleasure, I’ve been listening to these records lately;
Sports Team (UK), Mick Trouble (US), Whenyoung (UK), Trudy and The Romance (UK, I caught them last May in Manchester and they were fantastic), Working Men’s Club (UK, I caught them in Brighton last May and instantly fell in love with their cool Post Punk chants), Fontaines D.C. (Ireland), Patience (UK), Penelope Isles (UK), FEET (UK, this band knows how to make me laugh with songs about walking their dogs and the weather), Blue Hawaii (this Montreal duo also play in Braids, but for this project they make great synthpop that is fun to dance along to. Super addictive), Just Mustard (very cool 90’s alt rock that mixes shoegaze and pop from Ireland), Girl in Red (bedroom indie pop from Norway), RIDE, Ty Segall, Ellis (indie pop from Canada), Seablite (indie pop in the vain of C86 from California), Lust For Youth (chilly synthpop from Sweden, that also reminds me a bit of Pet Shops but colder and darker), DIIV, Interpol, Temples (UK), Fat White Family (UK), The Lovely Eggs (I befriended this band in Wales and bought all 6 of their albums off them right there. That is how much I loved their live show), and Sacred Paws (from Glasgow making Post Punk fun and dancy).

How do you discover new music?

I mostly discover new music from going out to live shows. I follow certain promoters and see what they book as I trust their taste. Adhoc and Popgun in Brooklyn are my personal favorite promoters. I always look at the opening bands as that is very important and usually where new music discovery happens.

I also enjoy going to record stores to see what they are selling. Since I love buying vinyl it is exciting to see what other labels are releasing and what the store is playing. Often you can discover great new bands from the employees working at shops. I honestly do find a lot of new bands that way.

I occasionally do find a new band via Social Media. That is how I found one of our Kanine Records artists, Honey Cutt. I was planning a trip to Florida to visit my Dad and made a post about it on facebook. Later on I got some notifications that I should check out some cool bands from Florida since I was going there and Honey Cutt were one of them. I checked them out as well why not and instantly loved their songs so kept digging further.

Bandcamp is my favorite place to discover new small bands. Their platform is just great and really is a great music discovery place.

There are a small amount of music blogs where I will occasionally find some new artists. DIYMag.com from the UK is one. I discovered Honey Lung and Tallies from that blog and once I saw them live was amazed.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

I listen to all formats. And to be honest there is no better format. It’s just up to your preference.

I’m a huge vinyl collector and before that a huge CD collector and before that a huge Cassette collector so the physical medium will always be my favorite method to enjoy music.

But I make playlists on my laptop to listen to while travelling as so that I don’t have to rely on trying to find good WiFi to enjoy songs.

I mainly use streaming services like Bandcamp, Apple Music, and Spotify for research to be honest on new bands as I have a massive physical record collection and enjoy listening to it the most. But do use these services often to explore new music.

Where do you do most of your music listening?

I have all of my vinyl, CD, CS collection stored in our office so we listen to records all day long in the office. That is mainly where I listen to music and enjoy it the best that way.

When I’m biking, walking, skating around the neighborhood, I don’t listen to music on headphones. I enjoy taking in Life’s surroundings and being aware of your environment. Life is a beautiful place and I’m super lucky to be able to enjoy where I live.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

For streaming my frustrations mostly come with WiFi issues. The songs cutting in and out while I’m trying to take them in. I get an insane amount of Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, and download links, which is all totally fine. It just is not as enjoyable as listening to music in a normal format with no interruptions.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

If I like something enough where I need to pay attention to it, I make playlists on my iTunes/Apple so that I can come back to it.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

All the time. Via our music Festival bookings and what we release on Kanine Records.

But I also still make mixtapes (CD) for close friends and some of our artists on Kanine Records. I made Sarah from Tallies a couple mix CDs of bands that I thought she would love to listen to while they were on tour. I always love doing that. Being able to share music with people is super fun. And when you make a mix CD or CS it shows more love as you had to make more effort over a Spotify playlist.

Anything you want to “promote”?

Everyone needs to check out Garden Centre’s new album ‘A Moon For Digging’ coming out November 1 on Kanine Records. Maximilian Levy is truly a genius. Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Daniel Johnston, and Graham Coxon will instantly love his quirky taste in lyrics. He writes amazing songs about nature and the discovery of the human mind that is hidden in a world beneath our feet.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

Cherie Hu

Where are you based?

Brooklyn, New York

Where do you work? What do you do?

I’m a freelance writer and researcher focusing on the intersection of technology and the music business. I have bylines in several publications including Billboard, Forbes, NPR, Music Business Worldwide and the Columbia Journalism Review, and also run my own weekly music-tech newsletter, podcast and Patreon page under the umbrella name Water & Music.

One of the benefits of being freelance is that I can technically work from anywhere with an Internet connection and/or power outlet. But I recently started working regularly out of an office in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and I’ve unexpectedly become much more focused and productive working with that sense of structure.

What are you listening to?

Lots of hip-hop, jazz, neo-soul, funk, deep house, psychedelic rock, lo-fi and any combination of those styles. Some select favorites right now: Saba, Kiefer, Khruangbin, Vulfpeck, Little Simz, Toro Y Moi, UMI.

How do you discover new music?

In terms of online sources, I rely a lot on Spotify playlists, Bandcamp editorial and select YouTube channels like COLORS and Tiny Desk. But as for discovering music that has a track record of really sticking? Word-of-mouth, from family and friends.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

Audio and video streaming, exclusively, on my phone or MacBook. I have a vinyl record player, but can count the number of times I’ve used it on one hand. I also used to have a prized CD Walkman, but haven’t listened to a CD since the mid- to late-2000s. If I’m in a car, I’ll sometimes listen to the radio, but that’s a last resort after streaming.

Where do you do most of your music listening?

Everywhere! Music is like caffeine to me; it provides a magical, inexplicable shot of energy. I can literally feel something chemically transformative going on in my brain when I listen to my favorite songs; it’s like endorphins, but without the physical movement.

I consistently listen to music while commuting and at work, wearing a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones that have gone through a bit of wear and tear at this point. I will also usually put on music while at home, streaming through one of two smart speakers I own: a Sonos Play:1 and a Google Home Mini (thanks, Spotify).

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

I don’t write music reviews, so don’t have to deal with finding or listening to pre-releases too often. But the few times I have, I’ve received links from Byta, SoundCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and WeTransfer.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

If I have to download a music file to listen to it in iTunes, I probably won’t —, unless it’s an artist I really care about or for a story I’m writing on assignment. I also use an adblocker and avoid ads whenever possible; on most music streaming services, they still are the worst user experience.

It’s also surprisingly difficult on a service like Spotify to figure out basic biographical information about an artist, like where they’re from geographically. To get that info on mobile, you have to go to the artist’s Spotify page and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, which takes a few seconds, and then click on their bio and hope that their hometown is mentioned in the copy. There’s just so much friction there, especially for fans who want to get to know an artist better.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

Spotify playlists (I have my own that I update sparingly), Bandcamp collections and my friends’ brains. 🙂

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

Not formally as part of my job, but I’m always trying to share new music from relatively unknown acts with my immediate network; word of mouth is the most powerful discovery tool for me, so I try to pass on the favor as much as I can. I’ve started posting screenshots of my favorite songs more often on Instagram Stories, and also have a dedicated section called “What I’m Listening To” in my newsletter.

Anything you want to “promote”?

I’m all for supporting dope Asian artists, so here is an incomplete but top-of-mind list: Monsune, Yeek, Yaeji, Peggy Gou, Rina Sawayama, Mndsgn. I have no affiliation to any of them, aside from being a fan!

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

Jenny Kaufman

Where are you based?

Brooklyn, NY

Where do you work? What do you do?

I’m the Head of Digital Strategy at Terrorbird Media, a music marketing company with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Sacramento. I help artists and their teams with digital release strategy, and pitch music to digital storefronts for playlisting and editorial consideration. Terrorbird has plenty of departments (Radio, PR, Licensing, Publishing, Originals) and we were recently highlighted by AdHoc on their ‘List of Woman and Non-Binary-Run Music Organizations’ as well!

What are you listening to?

Right now I’ve got a bunch of local favorites including altopalo, Jachary, Softee and Operator Music Band. Outside of that, I’ve been loving the new singles from Great Grandpa, EVA and Caroline Polachek. (I’m lucky to have worked with a few of these acts too!)

How do you discover new music?

Mostly through friends and coworkers – I really enjoy hearing what people play on our office stereo. We use a Sonos speaker system, which allows any of us to put on music as long as we’re connected to the office wifi network. I love Spotify’s ‘Friend Activity’ feed for the same reason, to see what other people I know are checking out. I also find music by following friends, music critics and record labels on Twitter to see what they’re supporting and promoting. In terms of playlists, I love checking out lists that are curated out of different countries – right now I’m really enjoying ones from Australia.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

I pretty exclusively listen to music digitally. I own a record player and will play records on occasion, but it’s pretty rare. I rely heavily on streaming because it’s always with me – it functions as a reminder list of things to check out and things I already love. I also enjoy the algorithmic playlists that condense what I’m already listening to into one neat package.

Where do you do most of your music listening?

My casual listening happens when I’m commuting or at work. That said, most of my active listening, and reviewing of records for Terrorbird, happens at home on my down time. I’m super easily distracted, which is why I find the best time to focus on music is on the couch with my cat!

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

Terrorbird has a bunch of departments, and many of them work to promote new releases, so we receive music ahead of time to decide on projects. Our staff receives submissions and listens to new music every day, and we often share with one another to flag cool new stuff that’s coming. That’s the bulk of how I find and listen to unreleased music, though I will check out a few smaller blogs to find new stuff (such as POND Mag, Cereal and Sounds and So Young Magazine).

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

It’s disappointing that the major streaming platforms aren’t optimized to allow artists to express themselves and their own aesthetic on-platform. They present music in a super rigid visual format which ultimately creates a one-dimensional experience for fans, and doesn’t empower artists to be engaged there. A related frustration is that streaming services do not present a social, interactive experience – I really appreciate that websites like Bandcamp and Reddit foster community via features like user reviews and message boards. It would be great if artists could tell their stories and connect with fans in more interactive and engaging ways via consumption platforms (where their music is monetized). That said, there are plenty of benefits, the most basic one being that I love being able to access music anywhere!

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

I have a starred playlist on my Spotify account, which I use as a general aggregator for any track I like and plan on revisiting. I’m also loving the new Spotify algorithmic playlists, On Repeat and Repeat Rewind, which track your favorite songs of the moment.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

Sometimes! My favorite places to share music are on my Instagram Stories or on my Rotating playlist on Spotify.

Anything you want to “promote”?

If you want to check out artists or releases we’re working on, you can do so on our Terrorbird Digital Releases playlist!

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

Jamie Ford

Where are you based?

Southampton, UK

Where do you work? What do you do?

I run Honeymooner – putting live shows on in Southampton and Portsmouth as well as running the singles label arm. I also manage a couple of bands, co-running Concrete Management. Last but not least, I head up Artist & Label Services at Byta!

What are you listening to?

It’s been a weirdly good couple of months for albums. Listening to Miami Memory – Alex Cameron, A Picture of Good Health – LIFE and I still have Ride’s new one on rotation here and there. Aside from full albums, I’m regularly listening to The Wants from NYC – featuring two members of BODEGA. Only 2 singles so far but can’t wait for more – I put them on in Portsmouth the other week, great show. Also Just Mustard, YAK, Bambara, Kiwi Jr, High-Vis, Lazarus Kane. Oh and Warmduscher… new album is going to be amazing!

How do you discover new music?

A huge mixture really. Some of it is from agents or other managers telling me what’s coming up. Being involved in So Young Magazine means I can often hear about things nice and early – either through PRs or word of mouth. I read up on websites such as Loud & Quiet (as well as having a physical subscription), Fader, Quietus, Paste Magazine etc. and do make use of Spotify playlists to find new music too. It’s not always the best way but I’ve discovered some real great bands that way – including Kiwi Jr. A lot of the time the best ones for discovery aren’t just the ones curated by Spotify – but those by magazines or fellow music lovers that I follow. I definitely recommend everyone follow The So Young List on Spotify – regularly updated with great new music.

Mostly it’s through word of mouth or being forwarded things – chatting to other managers, agents, PRs/pluggers, promoters from other cities. There’s a number of London promoters that do some great stuff early on for new artists. I’ll search through their listings sometimes and take a listen!

I don’t listen to the radio much, but when I do it’s either BBC Radio 6 Music or Amazing Radio. AR is really great for discovering things much smaller and at an earlier stage. I was going to say Facebook Groups too, but to be honest it’s just one group. AF Gang is great for finding new music from like-minded individuals – or great for passing on great new music you’ve found!

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

I have a bit of a mixed format listening pattern. Generally, I’ll listen via Spotify and 90% of the time I’ll also buy the physical format which is most commonly CD (so I can also play in the car) but also often vinyl. There are certain records I’ll be highly anticipating the release and I’ll refuse to listen until I have the physical format, as it just allows me to be in a better place ready to appreciate the music, rather than just on the move or sat at a computer doing other stuff at the same time. I really find the car to be the best spot to listen to an album. Your mind is only in two places, on the road and in the music which at night can be really soothing. No distractions! (drive safe, kids).

Where do you do most of your music listening?

Mostly at work or in the car. Sounds like I’m in the car a lot right? I’m not that much. I’ll listen to said playlists above via Spotify at work or choose an album. I’ll also get sent things via email which I’ll quickly check out before I forget. This is where I suddenly sound older… one thing I never do is listen to music in earphones whilst on the move. A combination of preferring to be in the moment mentally and physically and hearing my surroundings – mixed with a fear of making my tinnitus worse! My setup at home is a Soundbar which my mac connects to via bluetooth and my turntable is plugged into. It’ll tend to be a record spinning on a weekend and digital music playing in the week when I’m listening to a combination of good finds or recommendations.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

Premieres are becoming less common as they become less effective at the moment, though when they do happen I tend to find them via So Young, Clash or Loud & Quiet. Premieres on radio can be good but I must say, I hardly ever listen because of the times. Jack Saunders does some good premiers on Radio 1 for indie bands and he picks up a good range of stuff so I respect his show for that. As does Steve Lamacq on 6 Music and Wilko on Beats. I really recommend Wilko’s show. I mainly find pre-release music again via social media and people I trust sharing, or by recommendations again including PRs or agents.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

In terms of pre-release, Soundcloud private is easy enough. The technical challenges come from its app basically being pretty crap and hard to navigate / find users or artists. It’s even very limited on your own profile and pretty tricky to grab your own private link quickly to share with someone. It has got a bit better recently but not by a lot. YouTube doesn’t allow you to listen if the phone is locked, which I do understand in keeping it’s identity as a video platform and not an audio player but it can be frustrating… Especially for older, rarer tracks you can only find on YT!

I think crappy apps is the most common frustration as when someone sends something and I’m on the move, I’ll only remember to listen to it if it’s there and then. It just needs to be simple and if possible, saveable. The benefits to digital as a whole is someone can recommend something and I can listen there and then. I’ve even noticed recently certain bands are on Spotify before they’re on social media. So from a hype point of view for new bands and booking them for shows, this is good for me. Great example is Crack Cloud from Calgary.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

I have my own playlist on Spotify that I refer back to, these are mostly in years. ‘I like 2019’ is my current one which i go back to. Sometimes I save a song to this before I listen that’s recommended as I know I’ll definitely remember to listen this way. If I’m not into it I’ll just remove it later on. This is the main way I keep track or save – I don’t listen to downloads or actually store music digitally in any other way. If I like something elsewhere like Soundcloud, I’ll keep going back to trying to find the link again which isn’t ideal. Back in the day I would say my iTunes library, but can’t remember the last time I clicked to open iTunes!

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

I’ll mostly send Spotify links, Soundcloud private, Byta shares or sometimes YouTube videos to friends via FB messenger or email. If I find something good via a website or blog I’ll share the link too – as mentioned above So Young, Loud & Quiet, Stereogum etc.

Anything you want to “promote”?

Hotel Lux and Mystic Peach are the two bands I look after at the moment, check them both out! And of course check out Honeymooner on socials – some great shows coming up that I can’t wait for including black midi, HMLTD, Crows, Aldous Harding, Warmduscher, Sports Team, Whenyoung!

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in and around music about how they find, listen and experience music, new and old.

Who are you?

Tom Malmros

Where are you based?

Stockholm, Sweden

Where do you work? What do you do?

I run Outro (artist management) and Scandinavian Sync. I manage artists like Alice Boman and El Perro del Mar, I do sync stuff, I’m a member of This Is Head and I produce music.

What are you listening to?

Everything! I’ve listened to a lot of 90’s and 00’s albums recently. I moved to a new apartment a while back and found boxes with my old CD’s. Oh man what a treasure! I just grabbed a couple and found Swedish gems like The Bear Quartet, Bob Hund and Broder Daniel. And older Ride, Madonna and Grandaddy albums. Also been listening to stuff like Joni Mitchell, Aldous Harding and Big Thief lately. I LOVE their single ’Not’ – made me realise how much I love a proper guitar solo.

How do you discover new music?

Friends and colleagues send me new music. And I get a lot of unreleased music sent to me from artists and labels, usually Soundcloud and Dropbox links. I follow labels that I like and I read on blogs etc.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services and why?

Mostly streaming. I guess mainly because I’m always by my phone or computer. And as I mentioned earlier, I’ve listened to my old CD’s lately. It’s so different and I really like it. Have to install a CD player in my car again. Vinyl is great but I don’t have a vinyl player in the new apartment. Thanks for reminding me!

Where do you do most of your music listening?

Probably at work and when I’m commuting and walking. And at home when I cook. I love my headphones – my favourite way of listening to music. We have 3 different stereo setups at home. One in the living room, a small one in the kitchen and studio monitors in our home studio.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?

I get loads of Soundcloud, Dropbox and Box links with pre-release music sent to me through my sync business. And I share an office with Aloaded, a new Stockholm based digital distribution company, so the office is full of unreleased music.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?

I think I was way more concentrated when I listened to music predigital. Nowadays I have music in the background all the time. And I tend to forget that I even listen to music sometimes. It just goes on and on and on without a stop. Listening to CD’s and vinyl is like having dinner with an old (or new!) friend. Almost like a conversation between you and the music. Listening to music digitally is more like a snack! Trying the best I can to keep the dinner vibe though.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?

If I really like something I don’t forget about it because I will not stop listening to it. I try to keep playlists on Spotify for Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall where I save songs I like. Fall 2018 was a good one!

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?

Yeah, but mostly people I work with. I send links to a video I like, live performances or a streaming link.

Anything you want to “promote”?

Yeah – Alice Boman just released her second single from her upcoming debut album ‘Dream On’. It’s called ’Wish We Had More Time’ and it’s so beautiful. El Perro del Mar just released her stunning cover of Prince’s ’I Would Die 4 U’ – listen to that while waiting for the new album she’s working on. (It sounds amazing!) The album will be premiered as a performance piece at The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. She will perform the songs with her band and dancers from The Royal Ballet will join her on stage. Don’t miss this if you’re in Stockholm Nov 29-30 or Dec 3-4! Last but not least – Kavi Kwai is the name of a new Swedish artist. The first single will be released soon by Opening – a newly started singles label run by Kalle Lundgren Smith (Pitch & Smith), my colleague Henric Claesson and myself.