The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc:<\/em><\/strong> OK, let\u2019s fast forward to June. The last year is over, and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWell, we\u2019ve had a break\u201d. When do you start thinking about the next year? Many people who don\u2019t live in the UK or are newer artists or newer to working around music will not know how this works. I love to talk about timelines because I think people are very surprised at how long and detailed things are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So June comes around, and you\u2019ve rested. When do you start thinking about the next year? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam: <\/em><\/strong>Well, we take another month off as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/em><\/strong>Really? Wow, two months!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam: <\/em><\/strong>Obviously, I\u2019m working while I\u2019m going to other people’s festivals and watching bands. It is technically a part of my job. There are a lot of debriefs and a lot of meetings. With ninety stages, there are a lot of partners, so we use the two months after The Great Escape to recap. We discuss how the events have gone and then look to plan for next year. The bookings don\u2019t start until August. I\u2019ll keep a spreadsheet all year round of every country we\u2019ve worked with and who I want to work with. Then I just make a note for when people mention stuff. I could be out having dinner, and someone will say, \u201cOh, have you heard of that band from Argentina?\u201d. Then I\u2019ll open up my phone and put it in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We make our first announcement in September. This first announcement is an event in London called \u201cThe First Fifty\u201d. There we showcase and announce the first fifty artists. We do that at the end of the year. It is a way for us to create a checklist, a buzz, and a selection from the next festival. Ensuring that it touches on every genre that we think is going to be big next year and what artists we are tipping for the following year. That gets announced in September, but because it\u2019s all-new music for the following year, I try to book it as late as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/em><\/strong>Normally, at a larger festival, like Reading or Leeds or something in the US, you book the headliners first, then work down the bills. Is that correct? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam: <\/em><\/strong>For those festivals, you do, but that\u2019s why we book within our windows. We\u2019ll go out with an announcement in November when the bigger festivals aren\u2019t doing any publicity. We go out with a hot tips list which enables us to create a sponsorship opportunity to bring in some more money. It enables us to pin our hopes and dreams better and helps us to provide the artists with a springboard into the following year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n January is when all the bigger events go out. We also make an announcement in January, but we tend to go out looking in January and February, and by March, we\u2019ll start hitting again with bigger acts when we have some clear air. But because it\u2019s five hundred artists, we have to make an announcement in January and one in February. And it\u2019s not to say that they are less of an announcement, but I like to see the November one is big or buzzy, and the one in March is really hot. You have to be a bit more strategic with your announcements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/em><\/strong>That\u2019s interesting! Again, this idea of timelines, the ones you\u2019re looking for around August, have you heard about them from the previous year and missed them for the festival that happened in May? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam: <\/em><\/strong>I wouldn\u2019t say missed. I think it\u2019s the timing of everything. The thing that The Great Escape is good at is getting that timing right. People may want to play the event this year, but they would get more impact if they played next year. Some artists I\u2019m talking to now haven\u2019t even played a live show. They are, however, gearing up to release stuff later this year or plotting their live shows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you listened to the music and you know it\u2019s got a good team behind it, and you think it\u2019s a genre or an act that might take off, you would look to put that in the November announcement. If you know that the opportunity would be better to tie together with their single in January, then we look at January. We plan and think about everything. Then mull it all over. I don\u2019t have any kids or a family or hair, so I\u2019m always thinking about this! \u2026this is it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/em><\/strong>You\u2019re scaring me with this idea that you\u2019re talking to bands that haven\u2019t played a gig yet, and we\u2019re talking about November. That\u2019s pretty intense! One of the things I also think is super interesting is that you\u2019re the Head of Music. When I think of that, I think, \u201cOh my god, this guy is choosing five hundred artists. This is insane.\u201d When we talked last week, though, you\u2019ve got this super-smart system for sorting through all these things but doing all these stages and working with export offices. Can you tell me a bit about that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam:<\/em><\/strong> You just create a net, really. We\u2019re in a fortunate position where there is nothing like this in the UK. We came along and went, \u201cDo you want to come on board?\u201d and people were like, \u201cYeah, there\u2019s nothing like that!\u201d. The reason the festival is so successful is that everybody pours into it. It\u2019s filtration and curation, but how do you filter stuff? You put other people in place to sort of filter the line-up or suggestions, and then it\u2019s down to me to curate it with those people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All the offers come via me, and all of the decisions are mine for sure. But I\u2019m not going to be an expert on some crazy Gen Z new genre that\u2019s just come out, but I would make sure that we align ourselves with somebody that is an expert in that, and then you allow them to build their profile while using our platform. If you have power, it\u2019s important to empower the people around you and give them the opportunity to showcase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I think The Great Escape isn\u2019t just about showcasing new music. It\u2019s about showcasing new media platforms. If someone just started a blog and they\u2019re good at tipping you on stuff, why not get them to curate a line-up with your guidance? There are a lot of people feeding into it, but it\u2019s not just media partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s export offices as well. We\u2019ll talk to the French export office<\/a>, or talk to the export office in Chile, or Sounds Australia<\/a>, or the people in Canada, and we\u2019ll always revert to the applications. Still, there will be a side conversation where we might ask, \u201cThis person hasn\u2019t applied, are you aware of them?\u201d Or I\u2019ll ask, \u201cThis person has come to me directly. Do they have a manager?\u201d There are constant conversations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not just sitting here waiting for you to email me. There are always conversations about who just sold out a gig in Estonia<\/a> or who just supported Mac Demarco<\/a> when he played in Italy. All of that is going alongside the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc:<\/em><\/strong> What do these export offices do for people who don\u2019t know? Can you summarise your experiences with them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam: <\/em><\/strong>They all engage differently. There\u2019s no one set thing. Most of the time, it comes down to the politics in the country. If you have a liberal or left-leaning government, you find a lot of money available to the arts. If they are from a more central or right-winged country, you will find there is less value in the arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some countries use it as a way to gain soft power, like Korea. They\u2019ll use it to identify their country. For example, it\u2019s not South Korea, it\u2019s Korea, and this is the music from Korea<\/a>. Generally, the whole point is to export new music, that\u2019s what I engage with them over, but I\u2019m sure they do bigger things as well. I\u2019m only interested in the new music, getting it out of the country it\u2019s in, and exporting it to the UK or Europe. I guess crudely, you have to look at yourself as a business selling a commodity, and your export office should help you do that as they would with any other small business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s typically funding available or travel grants. They\u2019re a good resource; they can tell you what venues to play in a particular city, or they can tell you where some cheap hotels are if you have organised a trip to the UK. Check out where your export office is and who they are. We are normally in touch with most of them; they\u2019re charming, helpful people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/em><\/strong>So now that you\u2019ve explained your experience from your side, I wanted to explain what I know about them. In Canada<\/a>, there is one in every province, and I\u2019ve met tons of them. These people are generally really good\u2026 they go to all these events every year and know people like you, Adam. It\u2019s pretty fascinating how important these people are. What I didn\u2019t know before you and I spoke was just how much you liaise with them. Now there is something that comes up all the time: the idea of being export-ready. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you tell me what you think \u201cexport ready\u201d means? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam:<\/em><\/strong> Well, if someone is paying for you to go to another country, you better be good (laughs). Typically export offices are usually government-owned, and some are private companies. I don\u2019t know whether the US has an export office<\/a>, and I\u2019m sure it doesn\u2019t. There might be private organisations that might help you fund your trip if you are in the states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc:<\/em><\/strong> You\u2019re not crap if you\u2019re export ready. Is that what you mean? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam: <\/em><\/strong>If you\u2019re going to a showcase event, an event attended by music industry people who need to see you, you get booked onto another event. It\u2019s kind of like a trade show for the music industry. If you\u2019re an artist or a performing artist, you want to just focus on your live show, don\u2019t you? You don\u2019t want to have to stay up until four in the morning drinking whiskey with some idiot who books a festival in Holland<\/a>. You want to ensure you\u2019re bushy-tailed and ready for the next day when you\u2019ve got to perform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I always say, to be export ready, you need to have the start of a team, it could be a manager, it could be your mum! It could be anybody, just somebody who comes with you, so when you\u2019re performing, you only have to focus on that, and somebody else is doing your networking. Somebody else is doing your drum beating, so you do not have to do all of that side of things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I would say export-ready could also mean you have mastered your town or your local area. You\u2019re playing regularly at your local gig or venue, and you\u2019re pulling an audience. If a more prominent artist comes to town, you’re considered for the main support or a support slot, so you\u2019re also working with the promoters in your local area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mainly we say those things, not because it makes you any good, but because you could still be rubbish after all of that. It\u2019s more about not being overwhelmed by the festival opportunity. Getting booked on to a showcase event that\u2019s the start, but that\u2019s not the end. That\u2019s when the hustle begins. You need to have the beginnings of a team around you or a clear understanding of what you are trying to sell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/byta.com\/howwelisten\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/adam-3.png\")
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