Talking To... Beck Goldsmith
#N Once you crack the distribution problem, which is where a lot of small labels fall down. You’re now going out through recognised outlets as well as your own website and things like that.
#B Amazon and those sort of places. To begin with we were still selling most of the albums through the site…Well we sell more albums at gigs, where people have just heard it. I’m starting to sell more through the distribution, which is quite interesting. When I spoke to people about that I thought the response was interesting. People were buying through Amazon and the bigger sites because they thought they were doing you a favour. They think they’re showing the sites and distributors that your sales are moving. It’s probably still more locally, but about 30-40% are coming through distribution.
#N You seem to be out playing a lot, do you tour or play lots of dates?
#B We’ll communicate with venues that we think are right for the music. I feel like I’m constantly touring. I try to ensure that I’ve got a comprehensive gig list. That way you’re always promoting without being constantly on the road. I need time to work on the music and the label because that’s important to me.
#N You’re Nottingham based and there are quite a few bands from that area playing at the moment. Do you think that London has started to lose the requirement to play there?
#B The way things are changing. When I first set up the label things were different to how they are now. There are some great labels and artists around here and a lot of them are acoustic artists, which wasn’t there several years ago. I thought I was doing something that wasn’t being recognised, almost being shunned. Things have turned around so much. People have tuned into this vibe and that seems to be even more so outside of London. It looks like the cache of a city may be needed for a band, but the artists that promote themselves with more organic music don’t need all that glitter. The community in the towns outside of London, does work together more and are less competitive. You have to weigh it up against reaching the right audience but there’s so much more outside of London. Nottingham becomes ideal because there are so many other towns and venues in easy reach.
#N What’s next for Beck Goldsmith?
#B I’m looking to take some more artists onto the label. Promote the album and get it out there.
#N Was Elk Road always going to be more than a, well, vanity label?
#B I’m an artist I want to make music, but I’d like to create opportunities for other artists and the label means those things can run in parallel. It becomes less self indulgent. It takes a lot of the ego out of it. It would be nice to help other people on their way. I like the way you can be much more cooperative about it now, artists working together. You can get further working together so I’m really looking forward to taking myself and others along that path.
#N Cheers