Working at Sony’s King’s Cross workplace as Co-President (with Glyn Aikins) of RCA UK, Stacey Tang sees posh lighting store Tom Dixon just about on daily basis.
To her, nevertheless, it is going to at all times be Bagley’s, a legendary rave venue throughout a golden age for UK underground dance tradition (and a reasonably rattling grubby period for pre-developed King’s Cross) the place she would use a pretend pupil ID to get right into a warehouse packed (and it actually was packed) with sweaty (and so they actually had been sweaty) ravers.
It was a definitive and transformative time for Tang, having progressed from singing alongside to Paul Younger’s No Parlez album into her hairbrush, to being swept up in a scene that included ground-breaking membership nights together with The Heavenly Social, Wall of Sound, BuggedOut!, Trash and Metalheadz. Fruit Machine at Heaven, Collectively at Turnmills, Camouflage at Advanced in Islington and Material.
Tang herself labored in The Social, a London pub linked to the famend Little Portland Road venue, which grew to become a Sunday haunt for a few of the largest DJs and tangential celebrities of the time.
“It was like dwelling inside a problem of The Face,” she recollects. “How might you not be impressed by that?”
It was one other part-time job, this time in a restaurant in Crouch Finish, that was to offer not simply inspiration however alternative.
“It was like dwelling inside a problem of The Face. How might you not be impressed by that?”
By this time, Tang had given college a go twice – and located it missing, twice. The primary time was in Leeds the place she studied Historical past and Regulation (“I assumed it sounded severe and would result in a ‘correct’ job”).
The second time was in London, on a Tradition and Media Research course (“I assumed it might be extra my type of factor, however I ended up writing essays on Esperanto and the speculation of language. So I ended up going out raving much more, this time with a real pupil card”).
Fortunately, one of many bar workers the place she was waitressing to fund her clubbing behavior was a younger Paul Epworth.
“He knew I used to be making an attempt to get into the music business, so he launched me to one among his mates who launched me to a man known as Damian Lazarus, who on the time labored at Dazed.
“I did work expertise with Damian for 18 months. After 18 months, he received supplied a job with anyone known as Phil Howells that he’d labored with at Warner’s for a short time. Phil was establishing a label known as Metropolis Rockers, with Shane Murray, who’s now VP of Live performance and Pageant Promotions at Stay Nation.
“So there have been 4 of us, however I didn’t understand how a file firm labored. So mainly I received busy on the stationery. Phil could be like, ‘We don’t want any extra Put up-its, cease ordering them!’”
Pressured by a bulging office-supplies cabinet, Tang went on to study each facet of getting data made, getting them performed and getting them in outlets. It was, she says, hands-on expertise that proved as priceless because it was enjoyable.
Then, in 2007, after six years on the indie frontline, her abilities had been delivered to the eye of Max Lousada, then operating Atlantic Information. He supplied her a job working with artists like Ed Sheeran, Zero 7, Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, Santigold and Lykke Li.
It turned out, in fact, to be the transfer that modified her life, even when, at first, she was reluctant to vary buses…
How a lot of a tradition shock was it shifting from Metropolis Rockers over to Atlantic?
It took me a very long time to make that transfer. I keep in mind getting on the bus in Hackney, calling my mother and having a little bit of a cry.
We’d been by means of so many ups and downs and so many variations of the label, and I used to be like, ‘It’s gonna flip into one thing now’. As a result of they had been getting funding and a part of me thought, ‘This could possibly be it, this might actually be taking off from right here…’
However Max Lousada had known as and stated Somebody was leaving, and that he’d requested round and been advised I’d be a superb alternative.
It took me eight weeks to simply accept that job. I used to be leaving my mates, and we’d constructed one thing superior collectively. However Max may be very persuasive. I keep in mind one of many issues he stated was, ‘Think about what it might be like if you happen to received paid the identical sum of money on the identical day of the month’.
That hit house, as a result of at Metropolis Rockers I used to be getting off the bus a cease early to save cash by not travelling right into a costlier transport zone.
The opposite factor that he stated to me was, ‘What do you suppose you could possibly obtain if you happen to had cash to spend in your artists?’ And that basically received me pondering…
After I joined, I keep in mind going to see Richard Hinkley, who was the Director of Advertising on the time, and I can’t keep in mind who the provider was that I used to be speaking about, however I used to be mainly saying to him, ‘Oh my God, they need £990 for this factor’, no matter it was on the time.
And he simply went: ‘Yeah?’ So I advised him once more, ‘They need £990! That’s almost a grand!’. And he stated: ‘Yeah?’ After which he requested me what my sign-off degree was. I didn’t actually know what that meant. So I went and requested somebody and so they advised me it was £5,000. I couldn’t consider it!
I will need to have appeared so tight after I received there as a result of I simply saved saying, ‘Nah, we’re not paying that!’.
My first expertise at Warner was really fairly tough, as a result of I felt like a few of the folks there have been siloed. It was virtually like, ‘Don’t have a look at my homework’, or, ‘Why are you sitting in my seat?’
However on the constructive facet, I received to take care of Sean Paul. I received to take care of like Missy Elliot. It was a dream come true.
What was that Atlantic expertise like for you?
It was such a good time. Atlantic had a very sizzling section. They had been signing so effectively.
You already know, Max at all times used to say it’s the largest indie, which in fact it’s not, and it’s positively not now. However there was that type of vibe of everyone in it collectively.
I believe whenever you run an organization, when it comes to who you’re employed with and who you signal, you’ve received to have aligned values, you’ve received to know that you simply share the identical imaginative and prescient, as a result of in any other case a lot of your time is spent convincing people who one thing’s a good suggestion – and that’s such a horrible waste of time.
So, going again to my time at Warner, I really feel like everyone was given a platform for studying and everyone was concerned within the conversations.
Max would drill us on a Monday morning label assembly: Who’s your viewers? What number of are you gonna promote? What’s gonna occur?
However there have been so many wonderful execs who had been so beneficiant with their time and with sharing what they knew. I discovered a lot.
Damian Christian’s nonetheless there, Mel Rudder was there, Taponeswa Mavunga was there who’s simply… I imply, there’s no method to measure the worth figuring out that girl as a good friend or an govt. Phil Youngman was there, Katie Crisp, Jamie Burgess. There have been simply so many nice folks – a bunch of outliers in a method, however all united by their ardour for music
You type of felt like underdogs, however we used that as motivation, and that was one thing I used to be used to from the impartial world.
We had the perspective of let’s get it executed. If this isn’t working, there’ll be one other manner round it, let’s work it out. And so then to ship Bruno Mars, Plan B, Ed Sheeran, Charlie XCX, Delilah, Rudimental; what a run to go on.
It was an unbelievable journey, and I get the impression that group of individuals you talked about weren’t simply necessary to you professionally, but in addition personally, proper?
Completely. I imply, I received into music as a result of it’s social. So whenever you arrive at a file firm, you’re going out lots. And in case you are a raver, you had been going out lots anyway! So, initially no less than, what’s the distinction? There comes a time when you’ve gotten extra accountability, or maybe the tradition adjustments, and also you realise that it’s a must to exit in a barely totally different manner when it’s work. However initially, it’s all simply going out!
“Music could be a time machine. It takes you again to sure locations or emotions – or haircuts!”
Music is a superb connector of individuals; it could change your temper. For those who’re feeling unhappy, it could remind you that you simply’re not the one one who appears like that. Or it could make you content. And it’s a time machine, it takes you again to sure locations or emotions or haircuts! Music is concerning the intestine and the guts.
So sure, these folks had been all wonderful and beneficiant. After which on prime of that, you exit, you go to festivals, and every thing is bonded by this extremely emotional factor known as music – and also you’re proper, they turn out to be personally necessary to you. You make life-long mates on this enterprise.
You discuss concerning the emotive energy of music and the way you bought into this enterprise due to your ardour for music. Does that ever bump up in opposition to the necessity to see issues from a enterprise viewpoint and be extra analytical?
Look, if I’m working at a giant frontline file label and I’m placing music in entrance of individuals, I can’t suppose that solely my ears work and that what I like and what I don’t like is what everyone likes and doesn’t like.
There’s stuff that I’ve grown to love that I didn’t used to have time for. Additionally, after I was youthful, though I dressed a sure manner and I listened to sure issues, I went to see Weapons N’ Roses at Milton Keynes Bowl. And I additionally went to World Dance. You possibly can respect all these issues.
I believe it’s a must to be present, as a result of it’s a must to know what you’re working at a file label and it’s a must to know work it. However developments change on a regular basis.
I watched this documentary on ABBA lately, and so they had been saying they’d it powerful as a result of within the ‘70s, rock was cool and nobody took them critically.
However, for a begin, they offered 384 million data. And on prime of that, everybody now loves that music, together with critics.
There have been acts that I’ve labored on the place, as a result of I’ve been a fan of them, I’m like, ‘It’s going to work: the music’s sensible; they’re nice dwell; I’ve executed the paintings with them; that is all wonderful. OK, folks aren’t liking it proper now, however we simply want to provide it time…’
It’s like, ‘Stacey, you at the moment are being a spotlight group of 1, and that’s really not what the market is saying.’ At that time, you in all probability do have to take heed to different folks. After which there’s been occasions the place I’ve actually preferred the folks, however I wouldn’t essentially have listened to their music, and it’s labored brilliantly. I can at all times respect the artistry and it’s additionally necessary to actually just like the particular person.
Folks at all times wish to work tougher for anyone who’s good, or anyone who’s fascinating or anyone who is de facto ‘there’. I additionally suppose, whenever you’re speaking about style or developments, if we’re interested by it from the industrial facet of what you signal, if everyone’s operating a method, you may’t be operating the identical manner. You don’t must be the twentieth model of one thing, proper?
Glyn says this on a regular basis: look in the other way. What number of Princes have there been? What number of David Bowies? What number of Queens? What number of Kate Bushes? What number of Missy Elliotts? That’s artistry – and also you don’t discover that degree of artist by wanting in the identical locations and pondering in the identical manner as everybody else.
You left Atlantic for Columbia, and also you’ve ended up as one among only a few girls operating a serious label. Inform us about that journey…
Once I received to Columbia, Sony was fairly a special set-up, as a result of the expertise TV exhibits and Syco had been large. They had been making the enterprise a lot cash then that Columbia was really fairly a small label on the time as compared.
It was helmed by Alison Donald and Mark Terry, in the identical manner that Glyn and I work collectively now, and that was a really sensible manner of doing issues. They signed such good acts.
My first marketing campaign was with somebody who’d been signed for some time, Calvin Harris. I used to be a little bit bit nervous, pondering, ‘What if I can’t do that? What if it was really right down to all of the individuals who helped me at Atlantic, ?’
However in fact there have been new folks to work with and study from at Columbia. And we had been actually fortunate to have a run that was fairly comparable: Calvin Harris, George Ezra, Rag‘N’Bone Man, Mark Ronson, and plenty of different cool issues that sat beneath that.
Then, as a bunch, you’ve gotten an expertise of what it means to achieve success. You realise, ‘OK, that is our degree now’, after which everybody is aware of that they will attain a little bit bit additional.
It’s not prefer it takes extra bandwidth, since you work out what you’re answerable for and what you’re not, you begin to work extra effectively as a bunch. You share with each other and you may really feel one thing constructing.
You already know, we will discuss indies, we will discuss artist providers, we will discuss main labels. However when you get behind the brand, it’s only a group of individuals. And it’s about how do these folks work with each other, after which getting the advantage of all of their information.
When that occurs, you may have affect and you may make a distinction, as people and as a bunch. That then results in fulfilment, and that’s an important motivator.
That’s definitely how Glyn and I run labels. You already know, we’re not right here to do 30 folks’s work. They’re charged to be sovereign beings, and we’ve received their backs on a regular basis. They should know that they’re secure, that we’ve received them. But in addition, get on with it, fail quick, study extra, be courageous, be experimental and have enjoyable.
That’s how I’ve at all times discovered in any respect the labels I’ve been at.
What did it really feel prefer to be advised you had been going to be co-head of a frontline label? Was there any degree of self-doubt about that problem?
Pay attention, I nonetheless get imposter syndrome. I keep in mind this one supervisor, after I was at Columbia, asking me the place I received my advertising diploma.
I stated I didn’t do a advertising diploma. And that I really didn’t do a level of any kind. He stated, ‘Do you not even know what the seven Ps of selling are?’ I stated, I might in all probability guess them. He was a bit snotty about that. So I simply stated, ‘I do know I’ve offered extra data than you’ [laughs].
There’s part of me that’s a bit cheeky like that. I do it much less now as a result of I’m extra self-aware. However when you’re younger and also you’re firing from the hip, you’re like, grasp on a minute…
What I’ll say about Sony is that they’ve at all times been actually good about studying, and so they’re nice about development.
It’s a privilege to have been supplied all of the positions that I’ve been supplied. However I’ve at all times been educated for these positions as effectively. I’ve been taken care of and I’ve been advised, ‘That is the place you may go to subsequent if you’d like it – and we expect you are able to do it’. For anyone who does get imposter syndrome, that’s necessary.
As a result of I’ve responded effectively to that and located that to be useful, that’s how I attempt to coach the execs that I work with.
As somebody who now will get to determine much more concerning the tradition of a label, together with a associate who’s superior, I’m clear that we must be an incubator and evolve what it’s to be an govt.
We toggle between being the primary and the second largest label within the UK yearly, and now we have executed for a while. However we work on a very scant crew – and that’s as a result of everyone there may be sensible.
However we will’t hold them there perpetually. There’s a triangle, proper, and there’s much less jobs on the prime. So I hope that these folks really feel comfy being celebrated for who they’re as people after which, as they exit and take different jobs within the business, or they go and create in different areas of artwork or tradition, that have an effect on society, that they carry ahead values that they suppose are necessary and that now we have harassed as necessary.
How do you see the profession path for ladies in 2025 in our business? It has hopefully improved, however is there nonetheless an extended method to go?
I believe the reply might be each. There’s way more illustration for plenty of teams of people that’ve been under-represented at govt degree compared to the affect and the distinction that they make in music – however sure, there’s an extended method to go.
The one factor I’ll say about development although is that it’s not fixed. Issues seem like they’re on a reasonably flat line till immediately they seem like they’re a hockey stick.
What I hope is that, as an alternative of getting annoyed, we regularly have a look at issues, attempt to enhance issues and be sure that there’s company social accountability in place. And I believe there may be; folks and firms are held to account another way now, and so they need to be.
We have to test ourselves on a regular basis. It’s additionally fairly a tough factor to be operating an organization since you’ll be challenged with folks eager to do issues a special manner. And as an alternative of me getting upset about that, I believe that’s necessary as a result of really my opinions must be challenged, so do everybody else’s, as a result of that’s how we evolve – as folks and as corporations.
How are you having fun with operating RCA with Glyn proper now?
I’m having fun with it lots! You already know, we’ve been doing it for 2 years now and we’ve been working behind the scenes furiously.
Glyn and I are each from backgrounds the place we’ve labored on issues which have been signed within the UK and been profitable internationally.
Traditionally, RCA didn’t have an enormous home roster. Now now we have everybody from Convey Me The Horizon, to Nothing However Thieves, to Jade, to Myles Smith, to Tems, to Biig Piig.
So the truth that artists like Myles and Jade are making waves within the tradition is nice to see and, going again to the place I got here from, it’s so good to see UK musicians doing what they need to be doing on the worldwide stage once more.
In fact Myles and Jade simply loved success at The BRITs. Are you able to inform us about the place they’re at of their respective journeys, and what the plan is for them going ahead into 2025 and past?
Nicely, wowee, didn’t they each completely smash the shit out of Saturday evening?!
I’m so extremely happy with and for them each. Jade has a spectacular inventive imaginative and prescient for her solo mission and that’s evident in all of the music she’s written, helped produce and delivered to life by means of these large visible ideas, whether or not that’s video, the efficiency that you simply noticed on Saturday evening, or paintings and content material, completely every thing is simply exemplary and her tone is exclusive.
She has actually put herself by means of it and labored so onerous, to come back out of that world class efficiency and have such an enormous share elevate on streaming and be some of the shared and talked about artists of the night within the worldwide press and with followers, that’s so very hard-earned.
We’re excited for Jade to exit dwell, taking her music to followers in actual life in 2025. She introduced Glastonbury lately and is on the line-up for All Factors East with Raye, Doechii, Cat Burns and Tyla.
She releases her subsequent single in every week and all of this leads into an album rollout technique that’s in line with her need to do issues otherwise and on her personal phrases.
Myles has had an unbelievable yr and I’m delighted that was recognised by The BRITs. He toured for eight-and-a-half months of final yr. He’s offered 115,000 dwell tickets to this point and you may see and really feel that in his stage presence and the consolation he has exhibiting his character in these vastly kinetic performances of lyrically emotive singles.
The truth that he used his acceptance speech to spotlight business points which can be near his coronary heart and necessary for brand spanking new, creating expertise and our wider business speaks volumes to who he’s as a human. I’m wanting ahead to extra folks discovering the person behind the songwriting this yr and to ship larger and higher for Myles right here within the UK and internationally.
He’s simply come out of the studio holding the good things, so we’re actively planning subsequent releases. I’m greater than certain Myles will proceed to soundtrack large moments in folks’s lives all through 2025 and past.
What would you inform your youthful self with a view to put together on your journey?
I’d say that you simply’re going to fulfill lots of people who will color your world in superior methods and make your life actually wealthy.
Count on to be actually overwhelmed typically, by the stress that you simply placed on your self and by the perceived stress that you simply suppose different individuals are placing on you.
However please know that you would be able to put your hand up at any stage and ask for assist; it’s actually necessary that you simply study to try this.
I’ve discovered lots about myself on that journey and I’ve positively developed as a human being alongside the way in which, which is what we’re all right here to do.
I really feel actually grateful to all of the individuals who shared their information with me, to all of the individuals who’ve given me a possibility and to all of the artists who’ve trusted me.
There’s a speech that Snoop Dogg gave final yr and he stated, ‘I’m gonna thank myself for turning up’. And there’s positively a little bit little bit of that too.
This interview is taken from an excellent podcast collection, Did Ya Know?, which tells the customarily unheard tales of key figures within the British music business, focusing initially on pioneering executives of color. The crew behind the pod contains Stellar Songs co-founder Danny D and Decisive Administration co-founder Adrian Sykes. Music Enterprise Worldwide is proud to be companions and supporters of Did Ya Know? You possibly can take heed to it wherever you discover your favorite podcasts.
Music Enterprise Worldwide
