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12th Planet Music
The Goblin crawled out of his cybercave to have a chat with Melody Kirton from Canadian 12th Planet Music, here it is!
1.Can You to begin with let us know who the persons behind 12th Planet music
are?
- 12th Planet Music is Eric Kuthe from Toronto-based stoner rock band 'Sea
Of Green', and myself, Melody Kirton, Eric's wife.
2. What was the main reason for you to start up a label in the first place?
-With a name like Melody, you can imagine that music has always been a great
part of my life:) And with Eric's love of music matching mine, we wondered what
we could do to support other talented musicians. I guess the main motivation
for starting the label was our hope to help great bands get the exposure they
deserve. Being brand new, we may not have the clout of more established labels,
but we have connections and, maybe most importantly, passion.
3.Was it hard to establish your label? There are a lot of labels out there.
Are labels competing each others or are they helping each others out?
-To be completely honest, if you have enough money to register a business, you
can start your own label :) But it does take a lot of organization and dedication.
There are many tough aspects to this type of job, which are rarely seen and
therefore taken for granted. For the most part other labels are very happy to
help one another in any way they can. Although there are a lot of labels out
there, most are specialized in their own particular genres. In that sense then,
it is a really close knit community.
4.A lot of labels have a policy on what kind of music to sign. Do you have
one?
-Yes we do. Although, speaking for myself, my taste in music is very eclectic,
it would be too hard to handle every genre that interests me. Some labels go
for what is 'in' these days. We go for what we like the most - hard rock.
5.How do you decide which bands to sign.Who are involved in that process?
Do
you all have to agree before you offer a band a contract?
-It is not easy trying to decide on bands. At the moment we've been inundated
with submissions - which is great! - but there really are so many great bands
out there, it's not going to be easy picking one above the next. We do both
have to agree on which bands to sign, which gets tricky at times. But there
are many factors to take into account. As I mentioned, we began with the intention
of getting great bands the attention they deserve. This in itself is a full
time job. Without too much more detail, it comes down to: does the music grab
your attention and keep it; what type of deal is the band looking for; and are
we the best suited to help that band.
6.Can you describe a typical day at the 12th planet music office.
-A great thing about this job is that there's nothing typical! A lot of time
is still spent right now listening to music, and returning e-mails. We are currently
setting up distribution for the bands on our label. Right now we are negotiating
deals with labels in the US, France, Spain, Italy, the UK, The Netherlands,
Germany and Australia. Everyday we mail off more packages (since we handle all
of our own publicity as well) to radio stations and magazines. And finally we
make follow up calls, making sure that those press packs arrive safely and when
to expect reviews or radio play of our bands.
7.Which was the first band to sign to 12th planet music?
-A local rock group here in Toronto, Canada "Greenwood", were the
first band we signed.
8.Do you get a lot of demos from bands?
-Yes, but we're always interested in more.
9.Can you tell us why you signed the bands you have on your label right now?
What does BURNOUT,GREENWOOD and SOULDIVIDER have that other bands lack?
-We signed these bands because they caught our attention and made us say
"Wow, I really like this band". All that Burnout, Greenwood and Souldivider
have that other bands lack is our money! hahaha
Some submissions we've received have never made it past a first spin in the
CD changer, others are permanent fixtures. But in order to be fair not only
to the bands already on our label, but also to bands we're interested in acquiring,
we want to make sure that it is financially feasible for us to sign them. Some
band's expectations are unreasonable. Some labels give out money left right
and centre when it comes to signing bands, but then do nothing in way of helping
those bands with anything else. We want to meet the music industry somewhere
in the middle of all that.
10.What can you say to bands that are about to send their stuff to 12th
Planet Music?.What are you looking for?
-We're not picky on presentation and don't have a preference for format.
What we are looking for is original hard rock music. By that I mean: stoner
rock, fuzz rock, 70's rock, groove rock - what ever name you want to call it!
11.Are there any new signings coming up soon?
-Yes.
12.Promotion is a important thing. How do you promote your bands?
-We only have one band that is "brand new" to the scene. With
them we handle things a bit differently than the other two. We've been extremely
lucky in being able to work with individuals who are not only world class musicians,
but also intelligent and hard working.
Also, once distribution is firmly solidified we will be able to have promotion
for these great bands not just in Canada and the US, but across the globe!
13.On your web page I can see you are about to set up distribution. Can
you
tell us about that.
-There are labels in many countries jumping on board every day. We'll let
you know the details when they become available to us, or you can check out
www.12thplanetmusic.com for updates.
14.In my interview with SOULDIVIDER I asked them about how it is to have
their label HQ on the other side of the Atlantic ocean.I can as well ask you
the same question.How is it to have a band in Sweden. Is there any problems.
Or are you able to keep both them and your self updated on what happens? How
are you keeping contact? E-mail, telephone?
-Greenwood is the only band that is in our city. With Burnout and Souldivider
e-mails keep us in touch and up to speed. As I mentioned above, we were truly
lucky that our bands that are in different countries are made up of good, reliable
people. I have nothing but praise for these people.
15.What are the future plans for 12th Planet Music and your bands? In both
short and long terms.
-World domination.
Okay, well really the short term plan is obviously distribution, and more publicity. The long term goal is to take these bands to the next level. We don't really see ourselves as the end all be all (well, not yet anyway!) We want to see these bands go far!
16.What are you playing on your stereo right now? Any favourite bands?
Do you dare do give us a top five list?
-Well, since you asked... In our stereo at this moment are: Fu Manchu's "In
Search Of..."; Lowrider's "Ode to io"; Incubus' "Make Yourself";
Iggy Pop's "Nude & Rude: The Best Of Iggy Pop"; and a two song
advanced copy of some new material from Burnout. (Watch out for this one!!)
Only five eh? Okay, well my (Melody's) favourites are: Leonard Cohen; Iggy Pop;
STP; Alice In Chains; and Sea Of Green (as you could imagine since I'm married
to the bass player!)
17.Thank you very much for this interview. Anything you like to say to all
Rock´n´Roll Goblin visitors?
-I guess the only thing I can think of is "thanks"! We want everyone
to remember that the most important factor of the music industry are the FANS!