According to Music Week, top management firm Raw Power has formed a label joint venture.
Heavy music is being pushed further into the mainstream by the company and the major label. The acts on the Raw Power roster will be included.
In the new edition of Music Week, we have an exclusive interview with the executives of Raw Power, along with Clive Cawley, who is the Managing Director of EMI.
Over the past 16 years, Raw Power has had huge success with major rock acts such as Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon, who have over 11 million monthly subscribers on the streaming service. The company is partnering with a major record label. The Blinders are the first band to sign with the Funhouse JV.
“In the last four or five years, we’ve expanded our roster and we saw The Blinders as something a little different.” The opportunity came along at the end of last year, after we picked them up pre-Pandemic. The Blinders were a perfect fit for the new alternative rock label we were going to set up.
It was a case of right place, right time for the joint venture.
He said thatEMI was looking to enhance its A&R structure because it was experiencing an upturn in streaming across its roster. It was a bit of a meeting of minds when we were looking to find a new partner. Core skills in the rock market are what we have with us. We hope that we will end up with a good JV.
EMI is a fantastic label and we’ve got core skills in the rock market
Don Jenkins
Universal’s Spinefarm Records has a JV with Raw Power. Bullet for my Valentine, Atreyu and While She Sleeps are some of the acts that will be released on the imprint.
A&R is a part of the firm’s DNA according to the man who joined 10 years ago.
He told Music Week that they are a management company but that they always find acts at a very early level. The core of what we do is artist development, even our biggest acts like Bring Me TheHorizon and Bullet For MyValentine were new bands when they were taken on. The whole ethos of what we are trying to achieve is for Raw Power to bring its artist development expertise to a company like EMI, source bands at the start of their careers, and develop them into international global proposition.
The Funhouse roster is expected to be added before the end of the year.
He said the goal was to look at two or three acts a year. They might not be acts that we manage. We will be spreading our net to the wider rock community because we like the idea of just being A&R to some acts we know and get on with.
Clive Cawley explained that the company was interested in broadening its interests in the rock genre.
He told Music Week that guitar music has been overlooked. There’s a good vision for developing new and exciting artists at Raw Power. The first act they brought to us was The Blinders, who I saw at The Social, and I thought they were amazing. Funhouse will be an additional resource for us. We will do the rest if they bring the talent and marketing. Craig, Matt and Don are amazing, so they won’t bring in acts that we won’t like. We will get another arrow in our quiver.
The opening of a Japan office for Raw Power is in line with the company’s plans for international expansion. The office is located in Los Angeles.
Today is the release of The Mars Volta’s first album in a decade. The LA base of Raw Power is in the process of being expanded, according to Matt Ash, the US head of the company.
He said it made sense to be in the United States. We started managing Gone Is Gone, which led to At The Drive-In, which led to The Mars Volta.
The new issue of Music Week will be in stores on September 20. The interview can be accessed through the Music Week digital issue app.
Clive Cawley is the Managing Director of EMI.
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