Mike Smith Downtown Music Services

After the recent sale of 145,000 of Downtown’s copyrights, Mike Smith now finds himself embarking on a new life as the Global Head of Downtown Music Services. He is relishing the change, and the challenge – and has suggestions for a few more of both that he believes will lift up the entire industry...

Mike Smith is a good person to talk to about change right now. He has, after all, just gone through the most radical upheaval in his 33-year professional life.

When he joined Downtown Music Publishing as Global President, after a three year stint running Warner/Chappell in the UK, it was another senior role in an area of the business with which he was very familiar and within which he was widely respected.

That was less than a year ago. Now, since as recently as late April, in fact, following Downtown’s sale of 145,000 copyrights to Concord, he is Global Head of Downtown Music Services. It’s a very new role in a (kind of) new company. And, he says, he couldn’t be happier.

“It’s interesting, because when it was first discussed, I was kind of, wow, this is a hell of a pivot, let me think about this for a bit.

“And then I slept on it and just thought, this is absolutely brilliant. This speaks to me about what I want to do in the music business, and what I’ve always wanted to do in the music business, which is to discover new talent, to help that talent get to the next level and look after themselves.

“Downtown’s got previous in this area, it’s been buying service industry companies for years, be that AdRev, DashGo, FUGA, Songtrust, etc. The only anomaly, ironically, within the Downtown portfolio, was the music publishing side.

“By selling the owned and co-owned copyrights, it’s made everything much clearer. We are now entirely in the service and innovation business, helping songwriters and artists build great careers for themselves, and keep ownership in their hands, which is how I think it should be.”

It’s a philosophy that feeds into Smith’s manifesto, one that touches on copyright, remuneration, diversity, inclusion and mental health – all of which sit under the overarching aim of fixing the planet. (Smith recently joined the board of EarthPercent – give it a Google and do some good if you fancy it.)

He’s also a good person to talk to about change because he believes it’s already happening and he’s determined to be part of it. His manifesto is born of enthusiasm rather than exasperation. It is not a list of demands, it’s a series of signposts on journeys already begun.

He says: “Everything I’m going to talk about today, I’m really thrilled about, because I see it all heading in that direction. It’s not a case of ‘the music industry’s got to stop doing this, we need to do this’... I feel everybody knows this stuff, and we’re getting to a much better place. We’ve got a long old road to travel down, but there’s no doubt we’re on the way...”

1. Fix The Planet

Far and away the biggest issue is the environment, because if you don’t fix the planet, then arguing about how much songwriters are receiving in streaming royalties is somewhat prosaic. The environment is undoubtedly the number one challenge we face.

But, immediately, you’re thinking, well, which charity do I support? You know, I’ve been involved with Julie’s Bicycle, it’s great. And I love what Client Earth are doing, that’s great. The music industry’s involved in several different charities, so what do you do?

This was a common thought and a common issue, and one answer is EarthPercent. You donate a fraction of your income to them, on a regular basis, and they pass money through to environmental charities that are doing tremendous work across the board. It’s a great way of providing sustainable, ongoing support for organisations that are really making a difference where it matters. It’s particularly good for the music industry, because our industry has a lot of accounting systems set up to deal in fractions of income, from your merchandise, from PPL, from PRS, from MCPS. A fraction of those fractions can be diverted at source to EarthPercent. So we’re looking to engage with musicians and songwriters and producers to see if they will give a very, very small amount of their income to support environmental charities. I believe by doing that, we will educate people and we will massively change the world. The music industry has an awful lot of

“Hopefully we’ll get influence that goes into so many other areas of society. For an example, to a place where it will look at Billie Eilish’s attitude to the environment, particularly her be embarrassing to veganism, and the fact that the people in her crew are vegan. They tour in the old- support vegan businesses within the community; that’s making a big fashioned way.” impact. It’s about educating people and showing the alternatives that are there. Meanwhile, artists are looking at how they tour, Coldplay have re-invented how they tour, the same with the 1975. These artists are leading the way and hopefully we’ll get to a place where it will be embarrassing to tour in the oldfashioned way.

2. Respect The Song

We have to talk about the primacy of the song, because I would love to see the song recognised just a little bit more than it is, particularly in terms of remuneration for the songwriter. Obviously, I’m a music publisher at heart, I’ve been in records and I’m back in records now, through Services, but I am a music publisher; it was my first job in the business and it’ll probably be my last. So that might be an influence, but to me the songwriter is the one that seems to be making the least amount of money in the new environment in which we find

Smith applauds Coldplay’s efforts to consider environmental concerns when it comes to touring

ourselves. And yet you take the song away and everything collapses. Some of the most successful playlists on Spotify don’t have artists!

It just seems so wrong that the songwriter is getting such a small slice.

Now, I know there’s a very broad debate going on at the moment about how we can better remunerate songwriters, and I don’t particularly want to weigh in on the detail of that. I just think, with lots of very clever people in this industry, in big corporations, and independents, and in government, between all of us we should be able to come up with a better deal for songwriters, because at the end of the day, if we don’t, I don’t know if they can continue doing what they do.

There are an awful lot of vested interests that are very happy with the way things are, I know, but the wonderful thing – and this applies to everything I’m talking about today – is that the way things are now are not the way things are going to be.

In 10 years’ time, there are going to be more independents in the charts than there are majors. There’s going to be more independent artists and labels being streamed than there will be from the majors. So, either it gets sorted out now, or it gets sorted out in the next 10 years. Personally, I think it would be better for everybody if we sorted it out now.

It’s going to change, it’s absolutely going to change, because it’s changing already. So, which side of history do you want to be on?

3. Value Mental Health

The issue of mental health in the industry is something I’ve spoken about a lot and it’s an area where I think I’ve got an opportunity to do some good, to benefit the mental health of songwriters, the mental health of artists and particularly the mental health of executives.

The music industry has been, and still is in many ways, appalling in the way that it treats people. There is still a bullying culture within a lot of the business.

There’s a relentless drive to get artists out on the road, to make a record, and then to make them feel guilty if they don’t release a record in time, because the profits of the company are going to suffer and people might lose their jobs.

What the hell has that got to do with the creative? They got into the business to write songs and make music.

And that’s what the business does. It’s all about, ‘If you don’t work hard, you’re gonna lose your job, or your best mate’s gonna lose his job’.

I started working properly in the business when I was 21, I was a talent scout at a music publishing company. And because it’s so hard to get into, and because you love music so much, you’re terrified that you’re going to get found out and thrown out. So you put up with everything and anything.

And instead of thinking the industry is so lucky to have somebody who’s as passionate as me, that cares as much about music, songwriters and artists as I do, you spend your whole time thinking, my God, I’m so grateful to be here, I’d better do everything I possibly can, work 80-90 hour weeks, just in case I lose my job.

Now, I’ve actually done pretty well out of that model, but that’s not the point, that doesn’t mean the model works. And it’s down to people like myself to show that shouting at people in front of others in a planning meeting is not cool; it’s about getting away from that kind of bullying approach to business.

You can still lead with authority, and you can still be very successful, but you can’t be

forcing people to work all the hours that God sends. When your finance director is at the office until midnight, you can’t be holding that up as a good example to everyone else. No, we need to change.

I think there’s a new generation of people coming through in the business that have finally cottoned on to the fact that if your artist is having a nervous breakdown, it’s not good for business.

In the past, your artist would have a nervous breakdown, you’d inject them full of something and everything’s going to be fine.

That’s changing. People are giving artists a lot more space, there are a lot of strong mental health programmes within major labels and publishers and that’s great.

Smith says the joy of working on the catalogues of artists like Bob Dylan’s is “getting the music to as many people as possible” – rather than merely boosting valuations

4. Copyrights 4 Creatives

I got into the music business because I love musicians, I love songwriters, I wanted to help them, I wanted to get their careers going, I wanted to get the music that I loved into the charts. I didn’t think in terms of growing the value of copyrights.

When I returned from records to publishing in 2016, publishing had moved on so much; it was all about the acquisition of copyrights.

It’s always been that way to some extent, of course, you’re trying to collect copyrights and you’re trying to add value to them. But that wasn’t what you based your job around. It certainly wasn’t the reason you did your job.

I loved working with catalogue, for instance. But, for me, working with catalogue was all about making artists like Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen or Barbra Streisand still feel contemporary, about getting their music to as many people as possible – because it’s great! It wasn’t about, How do we make this as valuable as possible and then sell it off? Unfortunately, that’s where music publishing has got to today.

I don’t feel the age of streaming is serving the artists and the songwriters particularly well. It’s obvious that the people that own the copyrights are the ones that are making the most money, a lot of deals that exist within the business mean that artists really struggle, and will struggle, to own their copyright.

I appreciate, if you want to be a global superstar, if you want to have an awful lot of money spent on you, then you’re going to have to give away something, and that will probably be the ownership of your masters.

But, ultimately, and even more so now than ever, I believe copyrights should be in the hands of the creator of that copyright, not in the hands of a bank or an entrepreneur.

And that shouldn’t be something for the industry to worry about or shy away from; I genuinely believe that we can move to much more equitable models and all still make plenty of money.

5. Diversity, Inclusivity, Equality

It’s very important to talk about meritocracy, I really support that, but, at the same time, I think it’s beholden upon us to always make sure there is a diverse and inclusive range of candidates for every role you’re looking to fill.

And it’s not just about hiring people, it’s about mentoring people from minority backgrounds. Look at your board and ask yourself, Does this reflect society at large? And if it doesn’t, do something about that. Find people within the organisation, mentor them, enable them to grow, and grow strong, and eventually they might get to a position to lead the company, certainly to influence the company. Because, at the end of the day, if you’re a white guy that’s been to Eton, chances are you’re going to be a bit more confident than somebody who’s come up from a poor background, a minority group, who’s had a real fight in life.

But, with the right mentoring and coaching, that person can be just as good as – let’s face it, an awful lot better than – that guy from Eton.

And again, guess what, it’s actually good for profit; it’s good for the business. Everything I’m talking about today is going to make us richer, both financially and in the broadest possible sense. None of it is scary or risks harming your business. It will improve all aspects of our business. n