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Ren came upon that he’d scored his first UK No.1 album by listening to the countdown stay on radio.
The second was captured on video, and posted to social media again in October, that includes a couple of celebratory whoops and tears, with Ren getting hoisted onto the shoulders of his mates, all beaming from ear to ear.
The outpouring of emotion from the musician and the buddies round him in that video highlights the importance of the achievement for Ren (actual identify Ren Erin Gill).
Not solely was Rick Astley’s newest album Are We There But? pipped to the submit by Ren’s personal Sick Boi that day (Friday, October 20), however the milestone arrived amid an extended interval of persistent sickness for Ren, who has been receiving experimental therapy in Canada for an autoimmune ailment.
As Alastair Webber, co-founder of Ren’s label and writer The Different Songs, explains, Ren’s ongoing well being points meant he couldn’t carry out or take part in lots of promo actions previous to the discharge.
“He got here to us in January and had already pre-recorded six music movies, as a result of he knew he was going to do therapy from February, indefinitely,” says Webber.
Ten months later, after a marketing campaign centered on fan neighborhood engagement and press, Sick Boi, which chronicles Ren’s well being struggles, topped the UK Album chart, marking his and The Different Songs’ first No.1.
Based in 2018 by brothers Alastair and Billy Webber (sons of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber), The Different Songs operates throughout recorded music, publishing, administration, animation and occasions.
The corporate’s artists and songwriters have collectively racked up over two billion streams globally throughout all platforms. A few of their tracks embody Pump It Up by Endor (Licensed 3x Platinum), Following The Solar by SUPER-Hello & NEEKA (Licensed 4x Gold), and Ritmo by Raffa FL (Licensed Platinum).
Headquartered in London, The Different Songs additionally has a worldwide presence with workplaces in New York and San Francisco, in addition to strategic partnerships with music entities akin to Paris-based Unity Group, Berlin-based Wasted Expertise and a worldwide distribution cope with The Orchard.
Alastair and Billy’s personal careers began in A&R at Island Records UK and Warner Music, respectively. In the direction of the top of their stints in main label land, they arrange an occasion in 2018 named The Different Songs, the place songwriters had been invited to carry out acoustically to an viewers, based on Alastair, “searching for songs and concepts”.
“We invited A&Rs, artists, and other people in movie and style,” he remembers. “It began with 20 individuals within the room. It slowly gained momentum till we had been fully oversubscribed from the music business each time. It was a very scorching ticket.”
The occasion has featured performances by numerous celebrity songwriters and artists over time, like Raye, Dave Stewart, Nile Rodgers, Jimmy Napes, David Foster, AR Rahman, Joan Armatrading, Cathy Dennis and Rodney Jerkins. In 2023, The Different Songs’ sold-out present at The London Palladium, hosted in partnership with The Ivors Academy, raised £65,000 for The BRIT College.
That authentic stay occasion finally morphed right into a multi-faceted firm additionally referred to as The Different Songs that now operates throughout recorded music, publishing, administration and, most just lately, animation.
That latter enterprise was launched by way of a brand new division referred to as The Different Studio, in partnership with ex-Pixar animation director Andrew Gordon, who has labored on movies like Toy Story, Discovering Nemo and Monsters, Inc.
“We need to preserve shining a lightweight on songwriters who’re typically undervalued on this business.”
Billy Webber
The Different Songs additionally just lately employed Vince Amoroso as CMO, following his tenure as Head of Advertising at mTheory. One other key management place on the firm is held by former Island Data UK govt Sophia Humphreys (Chief Enterprise Officer). “She joined us proper at the start as COO, is now our Chief Enterprise Officer, and runs all operations, authorized, finance, and people areas,” explains Alastair. “With out her, we wouldn’t exist immediately.”
Trying to 2024 and past, with their first No.1 album and a sold-out Palladium present below their belts in 2023, Billy tells MBUK that the ambition for the brand new yr remains to be the identical because it was in 2018 once they arrange their first occasion: “We need to preserve shining a lightweight on songwriters who’re typically undervalued within the business,” he says.
Right here, the Webber brothers clarify how they plan to do this, how they met Ren and the way, collectively, they scored their first No.1 album…
What was your relationship with music like rising up? Was there at all times an expectation that you’d find yourself working within the enterprise?
Billy Webber: We’re from a musical household, however our dad wasn’t forcing music down our throats. We’d watch issues like Tom and Jerry and Peter and the Wolf and cherished the music in these. I used to be, at one level, actually enthusiastic about going into sport. After I was nonetheless in school, Al had simply began his internship at Island. I didn’t actually know what A&R was. I don’t assume he actually knew what it was. However I requested him, ‘What are you doing each day?’ And he was like, ‘I’m discovering tunes’.
I keep in mind I used to take heed to the MistaJam present and Colin Murray’s present on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra and began sending Al information as properly. I additionally cherished the manufacturing aspect of it. Essentially the most influential particular person for Al and I, when it got here to music, was our brother Nick [Nicholas Webber], who sadly handed away earlier this yr.
He gave us Logic once we had been 12 or 13 years outdated. Me and Al would keep up all night time producing horrible information, and Al’s going to kill me [for saying this], however you recognize, he would sing on a few of them, very badly.
We did that for most likely eight to 10 years. Our mother and father had been just a little bit stand-offish in that respect. They weren’t ramming it down our throats and so they weren’t forcing us to do something. We completely cherished what our brother was doing. He was in a number of bands, he was getting performed on Radio 1 by Zane Lowe. He was a correct hero for us.
“Our brother Nick was so influential to each of us, when it comes to our music style, and when it comes to the profession that we went on to have.”
Alastair Webber
Alastair Webber: Nick was in a band referred to as Archangel. We had been going to our first reveals at 93 Toes East, and in any respect these cool venues on the time, between 2005 to 2007, proper within the thick of that indie motion. Nick was sporting eyeliner and had skinny denims and pointy sneakers, smoking 1,000,000 fags and giving us our first beers and cigarettes. We acquired a style for music and pop music there.
While dad would [talk about] the Prime 10 each week, and we’d watch Prime of the Pops collectively, Nick would convey that different aspect to our music tastes.
He’d inform us what albums to take heed to. He was so influential to each of us, when it comes to our music style, and when it comes to the profession that we went on to have, in a barely completely different space to the world that our dad was in.
Having mentioned that, [our dad] would disagree studying this, as a result of he’d argue that Jesus Christ Famous person within the ‘70s was different and that he was a part of that motion of pop music, however in his personal approach. It has come full circle now. We’re working collectively this present day rather well with dad, however we’ve gone about it otherwise. We’ve realized and completed our personal factor.
May you run us by way of your roles at The Different Songs and the division of labour?
AW: The best way that it was divided up on the very starting was, I might tackle the singers, and Billy would tackle the digital music and administration.
And now as the corporate has grown, Billy is extra answerable for all of the A&R throughout the completely different divisions. I sit on A&R with him. However [mostly] I’m [responsible for] enterprise partnerships. I drive everybody mad by organising new companies and JVs.
BW: We come collectively on each single essential determination, principally. And that’s from artistic to hiring a brand new particular person within the firm, to every other large enterprise determination.
However we additionally belief one another to work individually and individually on varied issues. After which we normally at all times agree on one thing or typically we are able to each disagree collectively on one thing as properly.
AW: Fortunately, I’d say 100% of the time, musically we align. And that is likely to be a bizarre brotherly factor, or how we’ve grown up, however that’s actually essential. There’s by no means a ‘Hmm, I’m unsure we should always signal that.’ If somebody loves one thing, the possibilities are, it’s a particular that the opposite particular person would really like it as properly.
BW: Or we simply know easy methods to discuss the opposite particular person into it.
AW: We’ve three most important enterprise strands inside the firm. We’ve One other Rhythm, our digital imprint, run by Joanna Phillips and Daniel Esrich.
We’ve The Different Data with Harrison [Jones], and Louis [Merrion]. And we now have The Different Studio, our animation studio.
Now, we’ve employed Vince Amoroso [as CMO]. He’s primarily based in New York and sits on prime of these three firms ensuring the advertising and marketing initiatives are run correctly.
Was the plan at all times to have this multi-division firm?
AW: Sure. The plan was to create one thing that felt actually thrilling and impartial and completely different. We didn’t need to simply arrange a document firm, a publishing firm or a administration firm.
“By having a stay occasion alternative and this ecosystem of songwriters, it places the artists signed to the labels and the publishing into a completely new sphere.”
Alastair Webber
By having a stay occasion alternative and this ecosystem of songwriters, it places the artists signed to the labels and the publishing into a completely new sphere, and connects us with so many extra individuals. But in addition, having an animation studio now opens the door into a complete different realm.
So that you’re not simply signing to a document label, or a publishing firm or administration firm, you’re signed to an organization that could be a multifaceted, fascinating place to be, that’s honest, clear, and [offers] aggressive offers.
How did you meet and signal Ren?
AW: We signed his publishing in 2019. I met him once I was in my second yr at Island Data, in 2011.
Nick Huggett and I had been enthusiastic about signing him [at Island Records UK]. However he wasn’t in a position to proceed his music profession as a result of he immediately fell in poor health with Lyme Illness, so we stored in contact over a few years.
It was heartbreaking to see him submit these messages of whole despair as he was misdiagnosed constantly. It was solely a lot later that he lastly acquired recognized with Lyme, and began getting stem cell therapy.
He began getting a bit higher and began busking on the streets of Brighton. He joined a band referred to as The Huge Push. They had been doing very properly. He performed The Different Songs [event]. Then he signed to our publishing firm, which is actually a JV with our excellent pal Björn [Deparade] at Wasted Expertise in Berlin. It’s referred to as The Different Wasted Expertise.
We’ve been working with Ren intently ever since and within the final yr he signed to the document label.
Ren’s well being points and therapy make the No.1 album achievement all of the extra extraordinary. Are you able to inform us concerning the challenges you had throughout this marketing campaign?
AW: We had a bunch of movies within the bag, however we didn’t have Ren out there, doing reveals, and doing as many interviews as we wished.
We additionally needed to be very aware of the quantity of occasions we spoke to Ren, as a result of he was going by way of experimental therapy.
I mentioned to Ren in January, when he had a number of completely different choices, ‘I do know you. I’ve identified you for 10 years. And I do know that we are able to take care of you.
And I do know that we are able to put a help system round you, that gained’t put stress on you and on the identical time we are able to try to do the most effective that we probably can’.
Did you assume you’d have a Prime 10 document?
AW: I might need mentioned, ‘Let’s goal for it’, provided that we might see some sparks within the fanbase.
However I don’t assume we thought a No.1 was potential. Actually, it was about considering of issues in a completely reverse approach than we’re used to. It wasn’t about, ‘Let’s get your music in playlists’; it was about, ‘How can we work with the fanbase and inform the story by way of press?’
Press was actually essential as a result of Ren’s story had by no means been informed correctly. So we introduced on Cherry Create, who’ve been improbable. Piece by piece, the story was being informed, and that galvanised the fan base to inform extra individuals virtually for us.
What was the overarching technique on the marketing campaign?
AW: As playlists and DSP help means much less and fewer, neighborhood was important. Each single that we launched, we made positive that the neighborhood turned up collectively and had been actually enthusiastic about that exact second.
Out of his streaming numbers, I’d say 1% comes from editorial, which sort of reveals how massive Ren’s fanbase is and the way devoted they’re. The common listener listens 12 occasions per track on common; numbers I’ve by no means seen earlier than.
The neighborhood administration is completely key and one thing Ren has been actually on us to try to present.
And that’s why Ren does loads of bodily [sales], loads of vinyl, cassettes, merch and CDs. He streams and has a bodily music-buying viewers who need to be a part of Ren’s collectibles. They need to be a part of his journey.
How essential has the No.1 album been for The Different Songs’ positioning within the UK music business?
AW: It’s good validation for the work that we now have been doing during the last 5 years. It’s hopefully going [to help us] to make use of the momentum to place wins on the board.
We’ve had fairly a couple of individuals name us desirous to signal their acts to us. We’re not the largest firm on the earth, so we now have to watch out to not stretch ourselves too skinny.
What are your ambitions for The Different Songs in 2024 and past?
AW: The ambition is for the corporate to actually cement ourselves as a spot the place artists really feel impressed and that need a completely different sort of alternative. For years, Billy and I’ve been chipping away at making an attempt to make business successes, however the issues which have been working are [artists] like Ren, the place you don’t naturally go ‘Okay, I can hear that on Capital or New Music Friday or no matter’.
We’ve to stay to our perception that nice artwork is nice artwork and it takes some time. That’s what we’ve tried to do with the corporate to this point.
“We’ve to stay to our perception that nice artwork is nice artwork and it takes some time. That’s what we’ve tried to do with the corporate to this point.”
Alastair Webber
It’s taken 5 years to get so far, of being good to individuals and doing honest offers. Famously, somebody mentioned to us within the second week, ‘Boys, the offers you’re doing are going to get you nowhere. You may as properly stop now.’
Doing a single with out an possibility loads of occasions. Why would you ever try this? As a result of we need to give artists the liberty to do what they like. 9 occasions out of 10, if we do a very good job,
they’ll keep.
And that’s been our mantra from the start: How can we take the nice issues we realized on the majors and issues we wished to vary about how these techniques work, and put it right into a recent firm? For 2024, it’s nonetheless the identical imaginative and prescient we had in 2018. However now we now have clearer targets.
“We had been the primary document label on the earth, so far as we all know, again in 2019, or 2020 to supply songwriters a reduce of the grasp on our document offers, and that share would come out of the document label share.”
Billy Webber
BW: We had been the primary document label on the earth, so far as we all know, again in 2019, or 2020 to supply songwriters a reduce of the grasp on our document offers, and that share would come out of the document label share.
We need to proceed educating managers or songwriters that that’s what we’re doing and try to get extra labels to enroll to that as properly.
The essential factor on the deal is that we wished to create a blueprint that we might then simply give to different labels. If we are able to do it, then anybody can do it, particularly once we had been approach smaller again then.
However the thought is that 4% PPD would come out of the label share to non-performing songwriters. So, in the event that they didn’t have a share of the grasp in any respect on the artist aspect, it could come out of our share, and so they’d receives a commission from document one. That was an important factor for us. It’s not very sophisticated, and we need to encourage extra labels to do this.
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