Compass 30 May 2024

30 May 2024 - Editorial

Hello everyone. As you’ll have read up there in Mongrel, this is the last week of the Compass column (cue your sad faces). After nine years of sourcing, writing about and sharing new artists to paying subscribers each Thursday, Record of the Day is changing its format for the future, meaning Compass is officially on pause. Before getting into the artists and doing some contractual bragging, I’d like to thank Paul, Kevin, Joe, Mark (and OG editor Liz!) for their support over the years. There aren’t many places left that pay you to write about songs you love, and doing this column each week while working other roles as a freelancer allowed me to support new acts in a really specific way - direct to the inboxes of those in a position to lift them further.

Thanks to everyone who reached out with kind words, your stories of old artist deals, managers snapping up new acts via the column, and especially your screenshots of which A&Rs reached out - I’ve loved it - feels good to be useful - so thank you. For clarity, I don’t think that one sole outlet tips the scales towards a deal, at all, but knowing that me seeing your show on some grotty Tuesday, or finding your single-figure plays SoundCloud after an eight-hour scroll and writing about it, linking to your page and hyping you up (even when there often were no ‘competing offers on the table’) got you in front of your future team, is really gratifying. For what it’s worth, I am and always have been on the side of the artist - hope that’s been clear.

Now then, because I still have a great network of producers, managers, studios, pluggers, promoters and artists, agents too (thanks of course for any early tips) and I’m now down one monthly fee… here would be a good place to remind you who I featured way back when. From 2016 onward, it used to be three artists a week, the stipulation being that they had to be unsigned for records or publishing, or in need of management, live, or legal representation. To save me typing a thousand names and you reading them, here’s a playlist of some highlights from over the years. You’ll notice some are multi-award-winning globally popular artists now (Sam Fender, featured in early 2017, pre-Momentum funding, pre-Polydor) some had Top 10, or Top 5, or in a few cases even No.1 debut records here in the UK (looking at you Dry Cleaning, Black Country New Road, Inhaler, Celeste, Gabriels - many more.) Some continue to have gradual, truly authentic growth as independent artists, both here and abroad, in bigger and bigger venues (huge congrats to English Teacher for their Brixton show last night, first featured in 2021, now with Island), as well as countless nominees and winners of the Ivor Novello Awards, The Choice Music Prize, Mercury Prize, BBC Sound Of and more. There are a few tracks on there from artists who made a great song and dipped, or a great EP then went a different route. I’m cringing as I type, so do just check out the playlist.

Last thing from me here: it’s been a genuine pleasure to not only push artists who have all the markers of an easy win, but moreover, to highlight those from subcultures and scenes that usually take far longer to come through. Those who are misaligned, unconnected, or ‘not sellable’ for whatever reason. Over the last few years especially, I made a real effort to feature exciting new artists or songs without care for the usual metrics, based purely on promise. It’s been fairly depressing to hear from young A&Rs in their first role, managers, or artists themselves, about the feedback they often get from labels or DSPs with dev money to spare. Social platforms are extremely valuable, hugely so, of course. But simultaneous artist development, investment, and proper care are surely what create long-lasting, healthy careers, and therefore less homogenised output for all. I have so much respect for those of you who go the extra mile, managers who really do put their artists first, and the artists who stick their neck out when they shouldn’t have to - using their platform to highlight wider (rife) issues in the industry, many of which affect at least half of us daily. Whether it’s been Lily Fontaine from English Teacher on class barriers, or Amy Taylor from Amyl & The Sniffers on safety and inclusivity at shows, and all the band does behind the scenes (read this from Iceland Airwaves), or Lambrini Girls and many in their wake who loudly advocate for Trans Rights at every single show. That’s just three examples of artists who are properly supported and therefore more able to speak up. It’s not the norm, and it absolutely shouldn’t be on the artists to fix systemic issues or to make enough of a noise for basic safety and care for womxn to be taken seriously - at shows, in studios, or anywhere else behind the scenes. I could go on.

Everyone who pays to receive this mailer works in the same industry - we see who reads it. Many of you hear the same stories about the same people: artists, managers, producers or whoever else. You surely see or hear the impact these things have, and can shrug it off. I do get it - it’s hard to speak up. Hard to publicly support those of us who do. Far easier to keep your head down, say nothing, avoid “an awkward chat”, etc. But if possible, I’d like to leave this place a tiny bit better than I found it, certainly better than it’s been for me. If you get a chance to, or you have the power to enact real change, please do the same. I can’t properly articulate just how much it matters. Or at the very least, don’t continue to hire people who cause harm. Ask around - broaden your circle. Ask women. Not for my sake, obviously, but for everyone that’s next.

Love to you all, and thank you for reading for this last decade xxxx

Words: Ruth Kilpatrick