Groundbreaking Artist Songwriting Camp Announced

11 January 2021 - Press release

Distiller Records and Ostereo Team Up with Six Featured Artists for Week-Long Virtual Writing Session

Reverend & The Makers, Sophie & The Giants and Fanny Andersen Among Artists Participating Alongside Producers & Topline Specialists

Given the restrictions and social distancing measures in place due to the current coronavirus pandemic, independent music company Distiller Music Group and Ostereo, a specialist music label, publisher and technology company, have teamed up to facilitate a unique songwriting camp this week featuring six featured artists alongside a range of top name producers and topline specialists collaborating virtually to compose new songs.

Using a range of technology across five virtual “writing rooms” including video conferencing platforms, Dropbox and Audiomovers (software audio designed to stream audio) artists taking part in the virtual camp are: Reverend & The Makers, Cassyette, Rose Gray, Fanny Andersen, Eyliie and Sophie & The Giants.

The five “writing rooms”  are assigned to  different artists and at staggered intervals throughout each day they log in and start working with various producers and topline writers. The producers and topline writers are rotated to work in a new room daily. Throughout the week the songs submitted from each session will be mixed at Distiller Music Group’s own Distillery Studio and at the end of the five days each artist is aiming to have worked on 5 brand new songs.

Ordinarily writing camps are the sole preserve of specialist songwriters but this purely artist focused series of sessions is breaking new ground as it seeks to bring a diverse range of creative talent together with the shared goal of composing new music.

The brainchild of music publishing veteran John Saunderson who is Head of Publishing and Management at Ostereo and Distiller Music Group CEO John Thompson, this writing camp will be overseen by acclaimed French record producer Dimitri Tikovoi who is best known for his work with Charli XCX, Ed Harcourt, Marianne Faithful, MNEK, Paloma Faith and others.

The producers and topline specialists participating alongside Dimitri Tikovoi are: Tom Enzy, Dave Betts, Ed Gallimore, The Monsieurs (Klem and Val), Olly Burden and Mosimann who between them have worked with a wide range of multi-platinum artists.

John Saunderson, Head of Publishing & Management at Ostereo said, "I am delighted to be part of this innovative, forward thinking virtual songwriting camp with Distiller Music Group. During my career I've hosted over 50 writing camps all over the world but have never hosted one where there is an artist in every single studio. It's really important to secure cuts from these retreats and having the artist actually co-writing the songs goes a long way to achieving that goal".

John Thompson, CEO of Distiller Music Group said, “These are difficult times for artists on many levels . They can’t perform live and due to the pressures brought on by the pandemic the recording and writing process has become increasingly fraught. This writing camp , focusing on artists rather than specialist songwriters, is a way of aligning collaboration with technology to allow them to continue the creative process.”