Exclusive: Little Sea talk Sony break-up, virtual concert

“I haven’t really thought about it – I guess we are creating Frankenstein’s monster”.

Plugging the Prometheus vibe isn’t something that Aussie pop group Little Sea take lightly. In fact, the boys from Sydney are embarking on a radical endeavour that has long been teetering on the brink of existence.

Speaking with TMN, Dylan Clark, bassist/pianist and newest member of Little Sea, is not willing to take all the credit for masterminding the “world’s first” virtual concert event, set to take place at Twitter’s Sydney HQ on September 17.

“There’s been similar things before,” says Clark, acknowledging past streamed performances by Korn and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. “But I think that we are kind of building on that idea and taking it to the next level with this event.”

The #LittleSeaVirtual performance will see Little Sea play to a vacant room filled only with tech specialists and a small selection of VIP fans. The concert will be broadcast live to thousands of fans, waving their pixelated limbs high above their heads as they tune in to the show in real time from their living rooms.

The digital revolution is by no means an overlooked fad, worthy of disregard or complacent neglect. Artists such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Susan Boyle have both been unearthed in the digital space, and it wasn’t that long ago that Justin Bieber was lifted from relative obscurity to stardom as a result of a YouTube video.

Jumping on the digital bandwagon is becoming essential for music artists to position themselves at the vanguard of the industry, whether through social media, streaming or unorthodox ideas. With that in the forefront of their minds, Little Sea are determined to take full advantage of the progressively strengthening phenomenon.

Andy Butler, Oliver Kirby, Leighton Cauchi and Dylan Clark, the four members that make up Little Sea, collectively boast around 200,000 personal Twitter followers between them, while Little Sea’s Facebook page has seen an 18% increase in new Page Likes this week alone.

In light of their social media prowess, the decision to organise the event was a logical step. Clark recalls the moment of critical mass where vision became reality, displaying the band’s relentless pursuit of creativity and innovation in their music.

“We said, ‘Why don’t we just do it? We are living in an age where we can communicate and interact with people on the other side of the world. It’s going to have good sound and good visuals, so let’s just do it!’”

The live music industry has long survived the way it is, but this event has the potential to upset the mould – for better or for worse. The pressing issue, however, is the implications that such trends will have on the live music scene.

“I haven’t thought about it,” Clark said of the seemingly changing live industry environment. “It’s growing more evident with YouTube and Facebook Live that people are having interactions with their idols and the people that they look up to in new and different ways. It could go anywhere from here”.

Local live music venues are already feeling the strain of a reformed industry as a result of lockout laws and increased regulatory activity. Figures from the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) revealed a 40% drop in live music revenue in Sydney since the introduction of the new legislation in 2014. Meanwhile, red tape placed around liquor licensing and venue regulations in the ACT sparked the release of Music ACT’s ‘Cool Little Capital’ report, which outlines just how crippling the laws are on the local music scene.

Digital concert trending is projected to harm the struggling industry further, effectively bypassing and negating the co-dependence that artists and live music venues have traditionally upheld for decades.

Despite the virtual nature of the event, Little Sea are charging fans for the monumental gig. Digital concert tickets will cost $5 each, with options to purchase $35 and $60 tickets that include a complimentary T-shirt and a virtual meet-and-greet pass, respectively.

“I was actually just watching an interview with [Oasis, High Flying Birds frontman] Noel Gallagher,” Clark shared with TMN. “He was talking about that idea of price.

He noted how these days, people will throw $10 for two coffees at a cafe and proceed to have a 45 minute conversation, but they huff and puff about paying 10 dollars to hear music that lasts an eternity and could potentially change who you are, how you dress or who you want to be.”

It’s a convincing argument considering Clark’s promise that the upcoming concert will be their “best show ever”.

After touring with 5 Seconds of Summer on the Australian leg of their tour in 2014 and coming off the release of their new EP On Loop, Little Sea stand alongside Korn and The Red Hot Chili Peppers for another reason – having to deal with the fallout of divorcing a major record label.

TMN can reveal that Little Sea parted ways with Sony Music Australia in the early months of 2016 after a successful three-year stint with the label, that saw the band release their acclaimed 2015 EP, With You Without You.

Clark confirms that “no bad blood” was held between either parties upon their departure, and that the decision to leave was purely due to an “artistic difference” that could not be reconciled.

“It was kind of like a break-up,” he says. “We just felt that we were going in a different direction artistically.

“With our four personalities come four big opinions,” he boldly adds. “Right at this moment in time, we needed to be independent, especially with this new music that we are recording.”

While professing an appreciation to Sony for their contributions to nurturing and developing the band’s identity and brand, Clark is adamant that artists do not have to attach themselves to a record label to experience commercial success.

“There’s a place for major labels in our industry. Labels do help in a lot of ways, and we might eventually end up on a label again,” he says. “In saying that, you can 100% do it without a record label. I have no doubt in my mind that it is possible.”

That statement will surely be put to the test as Little Sea embraces their post-label existence. While record labels have commonly inhibited the free-market flow of creative ideas, the band have capitalised on their newfound freedom, conceptualising an event that has the potential to redefine and transform live music consumption.