Daniel Glass on breaking new ground

In the four decades he’s been in the business, Daniel Glass has had a hand in the careers of everyone from Billy Idol, The Divinyls and Vanilla Ice to more recently Phoenix and Childish Gambino.

Having held some of the highest executive jobs at the most influential labels, he now runs Glassnote Entertainment Group (which encompasses music label Glassnote Records, a publishing company and merchandising) and continues to foster young new talent like CHVRCHES and local Sydney act Mansionair.

He sat down with TMN while he was in Sydney to chat about recognising the marriage between technology and music early on, some of his biggest music business lessons and the mistake major record labels make these days.

Being nice and taking things slow

“I decided a few things when we started Glassnote – we’re going to be nice, and we only want nice people to work for us, and nice people to be on the artist roster.

“Hits are not the only thing to me. Longevity and a peace of mind is more important to me, and having a very nice time. We’re a family.

“We worked the Phoenix record, years ago, for 58 weeks. With Childish Gambino, we worked 75 weeks on one song. Never had a bad week. One thing, led to another and to another. So, our philosophy at Glassnote is slow and steady. Patience, patience.”

Why embracing music streaming was a no-brainer

“When Glassnote started, we came into the business at a time when there was scepticism, negativity and the doomsayers, because it was the era of Napster segueing into this era of what became Spotify and streaming.

“We embraced, proactively, technology very early on. The reason we, I think, had an edge on everybody is that we embraced old-fashioned media – radio, TV, press and blogs – but we also embraced the world of streaming.

“We felt that it’s almost like a restaurant. Which restaurant would you prefer to go to? The restaurant where there’s three people sitting in the restaurant and it’s kind of quiet, or the restaurant where there’s hectic, busy, tumult, food, it’s a vibe. I’d rather be there.

“So, even though we still conscientiously put out vinyl and put out CDs, I felt that the world of streaming was something that I wanted to embrace.

“When Spotify and Apple came to us early, and Deezer and Pandora and SiriusXM, we threw in with them deeply into sessions, into assets, into concerts, into co-promotions way before the majors and way before their independence. I felt that if they grew, we’d grow. I never saw it as a risk. We got to know the heads really early. Unusual for an independent label to get that involved with those key leaders…

“The art of streaming is knowing how to work with these partners, and not ask for only New Music Friday, and only Today’s Hits, and only RapCaviar. That’s the mistake of major labels, mostly. They have to have it all now.”

Why radio and Spotify are almost the same thing

“The gatekeepers are people that care about talent, and songs, and sounds, and how the melange works. I see it as an obvious opportunity, to tastefully get your artist exposure. And I’ve just wanted to know those people. We got to know the heads, really early.

“You get [access] because of trust, because they take a chance on you. You just have to be right more than you’re wrong.”

Common thread in all Glassnote artists

“If you look at every artist, they’re great live. They’ve probably had a great live experience. So the joy of playing live, the emotional of what they do to crowds is why we sign them.

“We’re not really a pop, two minute and 58 seconds, song company that does radio shows at the end of the year. We like records when they go pop. We like when they cross over to radio. It’s great. But we prefer artists that want to stay as authentic as possible, because you know what it does? It says to the new artist out there, ‘We should sign with them’. Artists will say, ‘They will not sell you out’. Trust is very important to me.”

Why nothing beats hard work

“I think it’s easier to make it in the business today because the point of entry is easier. Long-lasting careers are tougher because everyone thinks there are shortcuts. There are not. Everyone thinks, ‘I’m going to be Chance the Rapper. I’m going to do it by myself.’

“He worked really hard, by the way, and he has a very good manager. But you need a team of people and you’ve got to work hard. The executive at the top and the artists at the top have one thing in common, and they work harder than anybody else.

“I was doing an interview and I said, ‘Listen. I work harder than the other people. That’s why I’m successful. I out-work them.’ Now some people could put a subtext of I would hustle them … if you could hustle, if you could be ambitious. Jade Bird is incredibly talented, but she also works harder than anybody else.

“Marcus Mumford and all the members of Mumford & Sons works hard. Phoenix works hard. CHVRCHES work hard. I work hard. They want it.Elton John,Mick Jagger, and evenPrince when he was alive. Workaholics. That’s the common thread.”

The power of an artist’s catalogue

“It’s been 11 years we’ve been in business, and to see Secondhand Serenade touring a combination of new music and his first album, it’s almost like we’re nostalgic.

“11 years old, we have a catalogue now and Two Door Cinema Club had their biggest year ever on licensing and sync. Daughterhad an incredible year on their music. So I think the beauty of catalogue is, the boats that come up when you have a hit. All the boats come up and the sync and licensing business – it lives on and on and on and on.

“When you have Amazon, and you have the Alexa… Amazon’s a very powerful medium and going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. But then people ask [Alexa] to hear music by, whoever.

“Let’s say CHVRCHES, or Daughter, or Mansionair, or Mumford& Sons or whoever it is… So the catalogue becomes really, really important. And streaming has shown the biggest money-maker overall is the catalogue. So it’s important to take care of your catalogue, to not compromise it by over syncing it, over licencing it, or giving it to a bad product or a bad movie or a bad film.”

CHVRCHES going pop

“It’s growth. It’s two albums made by the band themselves. First album they made in their basement studio. Second album, the basement studio by themselves. They allowed an outside mixer on that second album, Spike Stent. On the third, they wanted to explore what would it be like, and they worked with the people like Greg Kurstin, who just won the Grammy for Best Producer again. They worked with Steve Mac(who co-wrote Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’).

“There’s a couple of artists in the world, I’m sure you know who I’m talking about, they went straight to pop radio. We would not do that with CHVRCHES. That would send the wrong signal that we’ve jumped the shark, or we forgot it at the roots. We are serving the core base, which is the alternative rock community.

“I remember it was at Chrysalis [Records] I got to work on Blondie. This reminds me of Blondie. Did Blondie do the wrong thing by going to Giorgio Moroder and having the song called “Call Me?” Did they do the wrong thing by having “Rapture” with people like Nile Rodgers? I don’t think so. They just got a bigger audience. And they stay cool. So I think that’s what CHVRCHES is doing. They’re exploring, they’re expanding. Coldplay did it. Radiohead’s had a day. U2’s done it. The really, really great ones – they can experiment and they can grow at the same time.

“[Pop] is bigger in scope. Songs are bigger. The production is bigger. You feel a drummer for the first time behind the records. And I think they want to be a really, really big band. Lauren, Iain, and Doc are very ambitious. They are loveliest people, but they’re very, ambitious. They wanna be big. And it’s a pleasure as a record company to have an artist like that.”

The one thing he’s changed his mind about

“When I was very young, I was a DJ mixer producer, and you grew up thinking, and it was actually a lyric, “You could fix it in the mix.” Then I turned 30 and 35, whether it was marriage, whether it was a record, whether it was a film, you can’t fix in mastering. You can’t fix it in the mix. The song has it or not. The magic is there, or it’s not. So that metaphor, that explanation “fix it in the mix” … much, much more realistic when you get older and you can’t fix it in the mix. Same thing with employees. If they’re bad, they’re bad. You have to recognise it and move on. You can’t fix it.

“Some people have a body of work. Some people have a bunch of songs. But it’s the quality of the song that starts the whole thing. I have artists that come to me with their managers. They wanna do the video, they wanna do the photo shoot… It’s like a lawyer that goes to court saying “What should I wear?”. Just have a case. Have a compelling case with irrefutable conviction and truth. You’ll win. If you have a great song, you’re probably going to win.

“The song opens up the door. The rest of it is all marketing tools and ploys. You never bought a record because it had a good scratch-n-sniff or a good t-shirt. It’s the music. It’s the music connecting people.”