Northlane inks new deal with global indie Believe [exclusive]

Sydney heavy rock outfit Northlane has entered into a new relationship with Believe.

“At this stage of our career it was the best move,” manager and guitarist Josh Smith told TMN.

“I saw the success that Cub Sport had with Believe in Australia, and how well many of their other campaigns have gone, realised that for bands like Northlane it was probably going to be the best option for us because we’ve got such a loyal dedicated fanbase and one which is growing.”

“One of the smart things to do for an artist in this position is to maximise every dollar that comes in. For me, after taking over management, one of my long term strategies is to cut down on intermediary costs on every income spend the band has.”

Northlane control as much of their career as they can: they promote their own tours in Australia, and all their merchandising, which they assign to different companies in different territories.

Paris-based Believe set up a local operations in 2019, and has signed Allday, Cub Sport, Woodes, Double Drummer and labels City Pop Records and HopeStreet Recordings.

The Believe deal allows Northlane to choose the PR and marketing executives they want, and to directly control the expenditure relating to these services.

“Believe also offers a higher revenue return to artists that record labels can’t compete with.

In Australia, Northlane has won three ARIAs. Four albums went Top 5, including the #1 Node.

The current album Alien (released in 2019 through UNFD) won the heavy rock categories in the ARIA and AIR awards, and was nominated for Australian Album of the Year at the J Awards.

It has been their biggest globally, entering the US and some European charts.

Northlane’s new single ‘Clockwork’, penned by singer Marcus Bridge, will feature on Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege, a combat game with 70 million registered players, and a move by the band into a sector forecast to be worth $21 million in Australia by 2022, according to PWC.

Earlier sync deals were struck for the band by Mushroom Music, the sub-publishing partner of the band’s publisher We Are Unified.

In this instance, Ubisoft reached out to the band wanting a theme song for the soundtrack for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Oceanic Nationals Esports tournament, kicking off on March 21.

“It’s fast-growing, and for them to include it in what they’re doing s pretty exciting,” Smith said. “We sent a whole bunch of demos we were working on, and they picked that.”

The single and album will be the first by the freshly minted four-piece after bass player Brendon Padjasek left to focus on his home life.

Mick Tarbuk, Believe’s ANZ country manager, told TMN this morning that the company is “beyond excited” to welcome Northlane to the Believe Artist Services roster.

“We’ve always admired Northlane’s ability to push boundaries in sound and genre over the years and can’t wait to see what they do next,” he said.

“We look forward to launching their new single ‘Clockwork’ and working with them on their forthcoming sixth album.”