Jamz Supernova talks long-term artistry, championing diversity and the art of songwriting

Trailblazing music champion, DJ and 2023 Music Week Awards winner Jamz Supernova recently met up with Music Week at Glastonbury Festival for a conversation that covered breaking genres, diversity, the culture at BBC Radio 6 Music and much, much more. As one of the UK’s leading tastemakers, Jamz is widely known for her current slot on 6 Music, where she shines a spotlight on a wide array of genres including broken beat, hip-hop and electronica – to name only a few, as well as her shows on BBC Radio 1Xtra and Selector Radio for the British Council. She works in both A&R and consulting for her label Future Bounce, which she set up in 2018, and has also recently released the first season of her podcast, Between The Lines, which goes deep on the craft of songwriting through the works of artists including Hak Baker and Yazmin Lacey. And to add to those musical plates Jamz is spinning, she also played multiple sets at Glastonbury this summer, as well as being part of the BBC’s presenting team. Next month, she is also set to DJ and broadcast live from All Points East. “To be able to do all those different parts of my career that I love, it’s like a birthday present!” she laughs. “If I got to tell my younger self I would be doing all these things, even myself five years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you.” With that, we dive into a candid conversation where Jamz Supernova goes deep on the importance of community, how the industry can be investing in long-term artistry and why we must continue to ask the important questions... Reflecting on what you’ve seen during festival season so far, what sounds and genres are you hoping to be seeing more of on line-ups in the near future? “Representation is so important, and I have seen more and more being represented, like Glastonbury's dedicated South Asian space in Shangri-La this year – there were South Asian DJs and the way they decorated it, the production value that went into it, it was the first of its kind. It would be nice to see more R&B, maybe next year there could be a dedicated R&B space, something that could be headed up by someone like DJ Ace. But genres come and go, and what I've really loved seeing is different communities and conversations. I went to a talk about how optimism is a sign of protest, which spoke about all the little things we can be doing in our communities to stop us thinking that the world is shit! We can do stuff to help our neighbours, people down the road who are less fortunate than us. It’s just about thinking of it on a micro scale rather than a macro scale. We need unity and we need togetherness.” Last time we spoke, you said that the industry needs to be investing more in ‘artistry which takes time,’ instead of focusing on fast results. Do you feel that we are any closer to achieving this? “I’m not sure, but something I am noticing is that there are more things like EMI North that are happening, more incubators that are feeding into the larger industry, and the smaller grassroot ecosystems are being used more to do artist development. Some good examples of that are English Teacher, who had a very gradual process and are now with Island, and Olivia Dean, whose trajectory is really interesting. It would have been around 2019 that I first saw a video of her in the pub, then saw her at Glastonbury just last year, and now to see her on the Pyramid Stage – she's become a household name. I think that’s the kind of thing we need, maybe easing artists into the [industry] is a fairer model than being [thrown] in for 18 months and if it doesn’t work, getting dropped. "My partner is also trying to do that in Bristol; he works closely with Bristol Beacon and Team Love and they’ve got this thing called Next Level, where artists get two weeks of mentorship, two weeks of studio sessions working together, talking about their art and their craft, and then they perform at the Beacon, at Love Saves The Day festival and at Glastonbury, it’s huge. Watching the crowds for them, they were so responsive – there was someone called Ava Zarate who was really good, and Sambee, who was brilliant.” How can the industry be doing more to champion representation and diversity in the long term? “It’s about the flow of money. You can’t fund a project once and if it doesn’t work, that’s it. I’m noticing a lot of that in TV and film at the moment; during the pandemic there were a lot of projects being made, and maybe they didn’t reach as many viewers as they thought they would, so now they’ve been canned. That’s happening across the board, and when there’s an economical crisis, the first things to go are often the things that might not have the biggest reach, which tend to be the marginalised things. “Power Up is a really great example of long-form change. That’s a 10-year dedicated programme for Black-identifying artists and business people. There are 20 music industry people and 20 artists every year – that’s 40, times that by the 10 years they've been doing it, and that’s 400 people who would've gone through the Power Up scheme, who would've had funding, mentoring and are part of the community. There’s years of people in a Whatsapp group now, so if I need a lawyer, an accountant, anything, I can just go onto Whatsapp and ask for it. And that really is long-lasting; because it’s a dedicated 10 years, it’s not going to be like, ‘Oh, we lost money, it didn’t work, it’s done.’ It’s only going to keep on going, because they put the dedication in.” "I love the culture of 6 Music because it’s adults; it’s adults being adults and treating adults as adults" When you started at 1Xtra, you had a mission to broaden the conversation around how Black music is understood. Has that conversation expanded and been embraced in the way you hoped? “The conversation has broadened, which is definitely heartwarming and amazing – it doesn’t feel so monolithic anymore. I did a talk at the BRIT School recently, my former college, and I talked about a lot of the artists I used to play on 1Xtra, who are now household names. I was probably the first person to play Sza on UK national radio, and now she’s headlining Glastonbury. And a lot of what I was playing back then was known as underground, like Ezra Collective, who have a great story – they are the most popular jazz act right now! “It’s so hopeful, but it’s always important to keep on questioning things. Now, when I think about the crowds and the people who go to see these Black artists, I would just love to see more Black people there, and I don’t know how to get them there – even at my own club nights. A lot of artists who I speak to think that too, it’s like, ‘Why is it like that?’ Maybe it’s to do with the marketing, or access; it’s important to ask those kinds of questions.” Do you still experience pushback against the music and different sounds you bring to 6 Music? “I feel like what I do is understood, and if you don’t like me, you’ve probably turned off by now and that’s fine! Things have changed a lot, I don’t see that pushback anymore, and I’m also not looking for it because I’m more confident in myself and my offering – you can’t please everyone and I wouldn’t want to. I don’t want to be palatable for everybody and for it to be like, ‘Oh, she’s alright, I listened to her in the background!’” You've also spoken about how you never want to be the ‘only Black woman’ to do something, as diversity shouldn’t be tokenised or trophied. Have you ever felt that in your work, and how have you navigated it if so? “I haven’t felt that to be honest, and I don’t feel it now. Maybe that’s because the evolution over the past few years has been so quick, and there’s been people coming through like Sherelle and Afrodeutsche and all the guest people we have on who are part of the family. I love the culture of 6 Music because it’s adults; it’s adults being adults and treating adults as adults. The way that we’re treated is respectful, and I can’t possibly be more grateful for the way it was when I was pregnant, and the support and care I had when I came back. Even going back on air, being able to breastfeed during the evening news, things like that, that comes from having an amazing woman in charge. I love Sam Moy, I think she’s incredible and the changes she’s making with 6 Music are amazing. It’s intergenerational, and that’s what it should be.” Can you tell us what is going on for you at the moment outside of radio – with your label Future Bounce and your podcast Between The Lines? “So we’ve done season one of the Between The Lines podcast, which I’m really proud of. We had artists like Hak Baker, Yazmin Lacey, Daudi Matsiko, a girl called Bina and a techno artist called Bruce who now does pop songs. The podcast is all about lyrics, so we talk about one song, the craft of songwriting and basically who the artist was when they wrote the song. With Hak, we spoke about Windrush Baby, and we talked about our grandparents and parents growing up, which got quite emotional. With Yazmin Lacey, we talked about validation with her song Fool’s Gold, and Bina, who grew up in foster care, has a song about generational trauma and survivor’s guilt. It’s about what it’s like to grow up in care, then leaving that and people thinking you’ve changed, we go into all of that – and it’s also a really fun pop song! So there are a lot of deep topics, that’s what I’m really focused on at the moment. “With Future Bounce, we’re also signing some great stuff. We’re really excited for the Volume 3 Club release, Kiss Nuka – a really interesting artist from Mumbai who programs live techno – is kicking it off, we have someone called Kevin In Da Field and an artist called Annie O. I feel like I have a nice bit of freedom at the moment, because people know of the label now, it’s more established, so I can really start singing more emerging names.” Finally, which artists are you excited about right now? “There’s a couple of artists I’ve been working with who I’m super excited about. There’s Bikôkô, who has done Primavera, done Sonar, she’s smoke on fire – I’m keeping up with her! She’s on the label, she’s got an EP coming out. Then there’s Kiss Nuka, who's really exciting – some artists just have that star power, and those two really have that. Then outside of the label, there’s so much stuff going on. There’s a really interesting artist from Paris, Tatyana Jane, who makes club music. I got invited to play with her one year ago and I’ve just been watching her journey. She's a mum as well – she’s smashing it. I love this guy called DJ Babatr, from Venezuela; he’s not particularly new but he’s wicked and he makes this thing called ‘raptor house’, which is so fun! And then there’s Niks, a producer who runs the Black Artist Database, she’s a community leader and she really embodies not just dance music as a ‘Let’s party!’ kind of thing, but also as a protest. She brings communities together and fights for equality for all – and makes great tunes. She’s a hero!” Jamz Supernova on 6 is broadcast each Saturday, 1-3pm on BBC Radio 6 Music. Her All Day Glastonbury special shows for 6 Music are available on BBC Sounds. Jamz will also DJ and broadcast live from All Points East on Saturday 17th August (1-3pm) INTERVIEW: MIRANDA BARDSLEY

Service supercharge: A special report on the dynamic label services sector

With high-profile success stories and numerous chart results, the label services sector is happily co-existing with the traditional record companies in 2024. In our latest special report on the market, Music Week gathers a selection of the key players to discuss the evolution of the sector, tech solutions and building artist careers… This was the year that label services went prime time. A record-breaking six wins at the BRITs for Raye was a huge TV moment for The Orchard and the wider sector, argues Dan Griffiths, VP, digital marketing, UK & Europe. “Raye’s success at the BRITs further demonstrates that the playing field between major and independent artists, with the right support, has levelled,” he says. Raye’s impact with support from The Orchard and distributor Human Re Sources underlines the growth of label services, which is becoming more competitive. Absolute Label Services has just marked its first anniversary of a management team buy-out. In that period, revenue is up 20% year-on-year at the company. MD Henry Semmence suggests that an independent route to market is important for many artists. “As consolidation of the sector continues, it’s a distinct point of difference to our competitors,” he says. “And we have been operating since 1998 – few companies offer the combination of independence, longevity and repeat success that we do.” Absolute is also doubling down on technology, including the launch of a new client portal, Anthology. “It’s an efficient and innovative platform designed to simplify and enhance every aspect of the label services experience,” says Absolute co-MD Simon Wills. “We’re really excited about both the breadth and depth we’ve been able to achieve. As far as our clients’ businesses are concerned, it’s going to be a game-changer.” “Every decision we make at Absolute is done to give our clients more information, more expertise, more capabilities and control over their businesses, with efficiency and transparency at the centre,” adds Wills. “Anthology is the epitome of that ethos.” For Downtown Music, alongside technology, access to capital for the independent music community is a key offering. It has secured an additional $500 million of advance capacity with Bank Of America. “Our mission is to empower creativity for artists, creators and the businesses that represent them,” says CEO Pieter Van Rijn. “For many independent artists and businesses, established and up-and-coming, capital to continuously invest in career development or business expansion is critical to stay competitive.” Downtown’s artist & label services clients include Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat, while its FUGA Music distributor powered 2023’s No.2 LP by The Hives, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons. Services include publishing, distribution, royalties management, neighbouring rights, and much more. “Gone are the days when a one-size-fits-all strategy would suffice,” says Geoff Halliday, VP, marketing at Downtown. “Clients now seek tailored label services that encompass distribution, royalty accounting and marketing effort.” Liz Northeast, SVP, EMEA for FUGA, believes that competition has been a positive for artists and labels. “We maintain and strive to improve our service offering by listening to our clients,” she says. “Through this collaborative process, we continuously evolve our offering in line with the unique needs of our clients and the wider industry.” The Orchard’s smart approach has seen an alignment with Columbia Records for Manchester-based independent company NQ. “We pride ourselves on being ‘artist first’, and the involvement of Columbia alongside The Orchard and NQ is a prime example of how flexible the label services model can be for rights-holders,” says Jordan Lolomari, artist marketing manager. The Orchard has seen strong chart results for Raye, The Snuts and Frank Turner, and is gearing up for the new album from Blossoms. As UK president, The Orchard’s Ian Dutt has long been a key figure in the sector, including a win for Artist Marketing Campaign at the Music Week Awards 2024 in recognition of Raye’s success. “Without doubt the biggest challenge for us in the UK has been reimagining our business in a mature market where the growth is slowing,” says Dutt. “This involves a significant amount of pragmatism, along with an increasingly global approach to what we do. Alongside that, pivoting our business to support engagement as well as consumption has been key.” A key move in the dance and electronic sector was The Orchard’s acquisition of specialist distributor Above Board in 2023. Believe is another major player expanding into dance. Their b:electronic division powers labels like Cr2, whose DJ Matt Sassari was hitting a million streams a day for Give It To Me. “However big a project gets, we can follow it and drive the trajectory through funding, teams, audience development and consulting services,” explains Ben Rimmer, regional director, Believe UK, Northern Europe, Australia. “The ability to scale quickly without leaning on third parties when there is activity or growth in any of our 50-plus markets makes B:electronic a very powerful partner.” Globally, Believe has three elements – TuneCore, Label & Artist Solutions and Artist Services. The UK office has made recent partnerships with labels such as Bella Union, Rinse and Hospital Records. “With the digitalisation and globalisation of music over the past 20 years, Believe has only become a stronger and more relevant long-term partner to independent artists and labels,” says Rimmer. “Everything is built upon great tech, as well as local and global digital and services infrastructure.” As “one of the world’s leading tech-enabled music companies”, Rimmer describes Believe as “the most agile, innovative and focused partner – hence why so many artists and labels are now seeing the full benefit of joining and, in many cases, re-joining”. Alice McLean, head of video & audience development, singles out their AI tool for catalogue optimisation as “very impactful in driving audience development and revenue for our artists and labels”. Fellow Paris-based digital distributor IDOL has spent the past year growing its global footprint, including UK deals with British hip-hop artists including Lord Apex and Oscar #Worldpeace. In the US, IDOL agreed a global distribution and label services deal with Young Art Records, the label of producer/DJ Tokimonsta, as well as with Le Plan Recordings and Old Soul Music. IDOL has also partnered with US rapper and producer Erick the Architect, as well as Nigerian Afropop artist Yemi Alade. “One of our biggest challenges is dealing with how quickly the industry is changing in terms of new emerging players, new models and rapidly evolving technologies,” says Constance de Bosredon, head of international. “IDOL is constantly adapting to stay on top of every available opportunity for our partners.” IDOL recently integrated several third-party royalty calculation systems, including Curve, Details and Eddy, into its own platform, Labelcamp, to enable automated delivery of monthly royalty data. Thomas Sharp Maxwell, US GM, notes that the “market has been flooded with very low percentage deals by companies that are trying to scale based on market share”, which is not IDOL’s approach. “Everything that we release is signed for a reason,” affirms Grace Theokritoff, UK label manager. “We only select partners that we consider to be of the highest quality, which in the era of scale-driven distribution really sets us apart. We provide unbeatable label management and marketing services for our partners, with a sharp focus on long-term catalogue development – a combination that consistently achieves great results for our labels and artists.” At Hoxton Vinyl, the service is exclusively for physical music formats, focusing on manufacturing and strategic distribution. “We partner with digital distributors and work with both independent and major labels,” says Hoxton Vinyl MD Marley Dennis. “A big win for us was helping J Hus’ album, Beautiful And Brutal Yard, reach No.1 by providing strategic manufacturing support to complement his strong streaming numbers. Our goal is always to achieve the best outcome for the artist.” With the half-year BPI figures pointing to a possible increase in physical sales in 2024, Hoxton is in a strong position across formats. “CDs definitely still have a place, but they need to be special,” says Dennis. “For Ren’s Sick Boi release, we created three unique versions of the CD with high-end packaging, which resonated well with fans and helped to achieve a No.1 album. Alongside cassettes, these special editions played a key role in winning a tight chart battle.” Downtown’s Pieter Van Rijn outlines their dual approach for digital and physical music. “We have significantly invested in our global physical offering, and it has been a big success for our clients who are looking for an integrated approach when they release music,” he says. “The key challenge is to make your clients stand out amidst the noise, build their story and grow their audience,” says Debs Cutting, operations director at Absolute. “D2C strategies have always been important to us, as evidenced by our successful relationship with [e-commerce platform] Townsend.” Absolute has secured Top 10 albums for Feeder, Kaiser Chiefs and The Reytons, as well as a chart-topping result with Busted. “The recent No.1 album with Busted was a collaborative effort offering fans a variety of enticing formats at competitive prices with the option to purchase an arena ticket,” says Cutting. “We also paid attention to high street retailers who also had their own exclusive formats. D2C plays a crucial role for bands with an engaged audience, allowing the artist to act as the retailer.” This brings up the industry opportunity with superfans. “Superfans are crucial,” says Dennis. “For example, with James Marriott, we tapped into his existing Twitch fanbase for his debut album. We worked closely with him to release exclusive vinyl and CD drops directly to his most engaged fans, securing a Top 20 debut in a very competitive week. The hype and limited nature of these drops drove rapid sales.” “Superfans are often the early adopters of an artist’s work and should be valued not only for their commercial potential but also as powerful promoters and amplifiers,” argues Absolute director Mark Dowling. “Providing them with exclusive content, as well as behind-the-scenes access and updates on campaign developments, can form the foundation of any successful campaign.” Downtown is doubling down on tech solutions for clients to engage with fans on merchandising and touring. “Existing internal and third-party marketing tools, such as found.ee or SymphonyOS, are driving fans to the content, merchandise and ticketing offerings of our clients,” says Van Rijn. Roo Currier, UK general manager at IDOL, says their dedicated audience development team “provides artists and labels with their own personal manager to better cultivate online fan communities and unlock new global audiences”. Believe tapped into such fan power with a Top 5 result for Sea Girls’ third studio album, Midnight Butterflies, last month. “An artist’s development still often begins from more traditional live and marketing routes, and can then be amplified even quicker and in a more targeted way through streaming and audience engagement,” says Believe’s Rimmer. “We never saw these elements as cannibalising each other. It remains a 360 business and most of that is built on superfans.” The Orchard’s James Moodie describes how artists are embracing multiple platforms to engage with loyal followers. “We look for ways to bring the biggest fans closer to a project, whether it’s Discord, D2C, broadcast channels or social media,” he says. “Global communication is vital in a campaign like [Raye’s],” adds Anette Collins, senior director, international artist services at The Orchard. “It’s not realistic to think an artist can operate at this scale without a team.” A presence across global markets is often a key factor. “One of Believe’s missions has always been to champion local labels and artists, and it’s been interesting to see the continued trend on social and streaming platforms towards localisation,” says Believe’s Alice McLean. “The Orchard’s truly global footprint puts us in a unique position to captialise on this when managing local and international repertoire across our teams for our roster,” says Chris Manning, managing director, UK & Europe, The Orchard. For The Snuts, that meant a focus on Japan, while Frank Turner hit a peak of No.6 in Germany thanks to The Orchard’s network. Artists such as Turner, Sea Girls and The Snuts have all come from majors, and there’s now a sense of healthy balance between the traditional labels and the services partners. “They can either operate as competitors or collaborate, with record labels often utilising the specialised services offered by label service companies,” suggests Absolute’s Cutting. “I see more partnerships and collaboration, with each side leveraging the strengths of the other,” says Hoxton Vinyl’s Dennis. “Label services are crucial for providing artists with an independent route to market, offering flexibility and tailored support.” Absolute’s Semmence says the services sector is thriving. “The misconception that label services are an inferior and less comprehensive route to market has diminished as the sector has become more established,” he says. “It must be viewed as a positive that artists of all sizes and stages in their careers now have a choice about how to run and monetise their own businesses.” “The traditional gatekeepers no longer hold all of the cards, and are increasingly sharing power with alternative avenues,” says Sarah Landy, SVP, Americas at FUGA. “A variety of options for artists and rights-holders is a good thing.” “While the lines almost blur between the two, the companies that rise to the top in each instance are building strong teams of people and prioritising fairness to artists and rights-holders,” adds Landy, who believes that label services models have also “driven positive evolution in traditional record label deals”. With expertise, services and funding, “remaining independent is viable and often the best option for more artists and record labels than ever before,” suggests Rimmer over at Believe. “It’s a thriving and powerful independent sector now.” And even with the rise of AI, it all comes down to the music. “It is interesting to see how AI evolves, but we still believe in that core interaction of music and artists with fans,” says IDOL’s Grace Theokritoff. On that positive note, FUGA’s Liz Northeast has the final word. “As the music industry becomes ever more complex we believe the future is one where we can provide a solution that simplifies this for our clients and allows them to focus on what they do best – creating and curating music,” she concludes.

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