Fraser T Smith has told Music Week that his publishing company will focus on “nurturing young artists”.
The producer who helmed the BRITs-winning Gang Signs & Prayer was speaking ahead of his appearance on Friday (May 17) at The Great Escape. Smith is up early at 10.30am in The Old Courtroom, where he should have plenty to talk about having worked with artists including Dave, Ramz, Not3s, Adele and, of course, Stormzy.
Smith is also busy developing writers as part of his publishing company, 70Hz, which partnered with Kobalt last year.
“I’m very excited about Tyrell 169, an artist whose publishing we signed,” said Smith. “We met on the Dave project and we’ve been working together on Craig David - we did four tracks on Craig’s album. We’ve been working with Mabel, Dave and a variety of artists. That’s really exciting and he has his own solo stuff as well, which goes through ADA.”
He described writer and producer Lostboy as an “incredible” addition to the roster.
“He is one of the best pop/electronic writer-producers I’ve ever come across - he’s doing some really great stuff,” added Smith.
DJ Mele has also become part of the 70Hz family and has been working with Smith on material for Ray Blk alongside his own writing and live activity.
“We worked with her [Blk] on a couple of tracks for her album and we wrote Baby Girlz together, which is the first track on her last EP,” said Smith. “It’s a very exciting time – I feel very lucky to be doing what I’m doing.”
Smith said that company will maintain its boutique operation in order to develop new talent.
“I want to be able to spend time and to really be able to focus on [the writers] so I’m not looking at growing the roster exponentially,” he told Music Week. “It’s not so much about the financial side, it’s actually just great nurturing young artists. It’s what I’ve done in my production and career so far, so it just feels a natural thing to be able to help young writers in the early part of their career. If a great artist-writer comes along, that’s great - but we want to keep it very exclusive.”
In the latest issue of Music Week, Smith takes us inside one of Stormzy’s smashes as Blinded By Your Grace Part 2 is the subject of a Hitmakers features - subscribers can read it in full here. He also opens up about Stormzy's sophomore album and Atlantic deal here.
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