Anyone who makes a leap into an notoriously difficult career path needs a lot of encouragement along the way. Coolock native Helen Kennedy (29) has her mother to thank for initially pushing her into working in music.
After studying fashion and journalism at the University for the Creative Arts in Epsom in London, the then-24-year-old Kennedy spent a year working as a store manager in Swedish retail brand Monki. Efforts to get more involved in music while living in Shoreditch proved difficult, but there was some glimmer of hope. In the same week she was offered a paid copywriter position for Harrods, she was offered an unpaid internship at Sony label RCA.
At a crossroads, Kennedy, while back home in Dublin, did what most of us would do in that situation – talked to the mammy about her options.
“She immediately, said ‘you cannot stop smiling when you talk about the internship, so try it out. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll help you. Go for it.’”
Starting at the bottom
Helped by savings from her management job, Kennedy accepted the internship with "a big slice of humble pie" and began at the bottom of the ladder, working with Sony RCA imprint Chess Club Records, making tea, sorting post but also scouting bands at gigs, one being Wolf Alice, who were then an unsigned two-piece.
Despite being a few years older than most of the interns, Kennedy saw her experience as a store manager as an advantage. An interest in marketing developed.
“It was the central hub for a lot of what is done around artists, and worked with my skillset,” she notes.
In 2013, after seven months at RCA, Kennedy got a job as product manager at independent label Domino Records, a role which gave her a connection to the artists from the beginning of a campaign all the way through, which she relished.
Kennedy spent just over three years at Domino, involved in the digital marketing, commission artwork and videos, budgeting, social media, production and content creation for bands such as Washed Out, Ducktails, Hot Chip, Real Estate, Omar Souleyman and All We Are.
Roster resistance
Despite Domino being a very respected large indie label, her job was met with resistance by artists occasionally.
Hookworms, a Leeds-based rock band with a DIY sensibility signed to Domino subsidiary Weird World Record Co, even though they were a bit apprehensive about doing so.
The band were largely self-sufficient, with band members also functioning as manager, producer and graphic designer. Kennedy’s job was to alleviate their fears and produce work that this skeptical band would like.
“There was a lot of pushing and pulling as a result,” says Kennedy. “They weren’t a big fan of marketing in general, they didn’t want any promoted posts on their Facebook page, so we tried to do more DIY stuff with them, things that weren’t too in-your-face. We did a lot of artwork-lead stuff using the icon of their album but avoided the ‘buy now / stream here’ language, and linking to a Hookworms landing page rather than the direct buy link. We gave independent record stores an exclusive Soundcloud track that could be unlocked on the indie shops’ site, as the band wanted to support independent outlets.”
Kennedy facilitated the band’s “dream vinyl” which included a die-cut sleeve, clear vinyl deluxe package with a bonus 7”. She even helped them get a British Phonographic industry (BPI) grant that enabled them to tour the US.
Major calling
Last year, Kennedy moved back into the major label world when she joined Virgin EMI as a marketing manager looking after the indie and alternative roster including Beck, Jamie T, Fangclub, Ryan Adams and Isaac Gracie. With the new role came bigger budgets, more artists and more of an emphasis on the charts. The larger scope has helped Kennedy get a bigger perspective on the industry, citing the massive streaming numbers of artists such as Jonas Blue and Axwell / Ingrosso, in the billions.
Kennedy also brought some of the indie sensibility to her new role. “If there’s one thing I learned from the indie world, it’s to really focus on your artist and to make sure they are happy and getting what they need.”
Kennedy typically sits down with the artist to get a sense of their ambitions, and how far they are willing to go with a campaign.
“There are a lot of artists who love promo and a lot who don’t touch it,” she says. “So that can determine your strategy in terms of whether there will be a bit of mystery around them, or whether they will do interviews, how they will drop singles, which singles they release along with considerations for social media.”
Building an artist long-term
As the majority of major label now sign bands to 360 deals, touring, merch, publishing and other aspects have to be considered for the strategy. Kennedy develops plans for the following 18 months to two years, as it's all about building and maintaining momentum.
“Everyone’s got to be in it for the long haul, not just for a number-one slot on a quiet week, where no other big albums have been released. There’s less front-loading campaigns in order to get that, less doing every radio session under the sun in the first week of release of the first single. It has be spread out more.”
Once an album is released, a look at the streaming and download numbers help determine if the strategy is in place, and with data offering city and region numbers, the marketing manager (along with everybody else) is in a better place to decide where to put their efforts.
Kennedy points to the recent Christine & The Queens' Chaleur Humaine album as an example of that kind of promo and marketing strategy that lasted throughout the year, built upon TV appearances, word-of-mouth, poster advertising and regular radio appearances. It went on to be the biggest-selling debut album of 2016 in the UK.
Connected to home
Kennedy has now spent eight years in London, yet still feels very connected to what’s going on back home. She talks of getting a flight home to vote in the Marriage Referendum in 2015 and the Repeal The 8th Campaign, which is gaining support with fundraising gigs and club nights in London.
Kennedy would like to see more women working in the upper echelons of the music industry (“It’s shambolic and needs to change”).
“I’m hoping now, with more younger women in music, there will be more women in 10 to 15 years at those boardroom tables. There are a lot of young women, even in this building, who are on the up. There are a lot of amazing men in this label who encourage us too.”
She talks of employing “amplification”, a tool used by female aides in the White House that would help address the gender bias in the room by repeating or validating what other women say, so they are heard and their words are reinforced.
“I notice that sometimes when I’m in a room with 10 men,” she says. “The meeting which might include the A&R, the manager, the publicist, the booking agent, radio plugger. I’m the only woman a lot of the time, so to have another female to amplify what I say, gives me validation in the meeting, and vice versa.”
As for the future, Kennedy doesn’t know how long she’ll work in music (“It has a tendency to burn people out”), but the need for female representation higher up spurs her on.
“I certainly want to give it a go and represent the females in the industry. I want to leave my stamp.”
