{"id":38975,"date":"2017-12-14T18:29:32","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T18:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=38975"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:12:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:12:29","slug":"david-joseph-we-creatively-empower-our-artists-globally-im-proud-of-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/david-joseph-we-creatively-empower-our-artists-globally-im-proud-of-that\/","title":{"rendered":"David Joseph: ‘We creatively empower our artists globally. I’m proud of that.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Joseph\u2019s neighbours must be used to it by now.<\/p>\n

Stroll past the Universal UK boss\u2019s house at the right hour on the right evening, and you\u2019ll spot him huddled in the driver\u2019s seat of his Mini \u2013 thumbs blazing at his Blackberry. Some nights, he can be there for 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

Such stationary graft is the result of a stringent personal rule: no emails are dispatched inside Joseph\u2019s home during the precious few workday hours he cordons off to spend with his wife and his three children each week. Twelve feet away from the front door, though, is just about acceptable.<\/p>\n

Joseph admits that he\u2019s \u201cnot the greatest switcher-offer in the world\u201d, and that, bar his family, Universal (aka the travails of the world\u2019s biggest record company) occupies his grey matter round the clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are into cars, or go to the football to switch off \u2013 that\u2019s not me,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when you\u2019re with your family, you need to be 100% present. That\u2019s not my great guide to parenting or anything; it\u2019s just what I need to do to stay sane.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the rest of his waking hours, Joseph is contemplating Universal, its near-term and long-term evolution, the state of its roster \u2013 and how to outmanoeuvre those who are fixated on snaffling slivers of market share from its grasp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably think about this company, our artists and our records to a point that\u2019s a little bit unhealthy,\u201d admits Joseph. \u201cBut I\u2019ve seen people who\u2019ve done this job before at other companies and have not been completely immersed in it \u2013 and, to be frank, they\u2019re not there anymore.<\/p>\n

“Jobs like this last for a period of time in your life, they cannot last forever. So if you\u2019re going to do it, you need to throw yourself into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, Joseph is throwing himself into perhaps the most complex and taxing era in music business history \u2013 one that seldom lays on cuddles and kindness to those whose job it is to safeguard the prosperity of a major record company.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>

Ever since Joseph took the Chairman & CEO position at Universal Music UK in 2008, his paramount priority has been breaking new British artists.<\/p>\n

In the near-decade since then, his stable has been responsible for some of the most culturally and commercially significant breakthroughs of recent years \u2013 from Amy Winehouse to Mumford & Sons, Sam Smith (pictured), Take That and Florence + The Machine.<\/p>\n

Yet the past 12 months, it\u2019s fair to say, haven\u2019t seen many new Universal UK artists burst out of the blocks with the same commercial velocity as some others \u2013 Sony\/Columbia\u2019s Rag N Bone Man, for example.<\/p>\n

While Joseph acknowledges that Universal\u2019s latest crop of fledgling stars might not yet have graduated from green shoots to full-on blossom, he remains proudly confident in the potential of acts such as Mabel, Sigrid, Loyle Carner, Dermot Kennedy, Jessie Reyez, Stefflon Don and Grace Carter \u2013 as well as the next steps for artists such as The 1975, James Blake, Michael Kiwanuka, Years & Years and Hozier.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s quick to remind the industry that the old barometer of \u2018breaking\u2019 in the UK market \u2013 namely, 100,000 album sales in an act\u2019s first year \u2013 is beginning to look dustily archaic.<\/p>\n

“Spending time negatively worrying about someone else; I can\u2019t see how that becomes healthy for an individual.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cToday you can\u2019t really say where you are after a year with a new artist, maybe even two,\u201d he says. \u201cThe less young I get, the more bored I become with industry chatter about whether things are working or not based on short periods of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the way the market\u2019s changing, maybe at this stage we really have to look back over two or three albums, five to seven years, to judge whether something\u2019s actually worked. And you know what? Maybe that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are a few instances during our chat where Joseph does this: verbally alchemising what could be seen as a troubling trend for the British music business into a thrilling opportunity.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one industry habit he doesn\u2019t make light of, and which leaves him visibly annoyed: those wishing ill on rivals\u2019 campaigns across Kensington High Street.<\/p>\n

Joseph admits that he considers himself one of the most competitive people in the global industry today \u2013 up there with a certain Sir Lucian (more on him later). But, he says, he never indulges in outright criticism of others\u2019 acts.<\/p>\n

That holds up during our discussion: he has particularly nice things to say about the likes of Ed Sheeran and Radiohead, whose Moon Shaped Pool continues to earn repeat listens in his headphones a year after release.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompetition is good \u2013 I\u2019m fiercely competitive and it\u2019s healthy,\u201d he says. \u201cBut if you spend any of your energy willing an artist to fail, or \u2013 even worse \u2013 actually telling \u2018influencers\u2019 why you think an artist should fail, that\u2019s not a culture I want to be a part of.<\/p>\n

“Spending time negatively worrying about someone else; I can\u2019t see how that becomes healthy for an individual \u2013 let alone if that individual is passing that culture on to a team around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Elements of Joseph\u2019s make-up are strikingly unconventional for an executive in his position at a $5bn+ corporation. And we\u2019re not just talking about the fact he drives a Mini, nor the box-fresh white Converse he tends to wear on his feet.<\/p>\n

Joseph grew up in Southgate, north London, in the late 1970s as one of two twin boys \u2013 the product of a proudly working class Jewish family. Unlike some others in the upper echelons of UK corporate life, he didn\u2019t go to boarding school in the Shires; he attended the comprehensive JFS (Jewish Free School) in the London borough of Camden.<\/p>\n

And he certainly didn\u2019t have an easy \u2018in\u2019 to the entertainment industry: his father, previously a drummer on British TV staple Ready Steady Go, was an artist manager who enjoyed stints of success \u2013 and endured drawn-out periods of professional struggle.<\/p>\n

For Joseph, that meant regular two- and three-week periods where his mother, one of five sisters, would take sole care of him and his brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were third-generation immigrants, absolute working class, with very strong Labour roots, and very vocal views on social equality and justice,\u201d says Joseph.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mum taught us a very strong female-led value system, and there were always lots of cousins running around. It was a great upbringing.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We were third-generation immigrants, absolute working class, with very strong Labour roots, and very vocal views on social equality and justice.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He remembers with fondness a gaggle of cousins and aunties arriving each Saturday, creating a joyous racket by singing raucous, made-up songs about, amongst other things, the pricelessness of the NHS.<\/p>\n

His father\u2019s elongated periods of absence, however, inevitably heaped responsibility on his mum.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad wasn\u2019t around much because he was working really, really hard trying to make a living from the music business,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cHis view of parenting was giving us an album every month or so when [he\u2019d come home from touring]. And he\u2019d say, I want you to study the sleeve notes \u2013 next time we see each other, I want you to tell me who played what instrument on each track.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly not a giant leap from here to take you back to that Mini, on that drive, and Joseph\u2019s staunch refusal to allow professional matters to invade his family\u2019s domestic cocoon.<\/p>\n

It was largely through his father\u2019s gifts from the road, says Joseph, that he inherited a fascination for music and musicians.<\/p>\n

He recalls being handed classic LPs over the years recorded by the likes of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell \u2013 as well as a number of out-there efforts from jazz pioneers Weather Report (\u201cthat was fairly mentally challenging for a nine year-old!\u201d).<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cI won\u2019t pretend my dad was there for every homework, but he was a magical figure who introduced so much incredible music into our lives, and we were golden with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he passed away earlier this year it threw my world upside down. I went back to that time where he would give me and my brother Off The Wall and say, Learn everything about this. It was such a cool thing. If ever I was indebted to someone for a life in music, it\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>

You can perhaps see why, when Joseph landed his first job in the business at RCA in the early nineties, he took a minute to tell his family. That job came via a fateful phone call from Hugh Goldsmith, the former Sky Magazine publisher who had been freshly recruited into RCA by Jeremy Marsh.<\/p>\n

Joseph graduated from the London School of Economics in 1991 and began working at a London advertising agency which paid him precisely \u00a36,200 a year. Seven weeks into that role, Joseph won an award for a Channel 4 campaign tied to Deafness Awareness Week, after he put subtitles on all of his company\u2019s TV ads.<\/p>\n

From there, he took on video games giant Sega as a client, who ended up hiring him in their marketing division as one of 16 early UK employees.<\/p>\n

As Sega geared up to launch the classic Mega Drive console in 1990, Joseph was tasked with getting the masses interested in Sonic The Hedgehog \u2013 and he immediately gravitated towards music and alternative culture to make it happen.<\/p>\n

“All of a sudden I was working in a business where I loved everything about it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First he teamed up the gaming icon with the likes of Massive Attack and Tricky, before putting heads together with Goldsmith at Sky Magazine. Joseph obviously made an impression, because when Goldsmith landed at RCA in 1992 as head of marketing, he wasted no time in poaching him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden I was working in a business where I loved everything about it,\u201d says Joseph of his arrival at RCA, where he climbed to Head of Artist Development and worked with acts including Take That, Kylie Minogue and Annie Lennox.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the least political working environment I\u2019d ever experienced, and I was pretty empowered by Hugh and Jeremy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cI will forever be completely indebted to the pair of them, and they both know that. I was really happy at RCA \u2013 but before long there was some change afoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

That change was manifested when Goldsmith quit RCA to launch Innocent Records at Virgin in 1997. Concurrently, Jeremy Marsh had been booted off to Harvard Business School by BMG, which drafted in Richard Griffiths as its Chairman.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>

It was around this time that Joseph first received a call from Lucian Grainge, who\u2019d recently been promoted to MD of Polydor at PolyGram\/Universal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know much about Polydor other than Grease, The Who and The Bee Gees, and I was happy at RCA,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cBut then I met Lucian and he was\u2026 how can I put this? Incredibly persuasive.\u201d<\/p>\n

By August 1998, Joseph was working at Polydor as General Manager, specifically tasked with shaking up the label\u2019s domestic repertoire. Before long, Polydor was enjoying success with acts such as Scissor Sisters, Ian Brown, Elbow, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snow Patrol and Girls Aloud \u2013 as well as handling US superstars such as Eminem and Dr Dre. In Grainge, Joseph had found a professional mentor to toughen and sharpen his commercial savvy.<\/p>\n

Says Joseph: \u201cI\u2019ve learned a heck of a lot from Lucian over the years. He\u2019s given me the only real mentoring I\u2019ve ever had in business dealing and negotiation. He can be a tough boss, but he\u2019s also a very empowering boss \u2013 and I think we\u2019ve always had good, complementary chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n

“[Lucian] can be a tough boss, but he\u2019s also a very empowering boss \u2013 and I think we\u2019ve always had good, complementary chemistry.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joseph went on to become Co-President of Polydor with Colin Barlow, enjoying huge success with Take That\u2019s record-breaking 2006 comeback, before being named CEO & Chairman of Universal Music UK in 2008.<\/p>\n

In doing so, he took over the reins from Grainge \u2013 who was on his way to running Universal Music Group in Santa Monica (Grainge was named UMG CEO in 2010).<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the issues I definitely had to solve was how to bring my own culture to the UK Chairmanship and try and fill those shoes,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cEven though Lucian and I are very different people, we both don\u2019t tolerate complacency; we share the mindset that it could all fall apart tomorrow and everyone out there wants to kill us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learn from Lucian every day and I genuinely respect him, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019d have been here doing this for ten years without his support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds Joseph: \u201cI remember when Lucian went to America, there was this line Doug Morris spun about him being a \u2018killer shark\u2019 behind his glasses. That\u2019s probably in Lucian somewhere, but it\u2019s not what I see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see someone who is incredibly clever in his social and mental agility; just look at the people he surrounds himself with. And it\u2019s not talked about very much, but he\u2019s also the fiercest family guy, who puts a huge value on loyalty and respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cLucian\u2019s said to a few people who\u2019ve chosen to leave Universal, \u2018Alright, your call, but I tell you what \u2013 they haven\u2019t got your back like I have.\u2019 And he\u2019s been proven right time and time again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>

On that topic\u2026 ten years is a long time for anyone to stay with a company. Twenty with the same corporation in the UK music business is a truly rare feat. Since he received that out-of-the-blue call from Grainge two decades ago at RCA, has Joseph ever had the chance \u2013 or ever been tempted \u2013 to vacate Universal?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been really flattered that a couple of opportunities have come my way in the past, and the older I get the gladder I become that I didn\u2019t explore them,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of them would have meant leaving the music industry, which would have been devastating in hindsight.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people in this industry are, at our core, right-brain creative types who occasionally need a hug and a bit of validation. And that\u2019s okay \u2013 welcome to the human race.<\/p>\n

“Most people in this industry are, at our core, right-brain creative types who occasionally need a hug and a bit of validation – and that’s okay.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBut it means when someone phones you up out of the blue, and offers this yellow brick road to paradise \u2013 when you don\u2019t know if you\u2019re going to bump into the Tin Man or the Scarecrow \u2013 you\u2019re going to find it flattering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people here in that situation the same thing I told myself: Don\u2019t forget, that\u2019s what you do for a day job \u2013 convincing people why they should sign to you.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be really mindful of that: just because the grass seems greener or a company is going to offer a bit more money, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the best choice. I know from my own experience that had I [taken jobs elsewhere], I fundamentally believe I\u2019d have regretted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph gives particular credit to his \u2018deep cabinet\u2019 \u2013 Universal Music UK EVP Selina Webb, Senior HR Director Morna Cook, Business Affairs Director Adam Barker and COO David Sharpe \u2013 for keeping his modern working life interesting and challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a couple of rules at work,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cDon\u2019t be boring \u2013 take risks. And act in the company\u2019s interest, not your own self-interest; that\u2019s a big rule of mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou come across a lot of people in life whose blind, naked ambition will blow anything apart in its wake. But I believe you\u2019ll never earn real loyalty that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Joseph certainly needed to evoke robust loyalty from his closest staff and allies when he waged a one-man campaign for the UK industry to adopt \u2018on-air-on-sale\u2019 a few years back.<\/p>\n

The exec is still vexed about the resistance he faced, going so far as calling his opponents \u2013 those in favour of making tracks unavailable to purchase during early radio play to drive up demand \u2013 \u201canti-music and anti-technology\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt very alone and isolated on that point,\u201d he says, while nodding to Adam Tudhope and the MMF as atypical allies. \u201cI don\u2019t get everything right, but I knew the people opposing [on-air-on-sale] were acting purely in their self-interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t stop certain influential commercial radio stations blacklisting Universal artists in the wake of Joseph\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

“Our labels shouldn\u2019t feel they have to apologise or self-justify the value they bring.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAbout 90% of our records were taken off the radio,\u201d he says, the disbelief still palpable. \u201cI thought it was disgusting that our artists\u2019 livelihood and work was being hurt. And yet throughout, you knew fundamentally it was the right thing to do \u2013 it\u2019s led to less piracy, market growth and more music discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another challenge for Joseph and UMG is now bubbling away amid the independently-minded UK urban music community. Namely, artists demanding deals that either see them hold on to their copyrights, or see ownership revert in just a handful of years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe employ about 650 people here, and I know that every day they are thinking, worrying, second-guessing, perfecting, investing, challenging and empowering artists \u2013 and to me, that has to come with a value,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t, we\u2019re under-selling ourselves, and we\u2019re under-selling decades of instinct, experience and navigation.<\/p>\n

“Our labels shouldn\u2019t feel they have to apologise or self-justify the value they bring. We creatively empower our artists globally: I buy into that and I\u2019m proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>

There\u2019s evidently no insurmountable impasse: Universal UK labels have recently inked mutually agreeable deals with independently-wired acts such as Stefflon Don and Giggs (pictured) \u2013 while earlier this year Island Records UK launched a dedicated urban music division under respected A&R specialist Alex Boateng.<\/p>\n

Adds Joseph: \u201cI totally encourage deal flexibility and change in the market. So I\u2019m not stuck somewhere in the past. Challenge us; we\u2019re totally willing to have open conversations.<\/p>\n

“I still hold on to the romantic notion that artists should be as free as possible to focus on creativity and their best quality of work.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBut those \u2018why do we need you?\u2019 accusations can quickly become negative and draining. I still hold on to the romantic notion that artists should be as free as possible to focus on creativity and their best quality of work.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not easy being an artist in 2017 \u2013 not least because of the whole pressure of 24\/7 fan judgment and social media. If you add to that a requirement to be in control of every single chess move, the burden gets quite intimidating.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking all of that on by yourself with a team or two or three people, in a world with over seven billion people, with China set to increasingly emerge as one of the biggest markets in the world… I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d always fancy the odds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>

Universal, of course, isn\u2019t averse to making the occasional bold bet itself. It\u2019s been over five years since UMG\u2019s \u00a31.2bn takeover of EMI\u2019s recorded music business, led by Lucian Grainge, was approved by regulators. (Although UMG ultimately had to cleave off Parlophone and sell it to Warner).<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people thought that was a risky gamble by Lucian at the time, but he\u2019d completely calculated it,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cNow you can see it for the genius move that it was: the deal of the century.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cOne thing I do remember about it, and sadly can\u2019t forget, is the number of people who wanted Lucian to fail \u2013 the people who lobbied against us, and said it was over-priced. I can\u2019t forget and I won\u2019t forget the negative tactics of those who tried to derail it for their own self-interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud we got it and I\u2019m incredibly proud to have been a part of it. You have to remember that EMI was really shaky at the time \u2013 it wasn\u2019t being invested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

“There have been some recent market share acquisitions that I don\u2019t think are financially or creatively sound. EMI was both.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

EMI was also, of course, a handy and significant boost to Universal\u2019s UK market share figures. Is Joseph satisfied with how those figures have played out in the wake of the merger?<\/p>\n

\u201cOur market share performance is in good shape, but it\u2019s genuinely not something I obsess about,\u201d he says. \u201cI know some competitors are literally fixated on market share, and you hear near-hysterical stories about it \u2013 bunny-boiling obsession!<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we\u2019re No.1 and I know there\u2019s always someone who wants to steal your crown. To maintain that position you\u2019ve got to have lots of thought and no complacency.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Lucian and I discuss this a lot: when you\u2019re in that [No.1] position, there\u2019s a big role for responsible deal-making \u2013 that\u2019s being responsible both to the artists we\u2019re in partnership with and our shareholders.<\/p>\n

“From a competition point of view, and I notice this more in one [major music] company than the other, there have been some recent market share acquisitions that I don\u2019t think are financially or creatively sound. EMI was both.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a bit of strength to walk away from a deal, and we\u2019ve walked away from deals where others haven\u2019t. You have to ask yourself in those situations: how much real value is there in a photo and a story in a trade paper?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

There\u2019s something about David Joseph\u2019s seventh floor Kensington High Street office that, once you realise it, means you can\u2019t stop glancing around – looking for something that doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

It will be the same in his new professional abode, when Universal Music UK ups sticks to a ten-floor Kings Cross skyscraper in the new year: he doesn\u2019t own a desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in the physical barrier between the person behind the desk and the person in front of the desk,\u201d he reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t get it. Sit in an armchair. Your osteopath would agree with me. My job is to get the best out of people here, to listen to them and to be a bit of a therapist for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been to a therapist myself, but I imagine I wouldn\u2019t want them to sit behind a desk with stuff on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph has tried meditation, once, on the recommendation of an artist \u2013 when he was agonizing over a particular narrative thread in the Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy.<\/p>\n

The conclusion was simply \u201cto fall on the side of the truth\u201d says Joseph, who exec produced the film \u2013 which ended up winning the Best Documentary prize at both the Oscars and BAFTAs.<\/p>\n

And yet, Joseph has no desk on which to place such trophies.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit baffling, but he\u2019s in good company: the author John Le Carre once wrote, \u201cA desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s view of the world today often centres on diversity, and how to ensure a healthier mix of gender and ethnicity is instilled across Universal Music UK\u2019s multiple divisions.<\/p>\n

“This has nothing to do with political correctness \u2013 it\u2019s about hiring the best people and gaining a market advantage.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He is clearly proud that Universal, at the time of writing, is the only UK major record company to employ a female executive at the top of a flagship frontline label. (Two, in fact, with Rebecca Allen presiding over Decca Records and Jo Charrington recently promoted to Co-President of Capitol Records UK.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still much work to be done there, but some of that is historical and will inevitably change,\u201d reasons Joseph.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of A&R has often led directly to heads of labels [being appointed], and A&R used to rely on the classic thing of driving up and down the country, which can be a lonely business. But I think that\u2019s all about to change dramatically \u2013 because the process of A&R is changing dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cThis has nothing to do with political correctness \u2013 it\u2019s about hiring the best people and gaining a market advantage.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve definitely found that female artists regularly make better creative connections, more often, with female executives than with male executives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph is full of praise for Universal Music UK\u2019s Senior Director of HR, Morna Cook, who was awarded an MBE for services to the music industry and apprentices last year \u2013 having installed the first paid internships at a creative company in the UK.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Universal Music UK was a founding partner of the East London Arts And Music (ELAM) school in Bromley-by-Bow \u2013 from which it offers 38 students a two-week work experience programme each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re streets ahead on a lot of this stuff,\u201d says Joseph. \u201cWe\u2019re not just doing it because it\u2019s the right thing to do \u2013 we\u2019re doing it because it leads to fresher thinking and better performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Other lines of fresh thinking at Universal Towers right now include a reframing of \u2018visual\u2019 A&R under new hire Stefan Demetriou, who has been tasked with helping artists to tell their stories via long- and short-form video.<\/p>\n

When it comes to more traditional (\u2018audio\u2019) A&R, Joseph expresses excitement at what Universal has up its sleeve for the first half of next year \u2013 but admits one recent trend in the field may, in his view, be spiraling a little out of control.<\/p>\n

He jokes: \u201cIf you signed The Beatles today, would it be Paul McCartney feat John Lennon with Ringo and George?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m into artist features when they blend cultures and the music is better as a result, but in some cases it seems to be happening just because it\u2019s a trend, and trends are there to be followed. Does every single we put out have to be Live Aid now?\u201d<\/p>\n

“Music should never be taken for granted.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Such fads, however, ultimately don\u2019t matter to the bigger picture, says Joseph: after ten years in the top job, he remains hugely excited to work in music because of its ineffable power to occasionally \u201csort something out in all of our heads\u201d.<\/p>\n

That power has taken on new meaning, and a new poignancy, in light of tragic events that have beset 2017 \u2013 a fact of which Joseph is deeply appreciative.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic should never be taken for granted,\u201d he says. \u201cWe know [songs] affect people in the most extraordinary way \u2013 one that\u2019s impossible to articulate \u2013 which is why I\u2019m always a massive proponent that there\u2019s no good or bad taste in music.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently we\u2019ve seen music affected by terror, and then used as some form of antidote to that, which is extraordinary. There\u2019s something about tapping into the wiring of musicians, the way they communicate, which can have an incredible effect on people, some of whom have suffered loss beyond words. All of us working in this industry should never forget that.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s a sign of me aging, maybe it\u2019s a sign of the times, but the healing power of music doesn\u2019t feel like a wishy-washy thing from 1972 at the moment: it feels like an absolute reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

<\/figure>David Joseph’s interview first appeared in the debut issue of MBW’s beautiful new quarterly magazine covering the British music market, Music Business UK (pictured), which is out now with subscribers.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How David Joseph fixates on, copes with and ultimately succeeds at running the UK\u2019s largest record company\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[637,2964,122],"class_list":["post-38975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-david-joseph","tag-sir-lucian-grainge","tag-universal-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}