Interview with Phil Legg

Interview Transcript

Interview with Phil Legg

Alexandria: Alright... Would you like to start by introducing yourself and what you do?

Phil: Hi, my name is Phil Legg, and basically, I run a company called Futureproof which primarily is a promotions company and record label. We deal mainly with indie artists, promoting them, putting them on the radio, getting press coverage, as well as digital playlisting, and just developing their career in any way that we can. We also have a record label where we press up vinyl and sell records. That's primarily where it is. I come from being a musician myself. I was assigned to rough trade when I was a teenager, and I've done a lot of record production as well, so I've done a lot of studio work and a bit of club promotion too. From that situation, I've gone on to create Futureproof which is in essence a promotions company and record label.

Alexandria: What made you want to create Futureproof?

Phil: Well, I probably had spent a very long period of my life in recording studios, and I think you're in one room, and it's very long hours, and I suppose I got to a point where I wanted a change in direction. I've still always been a music fan, and I actually started out as a club promoter with it all, so we did club promotions and stuff, and then I started releasing records. And then the whole world really sort of changed when record sales dropped and digital came in. Which was a bumpy road for quite a few years before it then managed to get itself together.

Alexandria: So, to get to where you are today, you kind of talked a little bit about this, what was an obstacle you faced and how did you overcome it?

Phil: An obstacle... Well, primarily the obstacle was as I launched Futureproof as a record label, really like I said, the record sales dropped off, Nabster was king, everybody was downloading stuff on LimeWire and things like that, so it was that sort of world and become a lot harder to navigate. As a result, basically, people approached me and they liked how I was promoting my own records as a record label and asked us if we wanted to do that for their records. So, we sort of got into it on that level. Putting records out itself is expensive business, it involves a lot of money upfront, and it takes a while before income streams develop and come up. Whereas offering yourself as a promotions company, you're offering yourself as a service. You don't own any of the copyrights, so therefore you're not building up a catalog and such, but at the same time it was a way I could navigate through that period in the music business.

Alexandria: Was there anything specifically that you learned from those obstacles?

Phil: I learned how I hadn't managed my catalog very well in the early years. I suppose I think I've maybe come to understand it in a deeper way how valuable catalog can be, and how you need to ensure that the rights management of that is managed well. It's a lot easier now with the internet; you can log on and see what's going on. In those days, you'd fill out a form and hope that someone has registered it properly. Now it is easier, I think young musicians these days can really manage that a lot better. Having said that, a lot of people- it can get confusing, I understand that, but nonetheless, I think it's important to understand the exact infrastructure of what is publishing on a record, the songwriting, what's the recording, who actually owns the recording, who are the performers on it, what's meant by a featured performer and a non-featured performer, and all those sorts of things. Which you need to get a grasp of those in your head to understand where exactly your part in a record fits in on that.

Alexandria: What are some qualities you think make a good leader?

Phil: I guess a good listener. A good listener, and someone with a vision of where they want to lead everything to end up anyway, some sort of goal. A good goal, good listener, and I think you need boundless amounts of energy. And also, you need to be an optimist, I think, you need to believe in it yourself, and you need to make sure especially in music, that the music you're working in you actually believe in it. And I think also that you need to be able to make those around you believe in it. So, I think those are the sort of things that make a good leader.

Alexandria: Do you think that your own style of leadership follows in line with those qualities?

Phil: Right, so, I try to be a good listener, and I'm always sort of asking myself "are you listening? Are you actually taking on board to even things that you maybe don't agree with? Are you questioning them?" So, I try to be a good listener. I'm lucky in the way that I seem to have endless amounts of energy. And generally speaking, I believe in the music that we work. So yes, I think those sorts of areas are generally good.

Alexandria: What are your opinions on failures versus successes?

Phil: Someone I think said "a success is just failing people who just keep getting up again" and I think there's something to be said in that. There are some people who do seem to- everything they do just turns to gold. I've seen that, and I've witnessed that, and I know people, friends of mine, and stuff like that. I think generally speaking, even though it might look like that from the outside, I would not say it's not like that for the actual person. But I think, a career in the music business, a career in music, is full of lows and some highs; probably the best way to say it. I think again it goes back to that idea of belief. When you're low and down about it, and maybe had a failure, if you believe in the music enough then you just have to get back up on the horse, or whatever one might say. So, failure, you're gonna fail. And another thing, I think, every experience does have something you can learn from it. Every time that you do fall or are having a bad time or if a bad experience was bad, I always try to reflect afterwards and go, "okay, but what have I learned from this?" If I'm honest with myself, I made myself vulnerable by doing this or that, it's okay to make mistakes and it's even better if you can learn from them and try to get better in that way. That's really where it's at I suppose. Keeping positive, always getting back on the road, keeping trying to be as honest with yourself as possible.

Alexandria: Do you think a failure, or a success could define a person or a company long term, or is it only a stepping-stone?

Phil: Well, I think it depends on how you handle the success or failure. I think, if you sit- again, the thing of moving on from it. If you let it define you, then it could well define you in terms of a failure or success. I guess you could say that in the long run you end up mostly being defined by your successes. When you read about someone and you realize that maybe, you know, they made this record or they made that record, but if they've been in the business for 20 or 30 or even longer years, those few records that maybe they're known for, that might've taken a week or a weekend to do. And so sometimes you might think they're really successful, but it might be that they've had maybe five points of great success which is about a week's worth of work. It might not be, it might be an album which could be a year's worth of work. For me, I sort of think, okay they've done all those things and those are wonderful things to have done, but it may be years in between of struggle and stuff like that. I think I remember seeing a Mark Ronson interview where he sort of talked about that and was saying there've been many years in his life where there's basically not much happening at all. And you get concerned about it, and I think it's right that you get concerned about it. You need to keep listening to yourself, listening to the world around you, and try to make sense of it.

Alexandria: How do you lead a team through a difficult time, obstacle, or failure?

Phil: I think primarily, I have to look at myself and basically go, "right, you need to be the strong one in here." Maybe I take stock for a bit and go, right, this is difficult, and what I'd probably do is break it all down into small little chunks, and go, right, what do we do for the next half hour that is going to be positive. And once we get past that little part- I think breaking things down into smaller compartments and not trying to solve the entire thing in one sweep is probably something I think I get better at as I get older.

Alexandria: What do you want your legacy to be?

Phil: I haven't got a clue. I suppose, you know, I've made a fair few records, which've seemed to have reverberated around the world. So, I guess, there's that sort of thing. I've worked a lot with young people, people younger than me, throughout Futureproof, and I've seen a lot of them go on to be successful in their own careers and things like that, and that's a good feeling. I hope I've been a positive force within the music business.

Alexandria: And the last question, do you have any advice for anyone who might want to start their own record or promotions company?

Phil: I think ever more and more, I think it's a very changing world. And to be honest, I think that's the same, not just a promotions company or a record label, but most things in the world these days. Things evolve, mindsets evolve, the zeitgeist moves on, very quickly really. Although you obviously probably do create a plan in your head, you've always got to be looking at the world around you and keep evaluating. And it's okay to change that plan, I feel, it's okay to change that plan. I think, maybe in a way, maybe the plan itself is that keep aware and don't be scared to adjust. I don't mean just totally throwing out the window and starting again, because that can be a little- once you've done that two or three times, that almost becomes a pattern. Nothing quite ever gets to a point of doing anything, because you're going, 'oh, that's not working' and then moving it over. When I started Futureproof, there was vinyl, we sent out lots of stuff through post, and things like that, in a way, it was a simpler world. But then, vinyl collapsed and digital came about, then we moved into promotion because of that. Then, digital downloads failed, and streaming really took off, and now we're in a world of digital mailing lists and stuff like that. There's a resurgence in vinyl as well, AI is coming up. I think it's being a little bit over hyped at the moment, but it's definitely there, and I'm trying to find ways of using that in a cool, artistic level as opposed to doing it because it's the latest thing. So, I guess, the main thing would be keep looking around you, keep- not doubting yourself, but keep questioning "are you really doing what you want to do?" and "Are you doing it in the most effective way?" I think to work with people as well is a good thing because they come in with other opinions and stuff like that, especially with music, they'll introduce you to a band you've never heard of or something, and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah, keep listening to yourself, don't be scared to change, and work with lots of people who inspire you and hopefully you can inspire them.

Alexandria: Alright, thank you so much for your time, and letting me interview you for this project.