Heat seeking: Beggars Music to build on 'A&R discovery' results

Beggars Music’s leadership executives have spoken about their long-term support for artists and songwriters as an independent publisher. The company, which is marking its 15th anniversary, has made a series of new signings including King Krule, Bar Italia and Mica Levi. Other recent additions include songwriting and production duo Georgie & Joe, Warpaint’s Emily Kokal as she embarks on a new solo career, and LA-based singer-songwriter Kacy Hill. Beggars Music also represents one of the biggest global hits of recent years, Heat Waves by Glass Animals (3.18 billion Spotify streams). “Our ethos is quite similar to what Beggars Group [recordings] is widely known for, which is working with the highest calibre of artists, where there is also potential for commercial success and which has some ambition about it,” said Molly O’Brien, head of creative, Beggars Music. “When it comes to publishing, we’re always looking for the singular talents and the people who are the best at what they do, and the plan is definitely to keep it very diverse,” she added Beggars Music director Andy Heath contrasted the role of the independent publisher with some rights companies driven by acquisitions. “We’ve never bought anything, we’ve just signed [songwriters] as an A&R discovery,” he said. “If you’re a proper music publisher, then you need to be helping in the creative process, the development of the art, and the care and attention you pay to the human being that is the writer.” King Krule (real name Archy Marshall), who is signed to Beggars Group label XL Recordings outside of the US, is now part of the Beggars Music publishing roster. He joins fellow Crossfield Management client Obongjayar (Steven Umoh), whose Top 5 Fred Again.. collaboration, Adore U, has sales of 708,357 (Official Charts Company). “I think Archy looked at the fact that we were working hard for a writer [Obongjayar], delivering opportunities and creating revenue,” said Heath. Theo Lalic, who owns Crossfield Management, said: “The important thing for Archy and myself is working with a dedicated team who will really go to bat for him. Having worked with Beggars Music with Obongjayar, I know exactly how hard they work to bring syncs in, as well as opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be there – they’re a small team that really understands how to make a difference to the artists’ careers.” The Bar Italia signing was made via Mattitude Music, the publishing JV with Matador Records. “They have so much personality, and they have this three-way writing dynamic, which is just incredibly unique,” said O’Brien. “There’s not really another band that sounds like them. We do have very high hopes for them.” Heath described Mica Levi, who returns to the Beggars fold, as an “enormous talent”. Alongside the signings of established names such as King Krule and Mica Levi, Heath stressed that the company’s focus has been on long-term development of talent such as Sampha, Obongjayar and Glass Animals, whose first three albums are represented by Beggars. “The Glass Animals story is an exemplar of how I think music publishing should be conducted,” he said. “You get in on the ground floor, you work very closely with the creators, you give them space, you help them grow and make some of the right decisions. And you show a lot of patience, and you take a lot of time.” Glass Animals’ songwriter Dave Bayley has since moved to UMPG, which Heath said “made sense” financially. “I think we were five to seven years in before it really started going berserk [with Heat Waves] and we’ve probably got two or three other artists at the moment who are showing signs of doing similar things,” he added. Predicting continued success for Obongjayar, Heath said: “We’re probably five years in, he’s making a very good living out of the music. I think he probably is on the edge of taking on the world. They’re the kind of stories that modern music publishing is all about, frankly.” Earlier this year, the company partnered with electronic label Hyperdub’s publishing operation, the roster of which includes Burial. Beggars Music is active in the composition space, with support from Beggars Group’s in-house music supervision firm, Colourbox, who paired Burial with director Andrea Arnold to score the film Bird. Harmony Korine’s next film, Baby Invasion, also has a Burial score. “His music is so atmospheric and filmic, and we were surprised he hadn’t done anything of that nature,” said O’Brien. “But now he’s got two projects under his belt in the last year.” Lankum’s Ian Lynch scored Irish horror All You Need Is Death, while Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa works on The Buccaneers (Apple TV+). “[With our writers], a lot of it is a vibe that’s interesting and weird,” said O’Brien. “So there’s a lot of crossover with what directors want when they’re building the world for their films.” Looking ahead, O’Brien said the company is in a “really good place” in terms of label partners, the roster and their team. “There’s a lot of creativity coming from all directions, there’s a lot to be working on,” she told Music Week.

Join the dotz: How independent UK rapper Ndotz went global with viral hit

The team behind Ndotz have spoken about the global impact of independently released hit Embrace It and their vision for breaking Gen-Z talent. The London-based rapper with Angolan heritage recently had the No.1 viral song globally on TikTok and is making his mark on Spotify’s global chart. Ndotz has 13.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Last month, Embrace It was in the Top 30 in the streaming giant’s rankings, ahead of current releases from major UK artists. “I would say it is probably one of the biggest records in our culture this year,” said Ndotz’s manager Ade Shonubi, who aligned his firm Flystr8 with Chosen Music in a joint venture. “I would go further and say it’s probably one of the biggest songs – if not the biggest – from any new British artist in the world this year,” said Alistair Goldsmith, Chosen Music co-founder and president. Embrace It has so far peaked at No.20 in the UK – an impressive result for a completely independent track. The single has 135,656 sales to date, based on more than 12.3 million UK streams, according to the Official Charts Company. Ndotz has more than a million followers globally on TikTok, while Embrace It has been used in 1.9 million video creations on the platform. “The strategy is us knowing how to make TikTok convert into streaming, and also building an artist proposition and not just a viral moment,” said Shonubi. He has previously had success with LeoStayTrill and Stepz, who had the most viewed UK artist account on TikTok in 2022 following the impact of his track Cramp Dat. The Embrace It viral campaign has been powered by regular TikTok posts by Ndotz, as well as organic creations and influencer campaigns. For the release, Chosen Music and Flystr8 licensed the single with US-based Broke Records and Isekai, the label owned by RJ Pasin, whose music was sampled on the single. Broke Records founder Andre Benz noted that “a small team from America has one of the biggest records in the United Kingdom right now”. “We move super-fast at everything we do,” he added. “We understand how to market that music very well. So it gave us that opportunity to push that record – and now it’s huge.” Broke’s strategy saw the team jump on a dance to Embrace It posted by a TikTok creator, which has now been played more than 78 million times. The track’s virality was also fuelled by its accompaniment to football videos. “People are assuming we must have this 50-person team, but now it’s just eight people working the record in the US,” Benz told Music Week. As well as a focus on digital marketing on TikTok and social platforms as “the most important thing for artists right now”, Benz suggested that independent labels like Broke can be more nimble when it comes to breaking records. “When you work on a small start-up, the A&Rs are also the marketers and everybody’s so hands-on,” he explained. “We can find a record, do a deal, ingest it and market it in less than 48 hours.” I would say it is probably one of the biggest records in our culture this year Ade Shonubi Goldsmith suggested that young artists themselves are often “really good at the digital side of things”, which can then be amplified by the resources and expertise of the Chosen Music and Flystr8 joint venture. “I’m sure we will again partner with different labels, but the magic is what happens here,” he said. “Our main thing is us being hands-on, regardless of whether it’s signed to a label or it’s with us,” added Shonubi. “It’s digital-first, so a lot of things digitally can be done without having to have a lot of people put in place.” Earlier this year, FlyStr8 and Chosen Music partnered with TikTok’s distribution arm SoundOn to release Pink Lemonade by LeoStayTrill & Mr Reload It. The single peaked at No.56 in the UK and has surpassed 100,000 chart sales. “What we’re about is Gen-Z talent,” said Goldsmith. “We’re not exclusively with any one distributor or one record label. We’ll partner with whoever we think is right and we’ll invest in artists that we believe in together.” In terms of a release campaign, Goldsmith added: “We want to have those conversations with the artists, not with record companies. It doesn’t mean that we don’t value them. It just means that we want to work closely with artists, because that’s where we feel that we are going to get the best results.” While Embrace It continues to grow in the UK, the focus is on the US at present with Ndotz teaming up with American artists Sexyy Red and Flo Milli. “We’re bringing in some really big artists in America to remix the song, and we’re going to try and break it into a Top 5 hit record,” said Benz. He also suggested that Ndotz’s success could signal an opportunity for UK rap talent in the US. “It’s a really hard thing to do to break UK rap in America,” said Benz. “So for us, that’s our biggest value-add – we understand global marketing. And because we’re a US company, we understand how to break music in the United States far more than any other territory.” Shonubi stressed that Ndotz had been prolific in the run-up to this global hit. He also praised the UK rapper for being quick to get music into the market once it was recorded. “This isn’t a one-hit-wonder for Ndotz, he has released seven or eight songs, he’s consistently posting on TikTok,” said Shonubi. “You can’t hold back on your songs, because at the end of the day, you miss all the shots that you don’t take.”

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