Nick Smethurst
Musical Entrepreneur and Independent Label owner, In Finland Productions
Written by Sophie Langton on 2009-10-09
Nick Smethurst is a community minded entrepreneur who runs his own record label. The label, In Finland Productions encompasses all aspects of management, distribution and promotion. Nick has an extensive history within the Brisbane music community playing in bands such as Lion Island and Epithets (formerly Let’s Not But Say We Did).
Starting the company in 2005, he has utilised his experiences and knowledge of Brisbane music to create a company that works tirelessly to support and strengthen the community.
What are the biggest challenges you and your organisation face as a member of the Brisbane media community? What have you had to overcome in order to establish yourself within the media industry?
The biggest problem faced as a member of the Brisbane media community is, quite simply, the community itself. Rather than being result-oriented, co-operative, mentoring and developmental in aim, it is critical, cliquey, selfish and competitive in ways that few outside the industry would want to believe possible. Overcoming the complete lack of support from many peers would stand in my mind as a powerful example of an obstacle that had to be overcome – in fact, has to still be overcome daily.
If you are not interested in following the same dubious path laid out by many of the “community’s” key players, then you are viewed as an unwelcome deviation from the standard order, and people will actually put effort into seeing you fail in your aims. Actually, maybe “bitterness” is a bigger thing to overcome. Remaining passionate, inspired, not moving away etc.
How do you separate yourself from other similar companies, what makes you unique?
Not conforming to the above. Doing our best at all times to be ‘for the artists’, ‘for the people’ and ‘for the community’. Choosing projects that we ideologically agree with, rather than those that might turn a quick buck.
For your company, what is the most important form of self promotion? For example, do you rely on one medium such as online or word of mouth to help promote your services, and why?
Because our events are rarely ever significantly profitable, and because profits are always channelled back to the artists wherever feasible, free forms of publicity are vital to anything we do. The internet is the whole reason I am still able/inclined to do this. People can get behind events, hype them to their friends, Tumbl, Tweet, Facebook and Scrobble them to within an inch of their lives, and it becomes far less of a one-man operation in these conditions. Participants are granted a sense of ownership, in some small way, and that’s awesome.
Are there any ideas, changes or implementations which you feel could improve the function of Brisbane’s media industries?
Sure. A less incestuous funding system on the state level, a more supportive attitude towards independent music on the council level – that is, music being operated independently of council, so not just once or twice a year at token events – a more positive sense of communal development on a participants level… Band managers no longer being allowed to book music venues, as is the case in multiple Brisbane ‘mainstays’… but hey, who gets what they want all the time? Just put more efficient late night public transport in place 4-7 nights a week, that would be a huge help.
What features, both positive and negative, differentiate Brisbane-based media organisations to other national and international media hubs?
Without a better understanding of which media organisations you are particularly discussing, it’s hard to not be overly general. Negative… they’re incestuous, self-involved, self-aggrandizing and more or less choose to function as a closed circle? On the upside… They haven’t all relocated to Melbourne, and occasionally some really amazing exceptions come along. Peppermint Magazine, that rules.
In your opinion, what is the most prominent trend in the music industry at the moment, particularly in relation to independent record labels?
If they do not give their music away for free online or switch to vinyl, they go broke, and people get upset for a tiny little while and then forget about it. Major ideological change is required to combat near-unstoppable obsolescence.
What changes do you see happening over the next five years in the music industry? Can you foresee any dramatic changes or shifts within the music industry?
Only the death of record labels, the end of CDs, a complete rethink of the economic realities of music. People have to realise that the old monetized order of the industry cannot possibly hold up in a world where a true democratisation of information exists. This could play out any number of ways, and in the end, it will have very little impact on what I do – on what I seek to contribute. I am the guy hoarding cans in the basement already. I am prepared to survive in a complete meltdown of my industry’s established order, and hell, if it does not happen I will be well equipped nonetheless.