GEIR LUEDY
https://shows.acast.com/5bac9508f8a7ea0f7d796ddf/6547e3b17eaf130012a27001
00:00:23-00:01:04

  • This is the podcast [ed: ...?] It had to be celebrated with the love of music and Bergen, so then the theme was music in Bergen. And the grandfather is of course first when it comes to music in Bergen, both locally and nationally. Geir Luedy, also known as CEO of Made Management, manager of artists such as AURORA and Sigrid, but also with their own music career behind them, both as songwriters, artists and producers. All this we will dig more in today's episode, so welcome and thanks for coming, Geir Luedy.
  • Thank you very much.
  • Yes, we can start with a word about how your day has been so far.
  • Today I've only been on the phone since I woke up.

00:17:53-00:27:13

  • Right. You mentioned it like that a while ago, so I just noticed that several of these artists that you have loved, Aurora and Sigrid, they seem to have one thing in common, and it is that everyone has worked on it then. But you have also worked with them, and you mentioned that she came through the doors, she had slapped a video on us, was that it?
  • Who?
  • Aurora.
  • Yes.
  • Yes, as you have found posted. How early did you realize that this here, this is a jam, like?
  • With Aurora?
  • Yes.
  • Quite early. She was 16 years old when she came to us, and it was a lot. She needed time to meet people, work with producers, and get to know herself in the new setting. And I think one of the smartest things we did was not to get her involved right away, that she was allowed to work for a very long time. And I think I learned from that, because when I met Susanne [ed: Sundfør], I was like that. That is, I became so enormously ambitious in her ways. And I think she must have experienced that as quite scary. Because she was 18, and I produced the record, and I was, in a way, the one who was out to go to London and try to get the big record companies. And they came on, the whole terrain, and I don't think I thought that being 18 from Haugesund, and then dealing with this business there. Who will somehow conquer the world then, and talking about London, and we talked about Joni Mitchell, and we talked about, like. I mean that's what I compared it to, and so gigantic at that, and the world I presented to her with London and everything, it was kind of... Okay here, remember we had a showcase in the studio there, so it was Bowie and Led Zeppelin, and all that, giant studio, there we had a showcase and played for some record companies. And for me it was just about, she can just sit down and do what she does, and then this becomes so big. But I'm simply not able to fully understand how she felt, I think, because being 18 in the set by must have been challenging to say the least.
  • Sure, but did she communicate anything about it, or did she give any signals about it then and there?
  • Yes, she probably did that in her own way. But it was probably difficult too, and I was a bulldozer at the time who just drove on. So I think she probably learned a lot in that time. Both about herself and about how she didn't want to do things, and probably a lot about how she wanted to do things. And then there was smoke in London with that project there, and it was probably the best thing for both me and her, Although it sometimes felt incredibly awkward, because we had worked so hard to make it happen, but I wouldn't want to be without that experience.
  • But is this the reflection you have done afterwards, or was it just the way you feel?
  • Yes. When we started with Aurora, we were negotiating a contract in New York for three months. And I think it was me who said we're dropping this. And we had no alternative, and we dropped the world's largest record company, because that. And then I had learned a lot, so I probably wouldn't have done that if it hadn't been for the experience I had with Susanne.
  • Yes, gut feeling.
  • Experience.
  • Experience.
  • When we dropped it, it felt like we dropped something big. But there was something about letting us do things calmly and correctly. So I started to see the importance a little more. Not about others, but like about myself, that I could trust a little more in my own decision and things like that. Aurora is fantastic in the way that she really trusted that you can do that better than me. But there were more of us in it too, but we dropped it. And then there was a bit of a going back to the beginning, and then we went to London. And then we did a deal there instead, with Universal, which was more based on us finding the right people. Who we thought had the same feeling, somewhat the same vision as we had for the project.
  • Yes, it must be in place if everyone moves in the opposite direction in relation to the level of ambition, then it will be very difficult.
  • Yes, and musically was very important, not least for Aurora, because she knows what she wants. It is...
  • Absolutely.
  • It is strong.
  • Yes very. I would like to believe that the very loyal fan base she has. I would like to believe that the music, but also that she is so distinctive, that she has a distinctive expression. I've always wondered how much control performers have over stylistic expression, how much guidance can you place one way or another on how the artists should express themselves. Either for the good of the brand or personally how they want to appear.
  • Yes it... I've probably commented a few times, but that's one of the nicest things about Aurora, a way that she's completely aware. It is not something that she puts on. She puts on a Japanese morning gown to go buy toothpaste in the morning. It is nothing... Not because she's going on stage. She's like that all the time.
  • Yes.
  • So she… She's the real thing, and that... She knows how she wants things to look. We have very little of that. Because we don't need to. But I have commented a few times. When she took off her eyebrows, I kind of got... then I was probably a little like the old man, in relation to the fact that... Right off the bat, I didn't like it. So then I was like, "Why have you done that, then?" It doesn't look good, does it?
  • Yes, but where did... Where does that, how do I put it, that comment come from? This image, in a way, is what you are trying to build together?
  • Yeah, I don't know. I sometimes speak before I think, and straight from the heart. But in retrospect, I think it was very nice and funny, or... It marked another change, right then and there, and it was actually very cool. But... Just as I saw Aurora, then... Suddenly, she's not the one who stands before me anymore. So then I reacted. But it's also a thing, then, that I can say that to Aurora, without it... That she gets upset, or... Or you'll have to ask her about that, but that's it... We have been open.
  • Yes. There will be a very close bond, i.e. this with manager and artist. But at least you are behind her relationship. You get to know each other well, then, with each other's positive and probably also negative sides.
  • Yes, that's it, something like that.
  • You can probably press a few buttons, and are a lot of fun together, not least.
  • Yes, we have traveled a lot together.
  • How would you describe your relationship with Aurora?
  • I think it is difficult. We are good friends.
  • Yes, cozy.
  • And you have got them and her, together with Sigrid, which I feel everyone is trying for. After all, this is international... So, you've cracked the international code, then. That is, with actually success abroad. I am super curious about both how the two strategies for the two artists must have been quite different. But also, whatever is equal, because you've clearly now managed something several times. What is the secret, if you can say so?
  • Yes, it's hard to say. And it is clear that they are very different artists. But the structure of the industry is the same.

00:30:50-00:32:24

  • So you think that the network, that's the whole point of making contacts in London. So this didn't happen by itself. At some price that you have formed in musclev [ed: ?]. That it is natural to make a phone call to London. And kind of get artists signed over there.
  • And that was about it with Aurora. So I had, he is my lawyer that I was talking about. I sent him some music with Aurora and he did not react. Then we sent hem pictures and then he liked that.
  • Yes. (laughs)
  • And then, and it was like for me, it was that he liked it. Because he does like Adele and Dua Lipa and all sorts of things like that, so it was kind of good. This was actually, I don't remember how much time he spent on Adele, but he was sort of the first to catch on to her. But he has done so much, The Prodigy and stuff. So when he liked it I was like, "OK, we got somethinng here". Although there were some pictures, he really went and picked up the phone and called me. But he opened some doors for me with Susanne. So he was just one of the people I could call. And then I could go to London and would have some meetings. But then we got these Americans on who were really a disturbing bunch. But laddrich. As we have anticipated for three months before. He is back again in London then.
  • Fun.
  • Fun.

01:07:42-01:10:41

  • Something makes you want to go to work when you wake up in the morning because you have that stuff there. But I have some projecs like that all the time, I feel that there is something that could really turn out well.
  • And much of the attention perhaps goes to Aurora and Sigrid, but you have many other cool artists.
  • It is the case that both Aurora and Sigrid have the lyrics that they relate to, and who are much more into that than I am. While I have worked more on developing the company. So that now we have one in Japan, one in Latin America, three in London, one in Oslo. People in Bergen, and then we have the booking agency. So now I have been more the sort of general manager type. So maybe I want to go back a little more to the way it was in a year or two ago.
  • Develop new talents. But you don't want to tell anyone specifically what you're looking for?
  • No, it's just something that's exciting to me. And I don't see that in everything. We get a lot of new music, and then we have to have the capacity for it, because it takes time.
  • Absolutely.
  • No, now I kind of have, now Aurora is working on a new record. I find that very inspiring, lots of new music. Sigrid has just released and is working on more. And then I hear things, but I can't say anything about what.
  • Now there are three questions on the table here from people you may know a little. Because they often see you. First is Drømmefanger producer Espen. He is very fond of Aurora. He wonders why she doesn't play that often in Bergen?
  • Why she doesn't often play in Bergen? It is because we... Aurora, work very globally. So we haven't been to China yet. So we... but something is coming, something is coming there soon. You can promise that. It makes sense because they play in Brazil, Australia, Asia and hopefully soon China. And Europe and stuff. So then music will be made in between. And then there will be a little break. There is a reason, but it is not public yet. So I can't say anything. But it will come soon.
  • Okay, but now Espen has his answer.

MIKAL TELLE
https://shows.acast.com/5bac9508f8a7ea0f7d796ddf/657eed3cd3ee3d0017d207db
00:00:00 --> 00:01:15

  • We continue on Spalten Skjelleten to the music and sit here with Mikal Telle, who has simply worked on music for over 30 years now. I can mention record stores, record companies, club nights, festivals. You are always mentioned as one key person in the 'Bergen wave' and the music we have exported here from the city. So I'm really looking forward to hearing about the projects you both had and have. So nice of you to get down here.
  • Thank you very much.
  • Yes.
  • Very nice.
  • First of all can you give me a word about your day so far.
  • My day so far, I guess I actually got to the office and had a meeting with the artist Love Pump. It has been very nice.
  • Great fun and good DJ.
  • Very good DJ, and it's great fun to hear about her dreams and visions and try to make exciting plans, which I think we will achieve.

01:09:03-01:12:07

  • Is there something you've been good at from the start, just daring to get in touch and go into new territory, and put forward plans and ideas, and encourage people to join?
  • Yeah, I think that's pretty much what we do, right...? So we try. Some find us annoying, others listen. if they jump along. So it's just like that, when you have a lot of energy and ideas, not everyone thinks they like to show off something.
  • You have to put up with a few nos when it's like that, but the yesses you get are often very good.
  • They won't get a yes either if you don't try. So I think if the worst that can happen is that you get a no, then there is nothing to say.
  • But considering that sometimes you get it there, to have the moments. You see some very unexpected collaborations, so that people suddenly just pop up through these, or something like that, so you're thinking, god so right they kind of work together.
  • No, but I think, for example, I didn't realize that it almost happened either. But it was Wardruna, perhaps obvious, but Vardruna collaborated with Aurora on a song. It was an absolutely fantastic experience. But no, I'm not thinking about anything like that, a special musical project or something like that. But I think, so again, during the pandemic, we had the opportunity to... First we did something called Verftet Online Music Festival, which was a digital festival, where we booked Aurora, Enslaved, Boy Pablo. They all did these online concerts. Then suddenly we got to meet all the different environments, and maybe it was the pandemic that gave us the opportunity to talk to everyone. And then we did the Ruller Hardt Festival with Girson during the pandemic, and then we got some into hip-hop. So I mean like that here, I almost used the pandemic to go and ask people, do you want to do things together. And I think many people can do a lot more of that. I think that the young people have founded the Most Likely, they have started the area together. [ed: ?] It is very exciting. So no, I don't know, it's a lot of exciting things. So I think, Verftet is going to be a place where a lot of collaboration is going to be incubated, and find its way now in the future.
  • Yes, it works too. That will be very cool, and it's a real bet.
  • It will be a kind of playground, right? When people play together, exciting things come out.
  • But then it often goes far beyond music, and then it suddenly looks so much fun, whether it's a second-hand market or a food market or artists.
  • Yes, so it's going to happen a lot, and I kind of think, yes... So there's going to be crossover stuff between food and art and drink, and music and film. And yes, lots of exciting things will happen. So it's just going to be exciting to see all kinds of things that come out of it all. But time will tell.
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Pub: 11 Feb 2024 14:05 UTC
Edit: 12 Feb 2024 07:08 UTC
Views: 20