Curators x Future Classic: Q&A with founder and CEO, Nathan McLay
For a couple of weeks the team behind Flume, SOPHIE, Hayden James & so many more great acts will share their latest finds with us. Prior to digging into music, we’ve sat with Nathan McLay, founder of this unconventional and globally respected music company.
Future Classic seems to be a very human oriented company. Can you tell us about your initial vision when starting up?
Nathan McLay : Future Classic is absolutely a human oriented company as you suggest. Our people and the people around us play a pivotal role. When FC started i was working for a music distributor in Australia called Inertia that represented labels i loved including Warp, Ninja Tune, XL, Kompakt, etc and as the their Head of Digital, i was fortunate to be able to travel internationally with my boss to meet these label founders at their offices and industry events such as Midem, Popkomm, etc. The gravity of meeting these culturally influential people was formative for me. In the beginning and still to this day, the mission is to discover artists that excite us and help bring them to wider audiences. Given my digital background i have also always been interested in the role technology can play, but it's rooted in people and art.
"I was a DJ and constantly digging for new talent."
Much more than just a label, you guys handle touring, management, publishing… Why have you decided to offer such a large range of services, and do you still believe in this model 18 years later?
Nathan MacLay : I love all aspects of the business. So long as i am able to work with talent that inspires me and the team I could quite happily occupy all of my time just doing something very specific - A&R, programming events, figuring out marketing campaigns, being a great publisher, whatever - it's all such a privilege.And you get to work across the whole spectrum, but i am equally happy if we are playing a focussed role in a greater whole with other great people and partners around us. I just want to make sure we're building a world class eco-system that can support talent in a variety of ways with a number of entry points. The company has evolved that way - our first priority is to work with talent that inspires us - how we work with them can vary.
"I am naturally curious and love management in this regard because it's holistic.”
Future Classic was initially based in Australia where you came from, then you moved to LA. What challenges did you face as a label when fully entering the US market? How did you overcome them?
Nathan MacLay : We're still relatively new to LA, but half of our team is now based there so (notwithstanding the last 2 years of Covid) it's starting to feel more established. We think of LA as a global base to support all of our artist's, not just those based there. Every artist travels through the city at some point pretty early in their career and it remains a fixture for collaboration, songwriting, show design, TV, etc...
We're a relatively small team so we need to organise in new ways and forge a unique path. In Australia we had established an identity for the label through our history throwing parties and hosting events as well as getting industry recognition for our artist's successes there. That's starting to happen in the US but it's early days. Community is very important to us and, just as we did in Australia, we're slowly building relationships through our studio's, carpark events and campaigns with the artists, managers and everyone else that we rate - professionally and personally.
"L.A. is a vital creative hub. The challenges are not insignificant."
As a label founder, I suppose you’re always on the hunt of good music. How do you spot new artists? Did your habits change over the past couple of years?
Nathan MacLay : All the typical stuff applies - belief in the artist - do we like the music? Do they have a vision that we believe in? What's the story we’re trying to tell about this artist? Do we know how to make people care? Are they open to feedback? Does it feel authentic, is it genuine? How much material is ready to go? Then we also need a belief in the business - is there buzz/existing reactive content? Is there an audience already? Are they engaged? Are they captivating live performers? Could they scale outside their home market? Is what the artist/manager is looking for in alignment with what FC is good at?
Seeing something before others see it, and helping the artist harness it. To some extent all of our successes have been new experiences we've stepped up to. The common thread is the belief that we know how to make people care, a shared vision. That comes from caring deeply ourselves and inspiring those around us to do the same. We've found it's okay to not know all the answers and to be in new terrain, as long as we can utilise the energy that brings to the benefit of the project.
Nick Cave, Lorde, Courtney Barnett, Empire of The Sun, Flume, Sia, Parcels, Tame Impala … so many talents rose from Australia and became global success stories. What is so special out there?
Nathan MacLay : Australia is a great place to develop as an artist. For the most part the quality of life is very good relative to other parts of the world though we need to be less complacent to ensure that can continue. It benefits from a publically funded national youth broadcaster in Triple J that is highly influential and creates a number of entry points for new local and otherwise underrepresented talent - as well as having a relationship with the biggest and most influential international artists. The other major factor is likely its geographic isolation which, combined with access to all of the media, culture and technology of the developed world, means artist's can stay current but still develop a little at their own speed. You're right - it's special!
“It's an eclectic scene and I love it for that - sort of reflects where streaming has taken us listening to wildly divergent genre's and yet still having tribes and generational identity.”
Future Classic contributed to a major change in the electronic music scene, bringing a new sound to the world that influenced a generation of young producers. Tell us about your latest signing(s) - which exciting new talent(s) are you working with currently?
Nathan MacLay : I am pumped for the year ahead in music! Over the years we have definitely become more eclectic but electronic music remains close to our hearts and in 2022 we'll be re-introducing our club 12 inch series that former and now-returned team member Andy Garvey (who re-joins us after hosting the premier electronic music show 'Mix Up' on Triple J for the last 5 years) is the A&R for. I shouldn't really mention it just yet but we've just finished the debut album for incredible new Danish singer-songwriter eee gee and it's one of my favourite album's that we've ever been part of at Future Classic.
"It's emotional, it will fill up your heart but is underscored by witty storytelling and a genuine thirst for living."
She's an incredible songwriter, a hilarious, sharp personality and with an effortlessly natural live presence that i just can't wait to get in front of audiences. She's immediately been championed by P3 (national radio) in Denmark, is starting to get syncs for TV and film and having other artists and personalities reach out to her. The album itself is self assured and well formed - there's no filler. It's contemporary country modern Americana sort of stuff made by a Dane.
On a completely different tip we just put out the debut EP for Jack Slade. He's from a relatively remote part of South Australia making angular noise and a mash of rap / electronic / guitar nrg with a very distinctive production sensibility that binds it all together. There's a tonne of demo's and my hope is that he just keeps getting the material out there as it has a very relevant place in the world.
There's a couple of new signings (also very different!) to be announced this year that i'm deep inside at the moment. Very important artists for Future Classic and where we are at as a company and team in our journey… watch this space.
