AO-AO INTERVIEW WITH JACKMODE AGENCY
Since its creation in January 2009, Jackmode Agency has rapidly emerged as one of the most prominent agencies in the scene, boasting an enthusiastic, tight-knit team and a roster with the likes of Zombie Disco Squad, Solo, Round Table Knights, Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team. We were fortunate enough to interview the founder of Jackmode, Daniel Zedelmair, who spoke on everything from there ethos to there future.
1) Firstly, it’s only been around 18 months since Jackmode Agency was started by Daniel Zedelmair, yet we look down your roster and see nothing but world-class talent! Please tell us your secret? Are you loving 2010?
Haha, that’s a bit over the top I guess. The past 18 months have been very long and arduous, and we’re still working hard to reach the level we aim to reach. But I guess we have a good set up right now, and also plenty of luck that our artists are getting stronger every year.
2) What would you say was the main ethos behind Jackmode Agency?
Jackmode’s ethos is very much based on a high quality service and a professional handling of bookings, rather than on any particular musical style or sound. For sure, musical content is reflected in our agency brand by our artists, which makes our artist selection resonsible for a certain musical colour. We won’t put ourself too much into the forefront as tastemakers, although with the promo service we offer our artists, we actually do. Also everything is slowly growing into a 360 degree agency, offering booking, management and label services.
3) In recent months, I’ve noticed the strengths of Jackmode’s social networking; frequent free downloads, mixtapes from artists on your roster, and a very impressive blog! It gives a much more direct involvement with the agency, was this always the plan?
This wasn’t planned right from the beginning, but was a reaction on the reality out there. With recent record sales, labels can’t really invest in bigger marketing and pr campaigns anymore. But it’s obviously very important for us, that our artists profiles increase and that new releases are delivered to the fans out there. We also realized that online presence counts more and more these days. I always have to remind myself, that todays nightlife target group has nothing to do with what we used to and is certainly 10 years younger then me. I also expect clubs and promoters to look more and more on the online presence of an artist, when booking their nights. In the end we try to make an effort to secure increasing numbers of shows for our roster in doing more than what a booking agency might normally be considered to do.
4) I’m intrigued to know what a typical day looks like for you guys at Jackmode?
Usually everybody arrives at the office around 9 am. We’re 5 people at Jackmode, which is Julia, Jo and Kai who work as agents for different artists and Dickon, my assistant and also the man responsible for all our online shizzle. Most of the time we just work straight till 7pm. We’re sitting all in the same room, to be able to support each other with possible options and open dates. As everybody works on a self-employed basis, we have no strict work times. Julia for example is just working one month from Amsterdam.
5) There are many young, talented, artists and producers out there, for example Homework who recently joined Jackmode Agency, yet what are the deciding factors that lead you to want to represent someone?
I think it’s always a mixture of being suggested by somebody we trust and having the right sound and release schedule. Homework, to stick to this example, had a undground hit with “Fissa Tune” on Berlin based label; Exploited. I have known Shir Khan who runs the label for a while. He was really insisting that he wanted to see Homework on our roster. For the coming month, they have releases on Made To Play scheduled, which is certainly a good start and obviously suits our roster. We also expect that artists we take on the roster pull bookings and actively increase their profile. Demand determines supply, as in any other business. Without requests and general interest, we won’t be able add all on our end. Another factor would be also the development of the roster and the question, where do we the need to built up strength? So it can be also a strategical decision…. and sometimes i just add artists because i personally like them.
6) You have your own weekly radioshow on http://www.sweatlodgeradio.com/ , how did this come about?
One of my oldest friends, dj, producer and label owner Elie Eidelman ( Jack Off Records), introduced me to James Blond, who runs Sweatlodge Radio, a while ago. The exciting thing about Sweatlodge Radio is that it’s still in its infancy and is done with passion and still on a very open minded and flexible level. It was just a really good time to join them and grow with them. We also still have plans for the radio show, to make it more attractive and interesting to tune in. From next month we will have one live session each month, broadcasted from a nice Mexican Magaritha bar in Berlin Kreuzberg. Gonna be a monthly Jackmode happening with guests and ourselves (the whole team will have to take action on the mic - except me for sure..hehe)
7) Some agencies stick to a certain sound, when representing clients, yet on Jackmode you have you have artists who make and play Baile Funk, Deep House and everything inbetween, why is this?
We always tried to be open to different styles of dance music and have been working on an eclectic roster since day one. Artists also need space to develope their sound, within the frames of our roster.Our main artists as they stand are; Zombie Disco Squad, Round Table Knights, Solo or also the newly added Dirtybird guys can be seen as the musical center of the roster. But the full roster spans a synergetic arch from more bass or tropical flavoured house music of Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team or Daniel Haaksman to the way deeper tech house sounds of Pol_On or Jet Project. I think to be competitive on a international level, you have to offer a broad musical selection and should be able to provide full program for more then one floor or stage at a time.
8) If you were to advise someone on starting an agency and building from the bottom, what would you say?
I think the key is the right selection of artists and lots of patience to start with. You should be keeping it small and building it up in the first year and then invest money in people and services to be able to grow. You definitely need a very precise structure for the booking administration and should be able to take no promoters feedback as a nice way of promoters to let you know that they are not interested in your artists. The first year can be really devastating, as you have to built contacts and have to be very patient before it might take off. Too much competition out there, as due to the internet literally everybody is availabe everywhere.
9) After the past 18 months, apart from world domination; what are Jackmode’s plans for the future?
Haha, yah, world domination is certainly the overall goal. But seriously, we are still a very small booking agency and we wanna do better in so many ways. It’s still all a work in progress and I guess we have reached maybe 20% of what we wanna reach with the booking and any booking releated services we build. Besides bookings, we’re just about to work on Jackmode nights all over Europe, to present the agency brand and of course, our artists. We’ll start with nights in Berlin, November 4th and in London on November 6th. More nights are already planned in Zurich, Paris, Bern and Oslo. We’re also discussing a Jackmode label to offer our artists a platform to release music. We’ll see what the future will bring
