April 01, 1998

Publication title: Canadian Press Newswire, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Toronto
Writer: Unknown

Times never higher for Sarah McLachlan’s label Nettwerk

At the stylish new offices of Nettwerk records, they’ve been walking on air.
Sarah McLachlan’s stunning Juno award performance last month – four wins for four nominations – is giving her label an extension on a year-long high after the success of Lilith Fair, McLachlan’s two Grammy awards this year and the release of her multi-platinum album Surfacing.

In many ways, McLachlan’s fate has been intertwined with that of Nettwerk, Canada’s best-known independent label. The company, born in part-owner Terry McBride’s apartment in 1984, has leapt to international stature in the short time since. So has McLachlan.
What’s good for her is tremendous for her label.

The independent company has flourished with McLachlan’s successes, becoming one of the biggest and most powerful labels in North America not under the control of a giant multinational corporation.
While his office basks in the post-Juno glow, McBride, president of Nettwerk’s artist management arm, says for him the victory won’t sink in until later.

Back at work at 8 a.m. the day after McLachlan’s Juno triumph, McBride, her manager, is already riding the phones.

“The Grammys sort of hit me several weeks afterwards. It was like holy cow, look what we did,” says the boyish 38-year-old executive, as an indoor fountain burbles in his spacious office at the heart of Nettwerk’s new hi-tech headquarters.

Nettwerk began when McBride, a Vancouver deejay, picked up his first managing job with Moev – fellow founder Mark Jowett’s band – in 1982. The company was formed with a $5,000 bank loan in 1984 to produce a Moev single that was left in limbo when their label GO! records went bankrupt.

Former road manager Ric Arboit, now president of Nettwerk, completed the ownership triumvirate in 1986.
Since then the label has handled a solid battery of Canadian artists like heavy ’80s industrial rockers Skinny Puppy, Grapes of Wrath, Images N’Vogue and MC 900 Ft Jesus, unique artists who might not otherwise have found a sympathetic ear with the major labels.

The company has also spread physically, with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles to handle management, production, and marketing. Two subsidiary wings have been developed – Artwerks, an album art studio, and Nettmedia, dedicated to producing multimedia projects like artist Web sites and interactive CDs.

Today, there are dozens of artists signed to Nettwerk – Wild Strawberries, Mystery Machine and By Divine Right to name a few – but none has contributed more to the labels meteoric growth than McLachlan, discovered and signed by Jowett in 1987.

“Because it’s all gradual, just like Sarah’s career has been gradual, you don’t tend to see it,” says McBride.
“You do what makes sense and that’s how you run it. There’s been no instant success here. It’s been steadily upwards. There have been flat times, but there’s never been down times.”
This, he admits, is definitely an up time. McLachlan’s all-female Lilith Fair tour last year, organized by Nettwerk, was the talk of the music industry worldwide and she has been catapulted to international stardom on its success.

“She embodies a lot of what this label’s about,” says McBride. “Her music’s real. More than likely it’s going to be a bitch to get on the radio. She doesn’t write ‘Oo, I love you baby.
“She’s an incredibly nice person, she’s an amazing performer and she’s got a great work ethic and that’s so much the embodiment of what this label is. There are people here who work so hard for her because it’s her; not because she’s a star. She’s still the girl who slept on the floor 10 years ago.”
Nettwerk has never aspired to any sort of greatness, says McBride. In fact, he says any future growth will depend more upon the vision of its artists than any master plan to compete on a level with the big labels, Polygram, Universal, BMG, Sony, Warner and EMI.

“I don’t know what the comfortable size is. This is a company that really believes in delegation, in self-growth.

“You go with what makes sense. We could never be a major label. It’s catalogue, it’s distribution. I want to be with the music I don’t want to have to deal with the delivery of the music, it’s not what we’re about.
“Yes, we still have to market our records but that’s creative and that’s a great thing. Nettwerk’s going to follow whatever road Nettwerk’s going to follow. We have no set plans for it; we tend to do things that make sense to us. We tend to go from our gut reaction, we tend to do it slowly if possible so that whatever we do do we can do it profitably.”

Some facts about independent record label Nettwerk:
Began: Vancouver deejay McBride’s apartment, 1984
Offices now: Vancouver, London, New York, Los Angeles
Owners:
Terry McBride, president of management
Mark Jowett, vice-president, international artists and repetoire and publishing
Ric Arboit, president
Startup costs: $5,000 bank loan.
Present worth: $7 million
Artists then: Skinny Puppy, MC 900 Ft Jesus, Moev, Grapes of Wrath, Lava Hey, Sarah McLachlan
Artists now: Sarah McLachlan, Wild Strawberries, By Divine Right, Mystery Machine.
Quote: “Sarah’s grown up with this label and this label has grown up with Sarah. We’ve shared each other’s successes” – Terry McBride on Nettwerk’s relationship with Sarah McLachlan.