Main Task - Stage 2 - Finding an Artist

Via the internet I found different websites to find un-signed artists. The best website to use was unsigned.com. From this website I specified what genre I wanted my artist to be, and coincidently the first artist I clicked on (Dan Wilkie) was the one I liked the most out of the 4 artists I emailed, as i enjoyed his laid back, meaningful tone an upbeat music and thankfully he eventually emailed me back so I could use his music without breaking copy right laws.

 His initial reaction was 'yes, that is fine with me!' and then he said ' You can use it however you want' with some initial questions about which song I will be using. I then suggested collaboration so the products will not end up as something he doesn't like, which he agreed to.

I then asked him how he would like to be portrayed as an artist, both his image and his personal beliefs, what he believes his music would be classified as and some background information about his music. Unexpectedly, I was astonished how much detail he went into for me so I could visualize what he wants.

 Within a short time of our communication I have learnt that Dan Wilkie  has been writing music for 6 years, according to him it was quite  heavy music-   ‘’ I sounded more like a Nirvana/Foo Fighters tribute band’’  while his biggest inspiration came when he  started listening to The Beatles and The Kinks. Here Dan says –

 ‘’I'd known their songs from when I was a kid and it was their music that inspired me to write the kind of melodic music I do now’’.

 He believes that melody has been rather overlooked over the past decade  and people seem to have forgotten the importance of it, in effect , it's why the "classics" are remembered and still loved just as much today, because they had incredibly creative melodies and colourful hooks, and it's also why a lot of today's music will most likely be forgotten in 10 years time.  

According to Dan, most songs nowadays revolve around 2 or 3 notes, whereas a song like Penny Lane by The Beatles shows just how sophisticated the  melodies used to be in the 60's/70's, not to mention the inventive and classical-tinged arrangements which influenced him just as much in his own personal music.

He also says ‘’Paul McCartney in particular is my biggest influence, even down to the way he plays the bass, with just as much melody as the vocals! But I also like artists such as Frank Sinatra, Mozart and surprisingly, Nirvana and Billy Talent’’

 The songs that I’ve listened to (Show You The Light" etc...) are actually songs that he  wrote intended for other people to record, as they're much more modern in sound and aren't really the style he'd use for his own music, says Dan.  He was inspired to write after he spent a while looking for a publishing deal so he could write songs for other artists to earn a bit of money, he had a fair amount of interest from producers but unfortunately a deal never quite surfaced so now he has decided to go back and start all over again, writing and recording his own songs again: ‘’ which are much more experimental and fun, if I were to put a genre to them, I'd call them something like "Baroque Pop"!’’

 When I asked him to explain what kind of  artist he is, Dan answered:

‘‘ As an artist, I’m very casual and laid-back, I like songs that don't take themselves too seriously and I prefer things to have a good dollop of humour, warmth, colour and fun to them. I basically like anything creative’’. I currently plan to start recording my own music again + a LOT of covers of 60's/70's songs which I'll put on Youtube around Christmas time onwards, I'll also be trying to earn some money writing music for adverts too. My own music will be on Stereofame, Myspace, Unsigned.com and possibly Reverbnation, all in due time’’