FARMER & THE OWL
FARMER & THE OWL
Farmer & The Owl is a record label based and music publisher in Wollongong, Australia.
Originally established with the intention to help the wealth of talent from our local area and release their music to a wider audience.
The label’s first signing was Hockey Dad, a Windang based duo who released their debut EP in November 2014.
Farmer & The Owl is owned by Ben Tillman (Yours & Owls partner) and Jeb Taylor (Music Farmers co-owner) with the company operated under the guidance of label manager Kate Marning.
WHEN WAS FARMER & THE OWL FOUNDED?
The first label release was in May 2014, but Farmer & Owl as an entity had existed for a little bit before that. Ben and myself (Jeb) were both booking different venues in Wollongong and we combined forces a few times to put on shows, then we did a couple of co-present events, including the first Farmer & The Owl festival in 2013.
Around that time there were a lot of great local bands emerging so we decided to put together a compilation featuring them. It was called Beached Friends and we kicked off the label with that, then quickly followed up with our first actual artist release which was Hockey Dad’s ep ‘Dreamin’.
WHAT DRAWS YOU TO AN ARTIST?
We’re all long time music fans obviously so the first factor is that we really love the music. From there there are then a lot of things to look at as far as signing them to the label goes. The next step is talking to them and making sure we connect as people and then from there there are the more realistic aspects of an artist/label relationship to work through.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO WORK WITH?
It’s a joint decision between Kate (our label manager), Ben and myself. As mentioned above, first and foremost we all have to love the music the artist is making and get on with them on a personal level. From there it is really setting out expectations and making sure we can add value to the artist, connecting with or helping to build the rest of the team they are working with (manager, agent, publisher, ect).
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES YOU FACE AS AN INDEPENDENT LABEL?
The label world is forever changing and that is probably the biggest challenge in itself, in the decade or so we’ve done it things have changed so much.
Obviously being small and independent, budgets and finance are always a real challenge. The actual challenges on the operational side, especially in the last few years, have been getting traction and engagement for an artist, and really just bringing a value to a release that makes artists want to sign a record deal.
There are so many more options now for artists either just to do it themselves and sign a service deal, so as a label you really need to offer something unique that you can’t get in one of those set ups. With that I think that presents an opportunity and excites me for the next generation of labels, to create new models of how to run an independent label.
As someone running the label for the last decade or so, it has given us so many opportunities, the obvious ones are traveling all over the world, meeting new friends and seeing our artists thrive on stages everywhere, but it has also opened up so many other doors for the other businesses we both run (Ben is a live music promoter, and I run a record shop).
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE STARTING THEIR OWN INDEPENDENT LABEL?
As I touched on above, how an independent label operates is changing and will continue to do so. The traditional record deal and release roll out is changing so the new labels that have fresh and innovative ideas of how to work with an artist and roll out a release are the ones who’ll thrive. At the foundation of this is building a community and fan base around the label, it’s what a lot of the independent labels of the 80’s and 90’s did pre internet, and some of them are now some of the biggest labels in the world. I think the easy access to everything with the internet and especially the ease of promotion via social media made everyone a bit lazy and less creative with campaigns.
ARE THERE ANY EXCITING NEW RELEASES OR TOURS COMING UP?
We released a fair bit last year but have taken a bit of time away at the start of this year to basically restructure how we do releases going forward, so it has been a slow start to the year but we are just about to get rolling. There is a new Totally Unicorn single coming in a few weeks time, Private Wives have just sent through the masters for their debut album and we have a few more releases in the pipeline for the rest of the year. Hockey Dad and Tumbleweed both have regional tours coming up, TOWNS are heading out on tour as well, and Totally Unicorn will announce some fresh dates for their new single.