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IWW 1OA the examiner Friday Sept 28 1979 Nofrills recording policy help bonds get started TORONTO CP For the better part of this year the mu sic trades have been full of news about the flagging record business Sales are down entire companies are being sold ros ters are being cut It would hardly seem the cli mate for indiscriminate ex penditures on new talent Tom Williams vicepresident of the small but solid Attic la bel probably would take ex ception to the term in discriminate but what he is doing in effect is throwing caution to the winds in hopes of breaking out talent that other wise might go unnoticed In what he jokingly calls no frills music Williams 35 is setting up an economyminded sister label to Attic aptly named Basement Records It will enable new groups to start on the ground floor con ceivany to work their way up to the music majors and place on the Attic roster If the record industry is in trouble its because it is not de veloping new artists on the right level Williams said in an interview AMERICANS CAUTIOUS For instance American record companies right now wont sign an act unless they feel they can sell 500000 units Thats not signing new act thats signing an established star Its quite understandable why many record companies are taking this attitude You have to spend so much money on band in the studio on the road and everything else But with Basement Records were not going to be spending that kind of promotion dollars Develop new act while scrimping on the promotion Williams explains that his no frills policy will do away with the costly but largely in effective fullpage spots in trade publications the huge fourcolor posters used in displays and other similar indulgences Theres more to promotion than that It is also making sure that the group is working steadily that the records are in the stores that the records are good and that the stores and consumers know about them MUST DELIVER This is especially true in the socalled newwave scene he says For such acts its not enough merely to talk about the merits you have to deliver the goods In new wave virtually ev erything that happens is by word of mouth You see it all the time group thats never had record out will play club and have that club packed every weekend Williams vision for Basement Records is vehicle for offthewall acts that dont fit into the Top 40 mainstream The ground rules for Basement can be flexible with the only real requirement being that the act is good He expects to lose money on the new label at first But he cites the obvious merits of the venture It will allow me to develop acts and producers hopefully good songs will be written that wouldnt have had the chance to come out before and in the long run perhaps will have created some stars who will move up to Attic and will be recording with full budgets Could be my first Base ment actll sell eight billion records worldwide Its all crapshoot in this business any way RECALLS DAVE CLARK His first signing to Basement Records is The Numbers fourman Toronto unit The band Williams says is very modish guess taking us back to the Dave Clark Five era about 1964 They look good on stage their material is good theyre young eager and willing He expects The Numbers first product will be out in early November How does one deliver qual ity item on low budget To hear Williams explain it its relatively basic and logi cal First he approaches good producers with gamblers ot ter to work for less than their usual fee If the introductory product say that by The Numbers scores well then ALL NEW that producer gets first crack at their next project Similarly deals might be worked out with recording stu dios sessions at lower than the usual rate with Basement committing itself to future projects at that studio CHANCE FOR NEWCOMERS Album graphics can be done cheaply without forsaking qual ity Williams says He plans to use new artistic talent per sons who today are stonewalled because someone doesnt want to risk his $50000 in vestment on an untried graphic artist What does this costcutting fro the tach up SALES °ACCESSORIES New liquidcooled engine avoids hot noise Geardriven oil injection sy USED SNOWMOBILES SERVICE Dual Carburation mean to the consumer About $2 off the conventional price for albums Basement Records with the exception of key production personnel is open ground for newcomers And fortunately in the Canadian music industry newcomers are always welcome SCORED WITH HARDY Mair was working as Gordon Lightfoots manager Williams was national promotion officer for WEA Music Both felt that not enough was being done for Canadian musicians They formed Attic Records in June 1974 to promote Canadian talent Toronto highlighted Glenn Gould an internationallyrenowned con cert pianist makes rare public appearance as host of program on Toronto in the Cities televi sion series to be seen on CBCTV this tall CP Photo Hit the snow and go with KAWASAKI spots reduces stem PARTS CLOTHING 22 years of dependable 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