In the Green Room with….Kwame Kwaten
“Being a music manager is similar to being an astronomer…”
Kwame Kwaten is a British manager, music consultant, musician and record producer. Past and present artists managed by Kwaten include Laura Mvula, The Night VI, and Kerry Leatham. Prominent musicians Kwaten has produced/remixed tracks for include Shola Ama, Jay-Z and Mick Jagger.
TokenTraxx is dropping Kwannna featuring an artistic synergy between artists Anna Carlyle, Kwaten, and his son NK-OK (Namali Kwaten). Kwanna collectibles give access to Kwame’s Music Business Insights, where holders can learn from one of the best in the business.
We sat down with Kwaten to discuss his life and his musical journey so far…
An album title after your life?
Big dreams, great music, and expensive taste. Follow up album would be called Everything is connected.
What does web3 mean to you?
Web3 to me feels like almost community-based thinking but also not being afraid of using different methods when it comes to paying for things that don’t involve your traditional money.
I always like anything that will create something new that can do people some good.
There’s a new way around the corner and you can feel it.
If you were an app, which one would you be?
There are lots of apps I like. I like podcasts. These are delivered to me on different apps. I like Spotify. I like Songstats, a wonderful app that tells me when and where my music gets new activity.
One message that you give to people who want to get into the music industry today?
The most obvious thing is to try and be very honest about what your passions are and understand that if you are entering a business that includes your passions you have to protect the passion bit. Whenever it feels like it’s getting to be too much, always protect the passion bit. Another thing is, to understand perseverance. Because often in this business, the odds that you are looking for could be around the corner, literally. You might have hung on for an amount of time, but the answer is just literally around the corner. Just one turn left and then boom. It’s very important that you can hang in for the race.
Can you remember any particular success or failure that you learned from the most?
My first one of those was definitely when I was in a band called D-Influence, We have released a song and it was quite popular. We had a show and it was at the ‘Rock Garden’ in Covent Garden, as it was called back then. We got down there, we set up, and went out on stage and hit the relevant buttons on our equipment and it just didn’t work. We remained cool and carried on playing. That really taught me to always have a B plan. We didn’t have a B plan. I remember I came home that night and crawled into my bed in the foetal position. I remember thinking — I’ll never get caught like that again. Since then, I’m always the person in a meeting that asks what’s the B plan? And when they give me a B plan I say — great, what’s the C plan?
Many of my successes have come from not being afraid of sometimes being the only person in the room that thinks something and says it. I got good at pulling a thought from the back of my head to the front and out of my mouth. And then at least it’s said. At least people know where they stand.
A hard thing for a lot of artists with me, managerially, is that I got a really good radar for what a single is. Often it will be the song they least think should be the single — and in those instances, they simply have to trust me. At this point, I can convince them with examples. I can say — look, this person didn’t want to do it and I said go with it and they went with it and it was a great hit.
What’s one of your useless talents?
Pop trivia is definitely a thing for me.
A standout moment in your life you often think about?
The death of my dad when I was 7 and the death of my mom when I was 18 both had a big impact on me. I remember laying in bed for 3–4 days after my mom died. I didn’t move. I had an aunt that came around and said — Kwame, get up, get up, get up. And so I got up and I went and got cleaned up and I remember thinking — you got to get up because if you don’t; you might not. Tomorrow’s not given and if you want to do something do it today and really get on with it.
I thought to myself, ‘I want to be in an industry that is a joy for me to be in every day’.
Is there a language you would like to learn?
Yes. I would like to relearn Twi. When I was younger I was able to speak it. When I came back to the UK I sort of had to relearn English and I forgot Twi.
If you weren’t in music, can you imagine yourself in another industry?
I don’t know. The thing is that I’m involved in so many different aspects of the industry. Management, publishing, record label, distribution, events, touring. It’s hard to see outside of that.
Do you collect anything obscure?
I used to collect stamps at one point. Now I’m into old whiskey. Special editions.
One stand-out professional moment in your career?
I’m quite blessed and had quite a few of those. I remember when D-Influence supported Prince at Wembley Stadium in 1993. I remember thinking to myself and then actually saying it on the mic — not bad for a guy who failed his grade one piano.
We were just done supporting Michael Jackson. We supported him on the Dangerous tour 8 months earlier. We weren’t ready for it. We weren’t ready for the scale of it. But, when we were supporting Prince we were totally ready. We knew what to do.
What about one of your proud moments as a mentor or manager?
I had a very proud moment just recently, actually. We (Ferocious Talent) are looking after Blue Lab Beats band since the beginning, and they were nominated for three Jazz FM Awards. They won the Innovation award. My son is in the band, NK-OK (Namali Kwaten). Just watching them grow is wild. They also won a Grammy this year.
Another moment that stands out is discovering Shola Ama, and co-producing her lead track You Might Need Somebody. That song being humongous and her winning Brit Awards on the back of it was quite a thing!
Winning the Manager of the Year Award by the Live UK Music Business Awards in 2013 was also unforgettable.
What makes you a great manager? Do you have a formula?
Perseverance. So much of this game is down to somebody just sticking it out. And as you stick at it patterns start to emerge. It’s like an astrologer looking at the stars and starting to see actual formations that emerge. As a new manager, you might look up at the sky and see there are a lot of stars out there. As an older manager, if you look up at the sky and see one star moving in a particular direction you can see the path and the formation, the constellation. I understand how to get that person to x, to y, to z, to y…
The best bit of advice ever given to you?
I have a few of those. I always write the best ones down.
Be generous to your colleagues. Always credit others for their ideas and take them on board because sooner or later we reap what we sow.
To be a genius you have to be able to do it again and again and again. Otherwise, you’re a lucky idiot.
The last one is adapted from a Chris Blackwell quote. Talking about people’s fascination with hits, he said something along the lines of I may not have had a really big hit record, but I had a hit life. That’s something that I try to instil in artists that I work with as well.
Have a hit life.
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