Piticco’s Create/Control Label ‘Needs Success’

Create/Control boss Paul Piticco has admitted that there are intense pressures to perform with the artist services labels considering it doesn't own any copyrights.

Created out of Dew Process, Piticco announced yesterday Create/Control had signed its first label deals with Vagrant, Arts & Crafts and Innovative Leisure. Like the artist deals they've struck, the labels will retain their copyrights and use the service for distribution and as many or as few label services they opt in for.

An increasingly popular model because it doesn't require any investment by the label, questions over the longevity of the model have been raised given that once the period of the deal is up labels like Create/Control are left with nothing.

“That's the big conundrum, really, not having a permanent control over the catalogue,” Piticco told theMusic.com.au today. “You need to have success and need to show [clients] that you're going to make more money for them.”

He added, “The pressure for this business model is to always succeed, and I'm OK with that… When you're working on lower margins, you've got to sell more copies. They take more of the risk and we take less of the reward.”

Having worked with artists including The Smashing Pumpkins, Metric and Parquet Courts, as well as a number of local artists such as Oliver Tank, Gung Ho and Patrick James, yesterday's label deals mark a new push for Create/Control.

According to Piticco, the artist services flexibility “resonated” with oversees labels who'd usually place their material in other Australian distribution companies who were moving at “one gear”. He denied that Create/Control had cannibalised any of the market for his 'traditional' Dew Process label.

As well as the labels, Piticco – along with business partner Jessica Ducrou – has major interests Splendour In The Grass, Falls Festival and Secret Service amongst others, and those festival, touring and sponsorship options are attractive to clients.

“Our group brings more to the table… when you're in our family or network we'll do what we can for you, but we can't make those promises. They're all independent business and need to make their own evaluations.”

As part of the first label licensing agreements, Arts & Crafts and Innovative Leisure have solid exclusivity deals, whereas Vagrant's back catalogue will likely remain with Shock.