By Jule Schurer
It wasn't an easy year for the music industry. Illegal downloads and music piracy were eating into artists' earnings and a general reluctance to spend money during the recession was making the situation even more difficult.
But all the same it was also an interesting time to be in the music business, Fat Freddy's Drop founder and producer Chris "Mu" Faiumu tells NZPA.
"Everybody has to adapt and move with the times and work out new ideas to make money with the music," he says.
But the Wellington seven-piece band still holds some aces. For one, they decided early in their career not to sign with a major record label. They took things in their own hands and founded the label The Drop.
"We did the maths. We looked at all the scenarios, we knew all the percentages you would get when you signed to a major label and I think we were smart enough and interested enough in the business-side of the music to do our business plans," he says.
It became obvious to the band that it wouldn't make sense to sign most of their money away to a major label when they'd built their fan base through relentless touring and playing festivals.
"We've done most of the hard work ourselves. It didn't make sense to then go and give 70 percent of the money away, even when a label would be paying the bills," he says.
With downloads cutting into musicians' earnings, their live performances became even more important.
"There are some producers out there and they make great music but they can't step out of their studio and replicate that life. But bands who are set up to perform live will survive," Faiumu says.
And playing live is clearly the domain of the "seven headed soul monster". After forming in 1999 the band made themselves a name as one of the best live acts in New Zealand. When they released their first studio album Based on a True Story in 2005, it shot straight to the top of the charts and became the highest-selling album by a national artist in the country's history.
Having established themselves in New Zealand FFD are focusing on the UK and Europe in 2011.
"We've been travelling and touring Europe for a long time now and that starts to pay off for us and we dipped our feet in the American market and started touring just in the last year but definitely found that quite hard," the musician says.
"When it comes to New Zealand you only have one go. We had ours with Based on a True Story. Our success and the vibe here was mental.
"We briefly became superstars for a couple of summers, but you only get that once in a country that size and then you put out an album that I think was actually the better album and you sell a third of the amount of copies.
"Now we have to go and find other audiences around the world, and that's what we're doing with the UK and Europe," he says.
For 2011, Fat Freddy's Drop has already planned two tours to the northern hemisphere and is looking forward to play for appreciative audiences.
"I prefer the audiences in Europe to the ones back here, not wanting to dis New Zealanders, but I find that European audiences are a bit more in tune with the music, a little bit more educated as far as our music goes.
"Europeans are definitely there for the music, to celebrate the music whereas here, half of the audience is there to celebrate the music and half is there to get drunk," he muses.
But having said that, Fat Freddy's Drop don't want to turn their backs to their loyal New Zealand fans and are setting out to bring some fresh tunes to beaches around the country.
There will be a couple of new and some very old tunes on the upcoming "The Road To Opononi" tour. FFD has finished two new songs and will bring back some stuff from its first album, Live at the Matterhorn, which it hardly ever played.
And when the seven-piece band isn't plotting world domination, touring, or playing in one of their many side-projects they come together in a warehouse in Wellington to jam and work on the new album, which they hope to release by the middle of next year.
But for now Faiumu's wishes are quite simple: "Sunshine, smiles, full houses and the chance to play a lot of golf while I am on the road," he says.
Road to Opononi Tour
Dec 28 - Lower Hutt - The Station Village Complex - Lower Hutt
Dec 29 - New Plymouth, - Butlers Reef
Dec 31 - Riwaka - Riwaka Hotel
Jan 2 - Waihi - Waihi Beach Hotel
Jan 3 - Whitianga - Coroglen Tavern,
Jan 4 - Mount Maunganui - Brewers Field,
Jan 6 - Mangawhai - Mangawhai Tavern
Jan 7 - Mangawhai - Mangawhai Tavern
Jan 8 - Opononi - Opononi Hotel
NZPA