Out of Hours: Rich Martin; Seeks Music

Reports of the death of the BBC’s 6 Music may have been greatly exaggerated, but that didn’t stop sound designer Rich Martin and director pal Kate Dunn creating their own backup version of the threatened station. Emily Ansell listens to the story of Seeks Music – a pub idea turned into a real online radio platform run by and for eclectic music enthusiasts

When the BBC announced it was closing digital radio station 6 Music, a sound designer vowed that if they weren’t prepared to run a station that cared more about music than listening figures, then he’d do it himself. Thank goodness, the BBC finally saw sense. However, the more Rich Martin thought about it, the more he felt that he had something to contribute to the world of music on the internet.

Seeks Music was founded by Martin, a senior sound designer at Envy post production, with promos director Kate Dunn. It’s a freeform internet radio station made by a bunch of people who have all been brought together by a desire to make a new type of radio.

The journey began in the same way that all the world’s best projects begin – over a drink down the pub. “We were outraged at the BBC and the pub chat turned into a thought that there should be a replacement. Then, as the chat went on, we decided to do it ourselves as we knew a few people who were passionate about music and thought it would be fun thing to do,” explains Martin.

“Obviously, in the end, they decided not to close 6 Music and we were the only people who were gutted! But we thought, oh well we’ll do it anyway. I suppose that did change our music policy as there’s no point in being a poor man’s duplicate. We didn’t want to replicate their playlist but we sort of share their taste in music.”

Seeks Music is a child of the web. All the shows are pre-recorded and ready to be played with the click of a mouse. It embraces the fact that people cherry-pick tracks rather than buy whole albums.

“You listen to the show that you want at the time that you want it. It works almost like an audio blog and we play music that isn’t easily accessible. We ask our DJs to find either new music or music that is seldom heard and give it a bit of exposure,” Martin adds.

“We don’t expect our DJs to be professional, but they do need to have impeccable taste in music. In traditional radio, so much is led by the DJ and the music is almost secondary. The playlist is so tight and controlled whereas what we do is freeform radio where there’s no playlist and DJs are trusted to play their own stuff.”

Seeks finds most of its DJs through word of mouth and a lot of people involved in the station are friends of Martin and Dunn. Anyone who tunes in to the site will find a really diverse range of shows covering all the genres, from soul, funk and rock to world music and cinematronic.

Martin describes his own music taste as eclectic, adding: “I thought each show was going to be a lot more eclectic in terms of the music but I think that’s because my taste is very broad. I like a range of music and I thought the easiest thing in the world would be to gather 20 like-minded people, but people do tend to specialise.

Cinematronica, September 2014 by Seeks Music on Mixcloud

“There are three DJs from Envy – Nick Armstrong has an amazing show and is six months ahead of everyone else when it comes to finding new bands. I don’t know how he does it! We’ve also picked up directors, composers and other people along the way.”

The station’s DJs can record their shows on laptops from anywhere in the world. Martin even travelled to Texas for the South by Southwest Festival a few years back and put a show together using a range of sounds from the event, including people walking down the road.

“I try to make my shows a bit rough around the edges and informal. Being a sound designer helps. We have four sound engineers doing shows and they always have really good production values. Recently, mine have been put together quickly but the music has been agonised over,” he says.

As well as finding that his day job makes it easier to turn out great quality shows, Martin says Seeks Music easily slots into his social life and actually helps him with his work at Envy, as he’s always feeling inspired.

Rich Martin Manifesto, September 2014 by Seeks Music on Mixcloud

“For my job I’m expected to know about new music and clients frequently ask me for suggestions for music tracks. It’s what I’m into and it’s part of what I do every day anyway. The lines between work and my interests are blurred. I think in this industry we all love our jobs and they’re our passion so it doesn’t really stop. I’ll finish a session with a client and then go to a gig with that client because we share the same interests,” he comments.

“You have to feed your brain. If you don’t then you become sterile pretty quickly and do the same old things. Seeks Music keeps me aware of what’s out there and refreshes my creative pool of resources. It’s good to see the world in a slightly different way, especially when you work in a room under ground! It’s nice to get out and about and have a fresh perspective.”

seeksmusic.com