User:Marc marot

Marc Marot
Marot’s career spans three decades, four disciplines and 80 million album sales. Few UK executives can claim a more profound understanding of what it takes for artists to generate and maintain successful recording careers. Marot was the son of a British Army Colonel and the second of four brothers. He lived a somewhat nomadic childhood, spending 9 years living in Germany and 3 years in the Yemen with his family before settling in the UK.

Early Years
Marot started his professional career upon leaving art college in 1978. At 19 years old he joined members of prog-rock legends Van De Graaf Generator in an offshoot collective called The Pool of Sound, who for three years performed on the live music circuit but were unsuccessful in securing a record deal. He supplemented the scant living he made from music by working as a landscape gardener and whilst doing so picked up the physically debilitating illness toxoplasmosis which resulted in him giving up the stresses of touring. As a result he moved to London where he got a job as a counter assistant at the Hounslow branch of Our Price Records: a shop so small it was nicknamed the Our Price Meagre Store. The short time working in a record store played a formative role in developing Marot's music taste as it exposed him to at a wider variety of musical genres.

Beginning of Career in the Music Industry
Throughout the period that he worked one day per week at Our Price Records he worked voluntarily at highly regarded independent music publisher Eaton Music. In 1982 Terry Oates, the owner of Eaton Music gave Marot his first major break by appointing him as Professional Manager at 23 years old. In 1984, Marot was headhunted by Nick Stewart, the Island Records head of A & R who was responsible for signing U2. Marot's new position was general manager of Blue Mountain Music. In an interview with The Independent Marot described the amusing circumstances of his beginnings at Blue Mountain: "I immediately said: `Yes. It was Island and I desperately wanted to work for Island,' says Marot who, with his brother, had been a collector of the label's records for years. What he didn't know was that Blue Mountain was also the personal company of Chris Blackwell, the place where he stashed all his favourite assets like Marley's catalogue, Free and U2.

'He was pissed off that they had hired someone he hadn't met and instructed the guy who did it to tell me to go. But he didn't,' Marot recalls. He was fobbed off for weeks with a 'trickle of excuses' as to why he couldn't start work. Frustrated, he eventually just turned up and asked for a telephone.

'About three days later, Blackwell summoned me to his office. My living legend was just about to fire me before I'd even started,' Marot says. In the event, Marot was so full of ideas for the company that Blackwell was bowled over. Instead of giving him the sack, he doubled Marot's salary and appointed him managing director of Blue Mountain."

For many years Chris Blackwell was Marot's mentor and in the early years he advised Marot to not listen to the radio too much so as not to become over influenced by A & R decisions made a couple of years before. Blackwell preferred his A & R men to follow their own instincts and instilled the belief that they had to follow your own noses: if your instincts are good then you will enjoy a successful career. The first of Marot's signings was Colourbox, an English electronic musical group signed to the 4AD label. IN 1987 Colourbox joined forces with A.R. Kane and recorded 'Pump Up the Volume' under the name M/A/R/R/S. The song was noted for being one of the first to be constructed almost entirely from samples from other records. 'Pump Up the Volume' was Marot's first international number 1 single, charting in the top position in 5 countries and in the top ten in a further 6. It went on to sell well over 1 million singles worldwide.

Island Records
He went onto manage Island Music publishing UK, and fledgling film and TV production company Island Visual Arts, during which time his publishing signings included Massive Attack, De La Soul (UK only) and Marcella Detroit of Shakespeare's Sister amongst many others. About eight months after Polygram's 1989 acquisition of the Island Records Group Marot was appointed MD of Island Records UK. The label went through a period of seismic change with Marot supervising the eradication of much of the former roster and the subsequent rebuild. Artists signed and/or developed by Marot’s team while at Island Records included Pulp, PJ Harvey, Stereo MCs, P. M. Dawn, The Cranberries (signed to the US label but developed in the UK), The Orb, Talvin Singh, Tricky, Nine Inch Nails, and Chaka Demus & Pliers. Between them they sold over 30 million units internationally. During this period Marot took responsibility for U2's A & R and marketing, starting with the release of 'Achtung Baby' to just prior to the release of ‘All That You Can't Leave Behind,’ selling close to 50 million albums in the process. In 1998 following an approach from Jubilee 2000's Jamie Drummond, Marot approached Bono to enlist his support in the campaign to eradicate third world debt. In Bono's Jubilee 2000 diary he says "Marc Marot called me to talk about Jubilee 2000 who are organising a street protest to surround the G7 summit in Birmingham. Sounds fun, the right kind of mischief. I can sense this is the beginning of a lot of phone calls and a kind of unhipness I thought I'd shaken." On November 12th 1999 Bono credited Marot with 'ruining his life' whilst receiving the MTV Free Your Mind Award at Dublin's Point Depot

Marot was an early adopter of the world wide web and a vocal advocate for not only the benefits it could provide but also the changes that it would bring about in the music industry. He used the Island Record's building maintenance fund to divert money into building the UK's first major label website: island.co.uk and as a result was awarded the inaugural 'Music Week Prize for Website Design' in 1996. In 1997 island.co.uk started selling it's catalogue online sparking a short term battle with retail giants HMV, who withdrew support for all of Polygram's new artist releases in resistance to Island's decision to become a online retailer.

During his tenure as Island Records MD, the label's artists won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize twice, and a further seven Island albums were short-listed. Post Marot's departure P J Harvey also went on to win the prize in 2001.

Island's last signing under Marot's tenure was Elbow, who were dropped by the label after his departure in 2000. The majority of the Mercury Music Prize nominated album 'Asleep in the Back' was recorded under Island's stewardship. However it was released on the V2 label in 2001.

After Island
Marot left Island records in 2000 following a dispute over a breach of contract that Island's parent company Universal were unable to resolve. His first task as an independent was to create the original iteration of the multi award winning U2.com. Marot acted as producer of the site, choosing the development and editorial teams as well as the design direction.

The same year Marot formed Terra Firma Management (not to be confused with the Terra Firma that purchased EMI records in 2002). His first three clients were Paul Oakenfold, Richard Ashcroft and Lemon Jelly. He managed Oakenfold until 2010. In 2006 he was approached by Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) with a view to helping him restart his career. Islam's first album in 28 years, Another Cup went on to sell over 800,000 units worldwide.

Throughout his career Marot has held an active interest in working with the film industry and has credits as a music supervisor on 13 films, most notably Notting Hill and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. His most recent success was on the record breaking box office hit documentary, TT3D: Closer to the Edge

In 2008 Marot merged his management company with Dutch based Sports Entertainment Group (SEG). The company operates out of 10 countries worldwide, managing the careers of over 400 athletes and 25 musicians and artists including The Noisettes, Leftfield, Billy Ocean, Jess Mills, Breakage, Shy FX and Gabriella Cilmi. Marc is a partner and shareholder in the new company and acts as CEO of the UK entertainment division.