Q&A Leftovers: A User’s Guide to the Bidding Derby

After Myspace Records’ Jason Reynolds stopped by the RM 64 offices for our interview with him, we uncovered an interesting tidbit left on tape during the post-interview banter. The off-the-record discussions and gossip from our interview sessions have been quite eye-opening. It makes for good industry fodder to post when our editorial staff is feeling lazy or in this case, are nursing a hangover. So we hope you enjoy a little inside story concerning the signing of a certain Australian rock act that went on to sell millions of records. We start with Mr. Reynolds and RM 64 poser-journalist Rodel Delfin reminiscing about their shenanigans and what started out as a bet.

RM64: Jason, a friend asked me the other day about Jet signing to Elektra Records several years ago. He had heard that you and I were somewhat involved with stirring that up. It was definitely a fierce bidding derby. I recall the band was starting to garner a lot of industry attention in Australia, where the band is from. I was the A&R Editor at Hits Magazine at the time, and you and I would talk about new music and bands coming across your scene. And I remember you handing me the Jet demo. How did you come across them and what was happening at the time?

JR: My friend David Vodicka, who was running Rubber Records, also ran a company called Media Arts Lawyers in Melbourne, Australia. Basically, he had found Jet and told me that I need to know about this band. It was one of those things, when I was listening to the demo –like ‘oh holy shit.’

RM64: It’s funny because I pulled the demo from my old archives, and it had “Are You Going to Be My Girl?” and “Cold Hard Bitch” along with four other tracks.

JR: Yeah, it was basically half of the album and actually all of the songs that ended up being singles. It was definitely one of those no-brainer situations.

RM64: So you had it. What was happening in Australia at the time?

JR: All of the majors in Australia had heard about it and approached it. And I know through a couple of those labels it had filtered out a little bit overseas. Then David had contacted me to talk to people over here. He and I had that kind of relationship where I would help him connect the dots with A&R people in the states. And that was it. Then you became my conduit because most of the A&R people weren’t taking my calls.

RM64: Haha, that’s funny. That’s when you sent me the demo.

JR: I want to say that the one person who I think was on to it earlier than anybody else was an A&R guy at Hollywood Records.

RM64: There was definitely a couple of people on it. Hollywood was on it early –to give them credit. And Leigh Lust at Elektra had known about the band early on. Leigh along with Josh Deutsche at the label eventually signed the band. But you passed it on to me and I played it, and thought… ‘shit man there are three singles on this demo!’ I was consulting for a number of major labels at the time and we sent the demo to a flurry of A&R folks. It kind of became our joke and we had a bet of how many A&R reps we can get to fly to Australia to see the band.

JR: These people were on a flight the next week too. I mean it was literally like, ‘holy shit the band is playing next Wednesday! I’ve gotta talk to my boss so I can get on that flight!’ I think I was the only one who didn’t get to fly there in fact.

RM64: I sent it to a few people and you sent it to a few and next thing you know it was circulating through the A&R community. I think at the end of the day there was something like 16 US label reps flying to Australia.

At that point it turned into a full-blown US bidding derby, a number of record companies were putting in big offers, and it ended up coming down to 3.

JR: It was Elektra, Capitol and Island. Capitol thought they had it, because of the Vines connection. The management for the Vines was also involved with Jet, they were co-managing.

RM64: And then the money kept going up and up. I remember Island decided to bring in their UK component to step-up their offer. At the time, of those 3 labels, Island was on fire and considered one of the hottest record companies happening. And Elektra was considered the dark horse.

JR: Capitol had done pretty well with the Vines on their first album, and at that point Elektra had nothing like that, and nothing significant in terms of alternative sales. The label’s strong side was in the Pop and R&B world, so Elektra wasn’t at the top of the signing list if you were an alternative rock band.

RM64: Surprisingly, the band ended up signing to Elektra Records.

JR: You have to respect their decision. They decided there’s nothing else on the label like their band, so they figured they would get great treatment since they didn’t have any competition. As goofy as it was at the time, I can’t say that they would have sold any fewer albums anywhere else. It was an interesting exercise too, because even beyond us, the people involved never thought that Elektra was where the band would end up. Capitol and Island thought they were the only two really in play.

RM64: The band ended up having a big platinum album and worldwide success.

JR: Yeah, and they still owe us plaques…