Tom Rose is the owner of Reveal Records, home to A Camp, Joan As Police Woman, Chris Wood, Kris Drever and Lau (who he manages), and represents Jon Boden, Heidi Talbot and John McCusker for live work. Based in Derby, England, he is also a director of Navigator Records, a folk and roots-based label.

My background is in music retail. I first worked for a chain of independent record stores in the midlands, eventually leaving to set up my own record store, Reveal Records, in my late twenties. Reveal won the Music Week award for best UK independent record store in 2005 and at this time I set up a record label after seeing Joan As Police Woman and Kris Drever playing live.

I wish I’d known more about the future of technology when I started the business – how online and broadband would impact on the public and the music industry, but I don’t think I was alone in my ignorance! It would have been good to foresee the old model imploding completely within a decade of starting my business. I was guilty of over-investing when I started out. I wanted the best range of music in my store. In 2007, largely due to rental increases and a shift toward online buying, we had to close the record shop and focus on the label. The label has taught me a lot about how to market music to the public, but the basics are the same as they were in retail: a good product, well-presented, easy to find and attractively priced.  

In five years time I’d still like to be working with musicians I respect and the music I care deeply about. Whether that will be realistic in this ever-changing business I’m not sure, but I intend to give it my best shot and adapt to the challenges.

I am always trying to think up ways to get our music to people, or build on a positive comment from someone within the industry. I look at what other non-music related companies do – designers and print and viral marketing – noting down the things which influence my own buying habits or interest me.

An example of stealing a good idea to attract new listeners: I’ve done a digital mixtape for the Independent’s website, with tracks from our two labels on it. People will be able to get a track by the artists and follow the links taking them to discover more music and info. I pursued the idea after following a similar link myself – a mix by an American techno DJ online. I just made our mix more personal (writing notes on each artist), so it felt like a tape you would give a friend.

The most serious challenge facing any company within music today is getting paid for the work and content or services you provide. You have to embrace the age you are in of course  – it’s no use ignoring progress or the changes in customer habits – but we use a wide range of free and paid-for services to expand our reach to the public; it’s tougher all the time, but we are small and can move fast to adapt.

I’d like to see an end to venues ripping off artists who have just filled their halls, by ending all deductions and unfair charges on artists selling their merchandise at gigs. I’d like to see the public treated with more honesty and respect by the music companies and large retailers. Do we really need to release ever-expanded editions of the same music we’ve already released? More than anything I’d like to see even more income and power revert to the artists and less get gobbled up by the companies in the middle, for the artists to find a workable route to market and get paid what is due to them. That might put me out of a job in the process, and will require a shift in thinking from musicians, but the new crop will find a way. I hope some of them will need a hand as the power does shift (he says selfishly!), so I can continue to work with music, which I love doing. www.reveal-records.com