Dave Ruby Howe is the Music Director of triple j Unearthed overseeing the programming of triple j Unearthed radio, the 2011-launched digital radio station that plays all Australian and all independent music sourced through triplejunearthed.com. Prior to his work at triple j Dave began his career in the industry as a music journalist as well as editor of websites inthemix and The Cool Hunter and the creator of the music blog Hyperbole.
You work for Triple J Unearthed Radio as The Music Director, tell us what your day-to-day job involves.
The radio station is pumping out on digital radio, web stream and our iPhone app 24 hours a day, seven days a week so a lot of my everyday is making sure that everything is scheduled and the playlist is complete for Rosie’s show (4PM-6PM Monday to Thursday) and Steph Hughes’ show (4PM Friday) on top of every other hour of the day. When that’s done I spend a lot of time on triplejunearthed.com sifting through the new uploads and listening for great new music and bashing out some reviews for those tracks. Last I counted I’ve penned 835 reviews on the site – and yes, I’m running out of adjectives.
There have been rapid changes in the digital world over the last couple of years, creating a massive new porthole for online music development. Have the number of tracks getting uploaded to Unearthed radio increased much in the year the station has been running?
I remember during the week that we launched the Unearthed station (5th October 2011 was day dot for us) we were getting something like 200 new tracks a day which was really a staggering amount. It’s calmed down a bit from that frenzied pace but there’s still so much coming through today. To put a very rough figure on it it could be around 600 new tracks coming through the queue each week which gives you an idea of just how active the community of artists on Unearthed is. I’d like to think that the radio station plays a part in that surge of uploaded music as it’s a very real avenue for additional spotlight and exposure for these performers.
You’re speaking at Face The Music Conference this year, will this be your first time attending the conference and how important as these kind of conferences young people either wanting to work in the music industry or looking for a leg up?
I think events like FTM are beneficial for both punter and the panelists, me especially. There’s plenty of preconceived notions about triple j and triple j Unearthed and I find getting in front of our audience directly opens up communication and hopefully demystifies things a bit. With Unearthed radio just a year old now it’s important for artists, managers and the like to better understand how it works and how they can use to benefit themselves. This will be my first FTM experience and I just hope that people take something positive away from our discussions.
You were an editor from some pretty cool online websites and your own blog before working at Triple J. Do you miss writing or do you still run a your own blog?
I’ve been pretty hard pressed for time recently and have really let my blog go. That makes it sound like a garden overgrown with weeds and other unruly flora but really it’s more like a barren dust bowl at the moment, I really should get onto that. Thanks for reminding me. I still like to put finger to keyboard and contribute to some publications like triple j Magazine and inthemix.com.au which I used to be one of the editors of.
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
I’m going to be super boring and admit to not being too active with my iPod recently. When you’re listening to as much music each day as I do it’s important to give the ears a break. But some releases I’ve been coming back to recently include Thrupence’s ‘Voyages’ EP, Cub Scouts’ ‘Told You So’ EP, the most recent Dappled Cities LP and Van She’s ‘Idea Of Happiness’ album.
What Australian artists should we be checking out from Unearthed Radio?
All of them. We’re playing them because we think they’re great and deserve your attention! But if I had to single out a few choice acts coming through right now I’d say that you check out The Dead Heads, Major Leagues, Jackie Onassis, The Nugs, Ali Barter, Andrew Crowe, Ciggie Witch, Camden, Avaberee, Sparkspitter, Dyl Thomas, Baptism Of Uzi, SAFIA, Pigeon, Dead Owls, Rainy Day Women, Ceres, Young Men Dead, Amanda Merdzan and Sleep Decade. See? You get me going and it’s hard to stop.
What the first music video you ever caught your attention, who was it by and why did you love it so much?
I remember growing up watching a lot of Rage on the weekend while the rest of my family was still sleeping in so around that time the clips from The Presidents Of The United States Of America’s first album were pretty important to me – ‘Lump’ and ‘Peaches’ stick out in particular. And maybe Mariah Carey’s ‘Honey’ for different reasons.
Where do you see a conference like Face The Music heading in the future?
As long everyone’s still getting good stuff out of conferences and summits like FTM then I think we’ll continue to see them thrive and expand. Again, it benefits the industry as much as the punters as it’s important to get in front of the audiences that interact with your station/brand/platform/whatever and have a dialogue with them.
What panel can we see you at Face The Music?
On Saturday the 17th I’m on back to back panels actually. First at 3PM I’m a part of the Splendour Forum Presents debate on whether the internet is good for bands. On the affirmative, naturally. And at 4PM it’s the music listening panel with a heap of well respected ears. That one should be interesting and hopefully a chance to hear some good new music.
Face The Music – Friday 16th & Saturday 17th November
2 Day Conference Pass $70/$50 or 1 Day Conference Pass $45/$30
Tickets now on sale at: www.facethemusic.org.au or phone (03) 9380 1277.
