Date Signed: January 2024
Label: Apple Tree Records
Type of Music: Folk
Management: Vicky Dowdall, VDM Music
Booking: Marty Diamond - Wasserman
Legal: Kieran Jay - Harbottle & Lewis
Publicity: High Rise PR - ninanesbittmusic.com
Scottish singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt is taking the reins of her career by launching her own record label, Apple Tree Records. The name of the label is a nod to her first independent EP release 12 years ago, The Apple Tree, and it was also the first project of Nesbitt’s that her manager Vicky Dowdall worked with her on. Nesbitt and Dowdall are equal partners and owners of the new venture.
“I feel like Vicky has partly raised me in the music industry. I was 17 when I started working with her. Vicky got me through my first heartbreak, she introduced me to some of my favorite albums.” Nesbitt revealed. “She's really protected me from the music industry, and stood by my side when I'd been dropped. We bring out the best in each other. And I think now that I'm older, it feels more like a partnership, which is really nice.”
The first project under Apple Tree Records was Nesbitt ‘s fourth studio album, Mountain Music, which was released on September 27. “I wrote the album before we signed anything, so it didn't really change the creative part or the making of the album, but definitely in terms of how we promoted it,” Nesbitt says. “We had to hire the team and choose what we wanted to spend the funding on. It's been a lot more organic than other albums. We didn't take the first few songs to radio. We didn't do a lot of ads. It was just to let it grow naturally and just put the music out.”
Nesbitt was previously signed to Universal Music Group and the indie label Cooking Vinyl. Those experiences have shaped her views on how the industry works. “I didn't know what a label could offer me in 2024, apart from funding. I feel like so much of it is on the artist and manager.” Nesbitt continues. “A lot of it's the artist doing the social media and the TikToks and everything. I'm at a point where I've established a fan base, and I just want to nurture that fan base and grow that. It really is a guessing game in the music industry, like nobody knows what's going to happen. No one knows what's going to be successful. You just really have to believe in yourself.”
