Lokalne Vesti - Vancouver, BC

In order to make it in the music industry these days, you have to be willing and able to multi-task.

It’s a skill that Ottawa hip hop artist Devin Atherton has been refining for years.

Operating under the name Vinyl Tap Ent., which he calls an “everything umbrella,” Atherton has been able to develop his music and business from all angles.

“I’ll call Vinyl Tap a label when I’m putting out a record, it’s a promotions company when I’m putting on a show, I’ll call it a magazine when I’m doing an interview,” he explains.

“It’s really a beast that can be transformed into whatever shape I chose.”

He treats his music the same way, adapting it to fit a fickle and ever-changing industry.

“With the way the music industry is going right now, no one is really making money off record sales, but there seems to be a nice little chunk of dough in the publishing and licensing industry,” he says of the industry.

With that in mind, Atherton is staying away from samples on his upcoming record, No Threat, and is making entirely original beats in the hope he can eventually license his songs to various shows or independent films.

After spending time living in Toronto and Montreal, Atherton says he’s happy to be back in Ottawa, a music scene he compares to doing some shopping at Winners or Value Village.

“People like going to those stores because you kind of have to sift through things,” he says. “But you always find that amazing pair of jeans.”