Volume Dealer is a new venture started by Dan McDougall and his brother Ando - better known for their roles in Frankenbok and Dreadnaught respectively - which is an online show featuring live music and interviews with the best live bands Melbourne has to offer.
While on the surface not an entirely new idea, it is the approach behind Volume Dealer, and, more importantly, the people behind Volume Dealer that makes it quite possibly one of the most exciting and rewarding musical ventures to hit the market for a considerable time.
The basic premise is this: Dan records a live set in his studio, asks the band some questions interview style, edits the music and narrative together and publishes the finished product. But that is only scratching the surface of what Volume Dealer offers. Participating bands walk away with high-quality, live footage of them playing in a live setting, footage that can be used for invaluable exposure and promotion.
Many bands in the modern age can't afford to outlay money on classy production or studio time, and inevitably lack the polish to keep up with the multitude of bands racing in similar directions. Not through lack of vision or dearth of talent, but because they simply don't have the tools or means at their disposal to guide them on their musical journey.
The final footage is kept by the bands but also uploaded to social media and the Volume Dealer website, in effect offering instant high quality promotional tools that could - and quite often are - the difference between success and failure.
Dan has also worked in optional extras to each package, with one idea to do up an exclusive, limited, one time only line of merchandise for each band that performs, lasting only for the duration of their three to four-week rotation before the next band's performance and interviews are completed ready for publication.
Dan also offers a competitive, high quality range of merchandise for sale to the general public, adding to the complete musical flavour of the whole project.
With the first episode being released earlier today with Melbourne three-piece Scarnon, Volume Dealer have struck their first blow at revitalising the local music industry, with much broader plans and vision moving forward.
HEAVY sat down with Dan McDougall to find out more.
"Volume Dealer is a new online show that we've just started with live music and interviews," he began. "With, at this stage anyway, Melbourne's finest live bands. We're hoping to take it Australia-wide and have international bands at some stage, but for the time being we'll just focus on Melbourne bands."
Although an in depth project with many moving parts, we ask Dan to simplify what Volume Dealer offers.
"We're going to get bands in to the studio, film them and record them live," he explained, "for anywhere between five and seven songs and then after the live sets done I'll then sit down with one of the members and interview them for a little bit. Then we just take all that footage and compile it into an episode and at this stage the format is we do a song and then a little bit of interview and then a song and a little bit of interview and so on. We had our first episode come out today, and I'm really happy with how it's all turned out. The point of the show is to be a promotional vehicle not only for the bands but for us as well, to showcase what we all do and hopefully make a bit of money in the process."
In the full interview, Dan elaborated on the show's format, which includes filming live performances and conducting interviews with band members, and expressed his excitement about the positive reception it has garnered. This project has been a long-standing aspiration for Dan, reflecting his deep passion for capturing the essence of live music and providing a platform for local talent.
The conversation highlighted the technical challenges Dan faces in achieving high-quality audio while maintaining the authenticity of live performances. He emphasized the importance of minimizing bleed and preserving spontaneity in the studio environment. As the project progresses, Dan said he is pleased with the advancements made in addressing these technical issues, which are crucial for delivering a polished yet genuine representation of the bands' performances. The involvement of Dan's brother, Ando, in filming and communication was also discussed, with plans for his role to expand as the project evolves.
We explored the promotional aspects of Volume Dealer, including the intention to offer high-quality audio and visual recordings to bands at no cost, with the option for bands to purchase the recordings and also discussed leveraging social media for cross-promotion and creating a dedicated website and YouTube channel to showcase the content. Additionally, Dan shared plans for limited edition merchandise tied to each episode, drawing on his experience in merchandising to enhance the bands' revenue opportunities plus more.