By Alan Wilson, Rocktalk writer

WHEN DUNDONIAN Paul Smernicki was called in by his boss at Fiction Records a year ago, he thought he was facing a grilling over the progress of the artwork for the forthcoming album of one of his bands.

Instead, his boss offered him a new job: that of head of digital music at Polydor Records, one of the biggest jobs in today’s music industry.

“He threw a real curveball at me; I wasn’t expecting that at all and it came completely out of the blue because I don’t have any background in it,” Paul said.

“He thought it was in my DNA or something because he said he thought I was the right man for the job and I have a good relationship with the artists.

“My previous role was mainly in marketing and artist development, getting their material out and advertising the package.

“The first thing I noticed was that in the past the digital stuff was done through one department but what struck me was that there were other departments with a lot of expertise, like sales, and it made sense to me that they should be involved in this as well.

“The thing is that most people think of digital as being IT, it’s seen as a bit geeky, but Polydor has been great at embracing it and it’s not like that at all, it’s just a part of everybody’s work,” Paul added.

“I talk a lot to the likes of iTunes and Napster, work out how a particular album might be presented, then how to generate revenue in other ways.

“People don’t really understand what digital is and when my mum asks me what I do with it I just say anything that involves computers and mobile phones.

“But the way the mainstream press reports on downloads the average man in the street probably thinks that everything is download now, but that’s not true.

“Over 90% of our business is still the traditional way of buying music, on CD and vinyl. There’s actually been an upturn in vinyl sales in recent years.”

Paul doesn’t get home from his London base much these days, but thanks to the GoNorth Festival next month, he’s looking forward to a trip back to Dundee.

He is a panellist at a seminar entitled Pirates Or Explorers: The New Music Consumer, along with Dundee digital and games businessman Chris van der Kuyl, Pat Kelly from Clash Magazine and Theo Luke from YouTube.

“I’m really looking forward to that,” he said.

“I was involved in GoDundee last year and I was aware then that Dundee is really a vibrant, cultural hotspot, with the arts centre and lots of venues putting on some great music.

“I’m very proud to come from Dundee—nationally, it’s on the map and there’s an infrastructure now.

“This visit will be a good barometer of where it’s at a year on from GoDundee.”