The Complete Package With DAN McDOUGALL From VOLUME DEALER

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.


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