Red Flag: Music’s Failed Revolution

If you’ve watched any of Marc Fennell’s recent documentaries by now you’ll have noticed a narrative style that teases, prods and grabs your intrigue usually from a story you’ve probably never heard about.

The Kingdom, The Mission, Came from Nowhere, Framed may all read investigative journalism on the tin, but Fennell rather cleverly presents them as detective stories, going down the rabbit hole of a tale you can barely believe…

Frankly, it’s a mystery itself why he hasn’t been snaffled by the likes of Netflix, Prime or Stan to make docos exclusively for the premium doco market.

The latest is Red Flag: Music’s Failed Revolution, a double-feature look into the rise and fall of Gold Coast-based music start-up, Guvera. Based on the Gold Coast it boldly landed upon a business model to solve the threat of music piracy giant Napster.

Swedish-Australian co-founder Claes Loberg conceived the idea that advertising could pay for “free” music downloads -years before Spotify.

It was a three-way model that depended upon consumers, music labels and advertisers. Loberg, who had long-flowing hair, wore cowboy boots, sported tatts and rode a Harley Davidson, co-founded Guvera with ex-bank employee turned computer expert, Brad Christiansen. While they were indeed an odd couple, it worked for the formation of the company in 2008 with plans to raise $50m. The company name, a riff on Argentinian guerrilla Che Guevara, and slogan ‘F*** Pirates’ were designed to disrupt the tsunami of MP3 file-sharing.

“What if you as the pirate could get your music for free without your artist suffering?”

Fennell speaks to Christiansen along with former Guvera staff about the giddy heights of corporate launches, splashy media coverage, big promises and an optimistic uptake.

Raising the money behind the scenes was Darren Herft, part of AMMA Private Investment, portrayed here as a rising entrepreneur / suit, who joined the co-founders in a Board of 3.

Both EMI and Universal came on board for the 2010 launch where the likes of Alice Cooper, Mos Def, and later Jessie J. would lend their starpower in US events. On the outside Guvera was going places with an app and streaming to follow.

But as Fennell documents there were deep problems behind the scenes, burning through money, struggling to get advertisers, unpaid bills and a thwarted attempt to float on the stock exchange.

There are ghastly tales of trying to distance Christiansen from his own company -he was given a false address for a principals’ photo shoot. Clumsy marketing ideas sent assets in a box that resembled a bomb, meaning many went unopened. And there were horror stories of what private investors were put through.

Also speaking are journalists linked to Rolling Stone, Australian Financial Review, musician Ben Lee, alongside archival clips from Australian and US TV all talking up the Aussie disruptor.

Absent is Claes Loberg who passed away in mid 2023, but also Darren Herft whose lawyers sent a brief statement. Ouch. SBS lawyers must have had a field day with this doco.

Fennell always peppers his narratives with energy, pace, humour, fast edits, cool music, and mystery which speak to a young/ish audience. Here that pace is frenetic to the point of most interviews being presented as single questions (I swear I saw him seated in one chair with two interviewees answering at different locations). The story and the material is strong, but it needs to take a little more time to linger on the unravelling before streaking off to the next plot point punctuated by skylines, partying, iPods and cool shoes.

At two episodes it is also on the long side, getting down in the reeds on the machinations of IPOs, regulatory compliance, shares. But Fennell is at his best when he builds up to a gob-smacking revelation, and there are quite a few in this sorry tale. He’s also insightful with left-of-field questions about people’s character or something to tap into their mood.

Red Flag: Music’s Failed Revolution takes you back to recent music history with a sense of gullible nostalgia skewered into audacious ambitions and business acumen (or the lack of it). It serves as a cautionary tale where hindsight offers us a rollercoaster ride from the safety of our sofa. Remember when next you are turning on Spotify.

Red Flag: Music’s Failed Revolution screens 8:35pm Tuesday October 15 / 22 on SBS