Simon Raymonde, MD of Bella Union

7.15am

The alarm on my phone goes off. It's on the other side of the room because you hear funny stories about how phones can fry your head. My sons stay over on Tuesday nights and I like to get them up for school. Stan is 17, has just started A-levels and loves his music. He's always trying to catch me out – "Have you heard of a band called Sigur Ros, Dad?" – but he hasn't yet. Will, is 14, and he sings and whistles all day long, apart from when he is on the Xbox.

It's a very musical household as my girlfriend Stephanie Dosen is a recording artist too. She's currently touring with Massive Attack as one of their lead singers. We often tour together and I sometimes play bass with her band, so our lives are deliciously linked.

As well as managing Stephanie and a couple of other artists, I produce records and I have also started working on some live performance ideas. But my main efforts go into running the label Bella Union with my friends Duncan, Mark, Johnny and Ellie. The label began in 1997 after my band, the Cocteau Twins, decided to call it a day. After 14 years I don't think I was too surprised and having the label was a good way to get over the heartache of not working with Elizabeth Fraser any longer. A few years of learning label life the hard way followed, then, in 2001, the penny dropped. My original partner, Robin, also from Cocteau Twins, moved to France and I signed Lift to Experience, Laura Veirs, Midlake and Explosions in the Sky. This period was the making of me. Some good years followed with Fionn Regan, Howling Bells and The Dears all doing pretty well, without ever selling massive amounts. We had our 10th Anniversary shows last year with two nights at the Royal Festival Hall. That was a blast.

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9am

I check the e-mail to see what delights are in store today. I have a lovely e-mail from the film director Jonathan Caouette, who directed the extraordinary Tarnation. He's sent me the script for a film he is writing that he wants me to help him find some music for. I settle down with a cup of coffee to read the script and within a few minutes I have a load of ideas flying round my head. Jonathan's writing really inspires me. I met him in New York a few years ago and he has been working on a feature film called Forest Grove that I am meant to be doing some music supervision for. But we both know that the film world can be even flakier than the music world so we don't hold our breath!

11am

I run to Shoreditch for a label meeting focusing on the Fleet Foxes, who I signed last year. We released their debut album in June and in a couple of months the record has already sold over 50,000 copies. With the November tour sold out months in advance, we are beginning to plan for February and March.

In 2007 I decided to take some time out in Norway to consider the music industry, which was no longer making sense to me. I came back refreshed and literally a week after returning I discovered the Fleet Foxes, and a week after that I found The Acorn, a Canadian band. In my opinion these two bands' releases are the most important albums of the year so far, on any label.

The meeting is full of good ideas and we also discuss the forthcoming releases by Our Broken Garden, a Danish band fronted by Anna Bronsted, and the gig they will play at Union Chapel with Lambchop in November; Abe Vigoda, a young tropical punk band from LA who we signed earlier this year; and Peter Broderick, a 21-year-old who in his short life has already made four solo albums.

1pm

I leave the meeting to go for lunch with Joel who manages Midlake. He has just arrived from LA but looks remarkably fresh-faced. But then I know other people from LA who look remarkably fresh faced because it isn't their face. I am pretty sure Joel's face is entirely his. Over the unhealthy but delicious burger and fries in a Shoreditch diner, we discuss how we both have withdrawal symptoms from Midlake's music, and how we cannot wait for the band to finish their follow up to The Trials Of Van Occupanther. The band has been holed up in its studio in Denton, Texas, for a year, creating some addictive brew I shouldn't wonder! As Joel leaves, I wonder if he thought I was taking him to a pseudo-American diner as some kind of joke. I hope that if I ever visit him in LA he doesn't take me to a jellied eels and mash shop!

3pm

I take a pre-arranged call with Remi from Ontario who manages Ohbijou, a band I am trying to sign. We chat about release schedules and touring plans, and we laugh at how I am going to afford to bring seven band members over from Canada. But he reminds me that there are arts grants that allow many Canadian bands to fund tours to Europe...

3.30pm

I'm in Hoxton in a London studio to oversee the recording of strings and brass on an album I am producing for Brille Records' artist Lucas Renney. He is my favourite new non-Bella Union artist. There is a dark romanticism to his music, delivered in a style that is rare today. I put his writing up there with Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. During the session I was thinking about our stage at the O2 Wireless Festival with the amazing Wildbirds, Peacedrums and Loney, Dear. I decide to e-mail and ask those bands, plus Peter Broderick, to consider recording a one-off album together for Bella Union. I hope they think it's a good idea!

7pm

I meet my brother Nick for a drink. He has been in the music biz for a long time too, and we discuss what a very odd business it has become since the Sixties when our Dad was around. Dad was a songwriter, string arranger and all-round top geezer called Ivor Raymonde, who will be remembered as the co-writer of "I Only Wanna Be With You", the Dusty Springfield classic. He was also in Hancock's Half Hour and he did the string arrangements on the Walker Brothers' hits "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "Make It Easy On Yourself".

It's too early to tell if my sons will become involved in the business. Stephanie is teaching Will how to play the piano. She is a good teacher cos she just gets him to choose a piece of music he likes and then just shows him how to do it, verse by verse. He's learning "Mad World" just now.

I leave Nick and run home to have a quick dinner with Stephanie before we head to Kilburn for the debut London show of The Acorn. It turns out to be a brilliant show and the packed audience adored it.

11pm

Home. I make a quick call to the Fleet Foxes who are on tour in the USA to tell them they've been nominated for a Q Award - which is a lovely thing to be able to do – before we settle down to a few episodes of Arrested Development. By 2am I can barely keep my eyes open. Though I do just about long enough to check my e-mail to read that Wildbirds and Peacedrums, Loney, Dear and Peter Broderick all think my idea to make a record together is inspired. I go to bed, as I awoke, with good news.