What were you doing before you embarked on Sound City Launch Training?
So, I'd already left my previous job in customer service to commit to finding a path into the music industry. I was going to loads of gigs, taking pictures and writing reviews for my blog and basically just trying to connect with the people in music who I'd see all the time. When I came across Sound City Launch Training, I was about eight weeks into trying to get my foot in the door somewhere, which as you can imagine could be quite disheartening at times especially when you have no prior professional experience to show, so the course very much came at the perfect time for me and offered that opportunity I'd been looking for to gain valuable insight from industry professionals and meet like minded people.
What was the best thing you took away from Launch?
There's so much, but I'd say certainly a lot of confidence. As quite an introverted person I always found the prospect of networking quite daunting. Sound City Launch Training offers loads of opportunities to meet new people at Networking Events and I'd kind of force myself to go a long and get involved. But the more I did it, the easier it got and I realised there was nothing to really be so nervous about. Everyone's there for the same reason at the end of the day, and that's cos we all love music.
Also, because the course offers such a wide range of insight from across the music industry, I came away with a much clearer idea of what area I wanted to work in. Going into it, I wanted to work in the media/press side of things but that soon changed to working more directly with artists and record labels, which is what happened really as my first opportunity was an A&R internship at Modern Sky UK.
What are you up to now?
I'm currently the Booking Manager for Sound City's online platform, Guesthouse and assist across different departments for Sound City Festival and Conference. In 2020, myself and Sean Fay, who I actually met on the Sound City Launch Training set up our own record label, Snide Records - we'll have EP's out this year with GEISTE, The Deep Blue and Molly Green, so check them out.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone at the start of their career in music, what would it be?
Don't doubt yourself, and don't be put off doing anything just because you don't have any experience in it. I'm constantly learning and picking up new skills each day that will ultimately help me in my career. For me personally, my whole two and half years in the music industry has been learning on the job, which of course can be really challenging but it's worth it at the end of the day to be working in music.
Say hello to Luke here.
