Here is another chat about all things music publishing and sync for your ear holes. I know James from way back in 2009 when he first joined Sony Music Publishing and he was there through till 2020 (including the EMI buyout) when he left to set up his own thing ‘Rocket Science Music’. It was great to catch up with James and find out his motivations for leaving the role at the largest music publisher on the planet to go at it alone and what its like as a freelancer/business owner in the world...

As we enter into the summer of 2021 I have the privilege to release this great chat with guitarist and composer Charlotte Hatherley. This episode was a long time in the making as our chat was originally scheduled for April 2020 but due to all thing global pandemic it was pushed back to earlier this year. You might know Charlotte from her time in Ash in the late 90s and early 2000s, or from her time as touring guitar player for acts such as KT Tunstall and Bat for Lashes. You might also know...

Here is another chat with a Uni of Hertfordshire alumni and this is the first chance I have had to talk to someone about the world of PR. Jen has been at Chuff Media for 10 years now and has grown with the business. It was lovely to catch up with her and to talk about how she got into the world of PR and what it takes to excel in that world. Apologies for the audio quality here. Had a few technical difficulties. Useful...

Marc Brown and his team reached out to me last year and very kindly asked me to feature in their ‘How we listen’ feature (link below) and it was great having him on the pod as a guest to return the favour. Marc’s career has taken him across many countries and through a number of interesting roles starting in PR and promotion and now he is firmly focused on all things digital and his start up Byta is doing some really interesting things that make the lives of small indie labels and publishers...

Claire Rose is the outreach manager for the South West region for PRS for Music. She is an amazing asset to have (as are all the outreach managers across the UK who help out new PRS members as well as those who are thinking about joining). We spoke over Zoom (like we all do at time for recording) and chatted about her role, the PRS in general, what new songwriters should be doing and where things are going in the future. Below are links to various things mentioned in the...

After a ridiculous break, a few false starts, a change of location (I moved house), an addition to my family (I welcomed a daughter into the world) and nearly deciding to stop doing the pod altogether I am back and there will be new episodes every two weeks (hopefully) this year.  Episode 1 of 2021 is with the fantastic Chantal Epp. Founder of music clearance company @Clicknclear. Chantal is an amazingly driven individual who has thrived on starting multiple businesses around her two loves...

Here is the other returning guest. This was meant to be part two of episode 50 but instead it had to be a separate episode in its own right. Mike was Episode 1 (https://audioboom.com/posts/7020047-mike-burgess-sound-with-mike-music-business-coach) so its fitting that he is also episodes 51 and kicks off the next 50 (I hope) episodes. A lot has happened for Mike in the first 2 years of his new business start up and he talk candidly about what he has been working on these past two years. Some...

A special one for Episode 50. I was going to get 2 previous guests back to speak a little bit about what they have been up to these past 2 years but both conversations were longer than anticipated and too good to edit down more than this so they have been split into separate episodes. Here is Danny Roberts (Episode 5 (https://audioboom.com/posts/7020286-danny-roberts-a-r-manager-decca-records) ) returning to talk about leaving Decca and joining Made Records and what they are doing and how it...

What an amazing conversation this was. So amazing in fact that I have had to split it into two parts, and here is PART 2. Matt is an amazing Music Supervisor with countless credits to his name. Check him out on IMDB (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0081676/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) to see what he has worked on. We talked about his process as a music supervisor and about time he has spent on some of his projects. It’s always a pleasure speaking to Matt I hope you enjoy listening...

What an amazing conversation this was. So amazing in fact that I have had to split it into two parts. Matt is an amazing Music Supervisor with countless credits to his name. Check him out on IMDB (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0081676/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) to see what he has worked on. We talked about his process as a music supervisor and about time he has spent on some of his projects. It’s always a pleasure speaking to Matt I hope you enjoy listening in. Part 2 will be released later...

Giles is an editor in the TV world in Bristol and also the founder and owner of a music production company based out that way as well. So we talked about working in TV and what goes into that, how music fits into that side of his work (great insight into a very important area of the business for those interested in getting their music used in TV and beyond) and also how things have been faring in the world of production music. This is a great companion episode to episode 10 with Ray Pagden...

I worked with Neil for a time whilst I was part of the team at peermusic publishing so it was awesome just to catch up with him for this conversation. He is an amazing fountain of knowledge for everything music rights related. Something many people take for granted but if you want to be discovered easier and very importantly if you want to get paid then what he has to say here is VERY important.  https://www.universalmusic.com/ Email the podcast at [email protected]  Follow...

This one has been a long time coming. I have been speaking with Laura for many months to be able to talk to her about her career in the creative industries and her current work with mental health and music but we just never managed to find a date that worked...until now. We spoke over zoom about music, mental health, the benefits of coaching, setting up businesses that are both successful and not so and lots more in between....

Welcome back. New episodes released each week for the next 6 to 8 weeks, I hope you enjoy them. This chat with Nathan is all about starting up a record label, working with some of the more niche genres and how new artists can best utilise the label service sector. Really appreciate Nathan giving me some time for a chat over Zoom and do make sure to check out the acts that he mentions at the end of the episode. https://www.tunecore.co.uk/ https://www.basickrecords.com/ Email the podcast at...

The final episode for 2019 is here and it’s a great chat with Promotion, Publicity and Tour Marketing manager at Redbull Records Joe Kettle. Joe is another friend from Uni (I promise there are only a couple more of these) who has done some amazing things in his journey through the music business. In this episode we discuss artist management, Redbull records themselves and how they operate in the business as well as how best to navigate the interesting world of promotions and publicity in the...

The penultimate episode of series 2 is with the wonderful Hannah Cartwright from the band Snow Ghosts (amongst many other creative projects that we discuss). She invited me to come to her studio (castle) near Bath and have a chat about her life in music and being a composer, being in bands and writing music for media. I had met Hannah the first time when she was part of the team at production music house ‘Extreme Music’ who we talk about a bit in the episode as well. Really enjoyed this...

This week's Episode is taking another look at the world of live music for a different point of view. This time from the venue owners perspective with Dom Frazer from Boileroom in Guildford. I was put in touch with Dom through a mutual friend in order to have this chat so this was the first time we had spoken and it was a wonderful conversation about all things related to venues. I personally love these episodes where I get to nerd out on things as a novice and Dom was a total fountain of...

Episode 17 is with Luke Armitage. Someone I have known since University and who I have seen go from Intern at Universal Publishing a decade ago through to Vice President of Global Marketing of Astral Werks (Part of Capitol Records) based in LA. Luke is a very bright and driven person who was always going to do well and it was really great catching up via the internet so that I could talk to him about his career in the music business and how he has viewed it all along the way. I hope to get...

This episode (10) of the pod is with Daisy Carberry. Marketing co-ordinator at BMG Rights Management. Daisy is another one of the wonderful ex students of mine who have kindly been up for coming on the show to chat about what they are up to since graduating from uni and Daisy is currently smashing it at BMG. We talk about her time at uni and how she realised it was the business side and not the songwriting side of music that she wanted to pursue. We talk about taking the plunge and moving to...

This weeks episode takes a different look at the live music business. After speaking to promoters and booking agents here is a chat with a member of the touring crew. James Pepper is a uni friend who is now doing wonderful things over in the USA as a major part of Nathaniel Rateliff’s road crew. Pepper has been in this work for around 8 years now and has worked with other bands like The Temperance Movement and Frightened Rabbit and we have an awesome catch up chat about all this touring and...

EP 14. More live music chat with Rob McGee, Booking agent with Empire Agency. Rob is based in Bristol and is booking agent for bands such as Lazy Day, Tusks, Thumper & Tungz. Rob talks opening and honestly about starting up his own business and the struggles that came with it which was refreshing and great to listen to. He also talks about the deal he has done this year to become part of the larger ‘Empire Agency’. We met up in Bristol venue Hy Brasil (RIP) and it was a really interesting...

After an unexpected week off for health reasons I’m back with E13 of series 2 of my little podcast. This chat is with festival founder and concert promoter James Scarlett. This conversation was originally going to come out back in August on the back of a great live version of the chat about all things live music and putting on music festivals that we had at this years 2000 trees festival but for many reasons I was unable to put that episode out so have done this wonderful do over...

Episode 12 of series 2 is an extra special episode as I managed to pin Manners McDade MD Harriet Moss down for a chat about music publishing and becoming a Managing Director of a company at 27. As discussed in the chat I first met Harriet a number of years back when she first joined Manners McDade looking after the sync side of the business and she has been killing it ever since. This is a brilliant chat and Harriet has loads of amazing insights to give about songwriting and music publishing...

Episode 11 is all about Music and branding with Kate Young. Founder and CEO of Soho Music Group. I had the pleasure of working with Kate on a number of projects when I was at peermusic and it was amazing to sit down and chat with her about the evolution of sync and music supervision and how the music business and brands are looking at working together in the current industry. If you’re interested in the world of music in advertising and brand partnerships then this is an episode for you to...

Episode 10 of the Podcast. Talking to Songwriter and performer Dot Allison about her career in music. This was a really interesting chat as Dot is another contributor to the pod who I had not met before we got to talk. It was over skype and I have to admit, I had technical issues my end but we managed it and it was an awesome chat about songwriting. Dot has some great insights about writing as an artist and also writing for and with other artists and about some of the things that all emerging...