Gigomi with Dave Holley

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In today's episode Dave has not 1 but 2 guests to talk about some of the stresses and strains that can be peculiar to a musician's life, what you can do to keep an eye on them and how to look after yourself physically and mentally.

Claire Cordeaux joins us from BAPAM (which stands for the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine) whose mission it is to provide information and training to prevent poor health, provide care when things go wrong, support healthy careers and aid recovery from illness. They work across all the performing arts including music.

Liam Hennessy is from Help Musicians UK, which focuses on UK musicians only, helping them in may ways from starting out through to retirement. They have a wide brief including providing funds for creative development of artists, health & welfare services, a mental health helpline and a hearing health scheme which aims to preventhearing problems which could otherwise bring musicians careers to an untimely end.

Useful stuff mentioned in the podcast includes:

BAPAM website

Help Musicians UK website

Emerging Musicians Health Scheme

Liam Hennessy music

Aartwork music

Mental health concerns? Call MusicMindsMatter & look at the Health Musician UK resources

Physical health concerns? BAPAM

Hearing concerns? Get in touch with Help Musicians UK

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Today’s guest is Ian Anderson, the driving force behind rock band Jethro Tull.

Ian formed Jethro Tull in 1967 and this year – 55 years later - they released their 22nd studio album, The Zealot Game, which hit the Top 10 in the UK and beyond.

Ian has always stood out. His instrument of choice is unusually the flute, which he is in the habit of playing while standing on one leg.

Jethro Tull have had huge success with multiple gold and platinum albums that topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, they appeared on The Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus and alongside Jimi Hendrix at the legendary 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.

Ian feared that his career as a professional musician might be a brief one and so set out to learn exactly how the music industry works to give himself the option of moving into a role in a record company or as a producer should the paying gigs dry up. They never did but he has used that knowledge to sustain his career over the decades and it has allowed him to become increasingly self-sufficient. These days Ian manages himself, manages the release and distribution of his records and even manages the day to day logistics of his tours.

There is not much Ian does not know about the life of a gigging musician and the business of music.

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Today's guest is Keith Harris, OBE. Keith began his career as a song plugger, getting records played on the radio at Translantic Records and EMI, where he became General Manager of Motown in the UK. It was doing that job that he met Stevie Wonder who asked Keith to be part of his management team - which he continues to be to this day.

Alongside his management career, Keith lectured on the music business as a Senior Fellow at the University Of Westminsterand has led many industry organisations and initiatives including the Music Managers Forum.

Keith's career has been punctuated by many remarkable achievements and it's all the more impressive because of the prejudice that he has suffered throughout his life.

Born to West African parents in the North of England, he experienced racism on a regular and repeated basis, not least during his early days in the music industry. His response was "Don't be bitter, be better" and he became, as Billboard described him, "a tireless campaigner for equal opportunities".

More than anything, Keith is one of the most respected and widely liked people in the music industry. He has some fantastic advice for people starting out in it which he shares in this interview.

Keith was awarded the OBE in 2015 and in 2021 was elected Rector of Dundee University.

Keith talks about managing Stevie Wonder, overcoming racial prejudice, teaching the business of music & why this is the most exciting time to be entering the music industry since the 1960's.

He wrote an open letter to the music industry on racism which you can find here.

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Today's guest is Ayla Owen. Ayla is one of the UK's most experienced and successful music supervisors, having set up and led the music division of advertsising agency BBH, founded themostradicalist blog and co-Chaired The UK and European Guild of Music Supervisors.

In recent years, Ayla has crossed the line into Synch. She oversees the European Synch and Creative Services teams at Warner Chappell and now spends a lot of time pitching to music supervisors.

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Today's guest is Sara Lord. In her job as SVP at Concord Music Publishing, she oversees Synch teams around the world.

Sara's done an awful lot of things in the music industry. She managed Top Loader, Reef and Tom Baxter, taking Top Loader, in particular, to huge success.

But throughout her career, Sara has had a close connection to that sweet spot where audio meets video, music meets film.

She started in the video department at Sony, helping create videos to promote singles. She went on to work as a music supervisor sourcing music for Hollywood movies and now promotes the catalogue of Concord for use in Films, TV and Adverts.

In this episode, Sara explains what Synch is, how it differs between Film, TV and Ads, what music supervisors are looking for and how to pitch your music to them.

This is highly a recommended listen for those of you looking to get your music more well known and make more money.

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Today's episode is about the live side of the music industry. My guest is Paul Franklin. Paul is one of the leading live agents in the world. He started his career at Primary Talent, moved to Helter Skelter where he represented Amy Winehouse and helped guide her career. For the last decade or so he has been at CAA.

Paul has looked after so many huge acts including James Bay, McFly, Busted, Corinne Bailey Rae, Laura Mvula and Yungblud.

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Today's guest is the late, legendary American recording engineer and record producer Al Schmitt.

He began hanging around record studios in the 1930s (one of his first jobs was working with Duke Ellington) and he continued working in them as engineer or producer until the 2020s. The roll call of musicians he's worked with is mind-blowing: Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Steely Dan, Sam Cooke, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Madonna, Elvis Costello & Michael Jackson to name but a few. The word legend is bandied about but Al is, beyond doubt, a bona fide legend. He recorded or mixed over 150 gold and platinum albums. He won 22 Grammy's, more than any other engineer or mixer. He even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He shares his 70+ years of experience of working in the industry and some of the many life lessons he learned in his life in this conversation.

Not only a great a great success, Al was also a wonderful man, generous with others in the industry, kind to animals, a good friend. He sadly passed away in 2021 after recording this conversation, but I offer this episode, with the blessing of his wife Lisa, as a tribute to him, his life and career.

He was one of the all time greats in his field - and an engaging and frank conversationalist to boot!

This is well worth a long listen.

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Today's guest is Ian Ramage.

Ian is one of a kind, a real industry all rounder, with more than 30 years experience helping the careers of The Cure, Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Keane, Richard Hawley and many more artists.

Unusually, he has worked in both Marketing and A&R and on the publishing and records sides of the business.

His current role - as Head Of Repetoire & Marketing at BMG - draws on all of this experince.

Ian has also lectured on the Music Business & Entrepreneurship at the Institute Of Contemporary Music.

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Miles Leonard started his working life as a plumber. He changed out of his overalls to go for a job interview with Chrysalis Records. Within weeks he’d signed The Verve who went on to become one of the UK’s biggest acts of the nineties.

Miles career also exploded.

He climbed to the top of the A&R ladder at Parlophone, eventually becoming Chairman of the label as well as President of Virgin Records and Chairman of Warner Brothers.

He has been heavily involved in the careers of Kylie Minogue, Tinie Tempah, Coldplay, Gorillaz, Royal Blood, Emeli Sande, Blur, Paul Weller, Stereophonics, Kano, Lily Allen amongst others and has won the Music Week A&R Award twice. 

Phil Harvey (Coldplay Manager) said in an interview with Music Week, 'When in 2024, robots end up replacing humans throughout the music industry, the designers will probably base the prototype on Miles Leonard. Musically catholic with a predilection for funk, strong willed, creative, calm under pressure, fiercely loyal, tough as old boots and more than a little stubborn. Miles has been part of Coldplays inner circle since we signed to Parlophone in 1999 and he is still the man we want to most impress.'

Miles stepped down from his role as Chairman but continues to be an A&R Executive for Warner Music as well as starting up his own A&R/Music Creative Consultancy - Viva La Music – to focus on broader opportunities across this ever growing and multi-faceted industry. 

Miles mentioned the beats bought by Lil Nas X, which he acquired at Beat Stars.

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