Here we are. Episode 80 of this little podcast that I launched back in 2018. Since then I have spoken to music business execs from the world of record labels, publishing, artist management, sync, artists themselves and also live music which is where my very special guest number 80 comes from. Russ Tannen is the president of DICE. At their core DICE is a ticketing business but as you will hear from our conversation they have become so much more than that and are continuing to grow and develop in really interesting ways. Russ is based in NYC and we met up over a video call and talked about his ..read more

Very excited about getting ever closer to episode 80 of the podcast which is mad when I think about it. Episode 79 is with Emily Ardagh-Walter of This is Music. Emily recently moved into the world of artist management after leaving her breakthrough role as part of the finance team at Universal Records. I had the pleasure of teaching Emily in my first year of university lecturing at the University of South Wales in Cardiff and it would an absolute treat to catch up with her to hear about her journey since graduating in 2019. We spoke about Music business courses at uni, about internships and h ..read more

Big thanks to Liam for jumping on a Zoom call with me to talk about all things live music (pre and post Pandemic). I reached out to Liam as he and his agency ‘Echelon Talent’ currently look after the live side of things for a couple of acts I work with as DC Music Publishing. The Hyena Kill and Blanket. Liams agency look after a whole host of acts based in the UK and beyond who I am a big fan of so it was great to speak to him about how he has built his business, especially during such a difficult time for the live music industry. Echelon was launching only 6 months before the global pandemic ..read more

As I hurtle (slowly) closer to episode 80, this weeks conversation is with Head of Publishing, A&R and Label Manager at A&G Group/Power Haus Creative Livia Cruz. I reached out to Livia via Linkedin as she is another guest of the pod that I am yet to meet in person. I was very pleased that she was able to jump on a Zpom call with me at short notice to have this conversation. We spoke about her relationship with music having grown up in Brazil and how she got into the business over here when she came over to Europe. Liv also gave me a really interesting look into what A&G as a busin ..read more

This episode is with a fellow podcaster. If you haven’t checked out the MeloCompass podcast already you definitely should. If you are listening to this then Nicky’s pod will be right up your street. Check it out on Spotify, Apple, Google or wherever you get your podcasts from. Nicky reached out to me to talk about podcasts and podcasting and in doing so we managed to set up a time to get her on BTB which was awesome. Nicky has had a varied career in the business and has loads of insights for those who are interested in getting in the business. Her area of specialism is music licensing so we ha ..read more

Episode 75 of my little podcast!!!! Three quarters of the way to the big 100. Thanks to everyone who listens and shares these episodes. It really means a lot. This episode has been a long time in the making. My guest for this episode, Vikrum Gudi, is an incredibly busy man. He currently runs a number of different businesses that we spoke about when we finally managed to find time in both of our schedules that worked. Elephant Music is a music production company that focuses on the world of sync, Split Music is a sync focused music publishing business, Protege School is an online based educatio ..read more

This is one of my all time favourite conversations. This episode, I chatted to the wonderful Jack Williamson about his journey through the music business and his current relationship with the industry as a coach, psychotherapist and mental health activist. During the chat we realised that our paths had crossed back in the day. Whilst I was the head of sync at peermusic in the UK Jack was co-manager of Gabrielle Aplin. We were keen to sign Gabrielle and Jack and I definitely spoke about all things creative at least once in one of our past lives. This conversation though was really uplifting and ..read more

I’m back for part 2 of the podcasts for 2022. This first episodes is a cracking chat about music publishing with Deborah Smith who is the Director at Anara Music Publishing based in Leicester in the UK. I reached out to Deborah online as I had never met her and managed to find a window of time in her busy schedule (Anara do a lot of work over in India which Deborah has been getting involved with now that travel is that much easier again) and the conversation was about her start in music and how to set up a publishing company from scratch. As someone currently in the process of setting up a mus ..read more

We’re into April 2022 and this is episode 72 of the pod. It’s a conversation with music industry lawyer Dean Marsh. Dean is based in Brighton and runs a company called Creative Law and Business. I first knew of Dean waaaay back in 2003 in my first music business job and since then he has worked with many individuals and businesses that I have done work for and with. He is a fountain of knowledge about the business and the legal side of it and it was a real pleasure to talk to him about the role of a lawyer in the modern music business, Some of the specific work that he has done through the yea ..read more

Here is another conversation with someone doing great things in the world of metal and heavy music in the UK. I reached out to George via Instagram on the off chance he would be interested in speaking to me as I am a fan of the work he has done with bands including: Monuments, Loathe and Sleep Token as well as newer acts who I have discovered via diving further into his work like Kubrick and Graphic Nature. It was an interesting and insightful conversation. George is a very open and honest person who operates in a world I only have a small working relationship with (those who operate in and ar ..read more