I began working in the music industry in 1987. For most of the 30+ years since then I have been running businesses in all parts of the industry.
 
My way into the world of music was training as an accountant in a company that looked after musicians, record and publishing companies, studios and festivals. I got to do boring work whilst looking around a fascinating world. And it turned out that following the money is a pretty good way to start learning how the industry works.

I helped set up a music festival in Spain in the early 1990’s, which had Bob Dylan and Keith Richards, Bo Diddley and BB King among many other fantastic performers. Although I was there as the finance guy, the production team was small and there was so much to do that we all rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in. I negotiated fees with some of the artists, worked out how to get them to the festival, contracted with caterers to feed and water them and found them hotel rooms. Experienced people taught me about the production of putting on a show: mixing desk, backline and lighting. I mixed with artists and managers backstage and even managed to have lunch with Bob Dylan one day. It was fantastic. We filmed the five nights and sold the TV show to more than 100 countries worldwide. I made some of the sales myself. It was one of the most intense and exhilarating projects I’ve ever worked on and certainly the most exhausting.

My next port of call was EMI Records. I worked as the tame accountant on the Parlophone label when it was at the centre of Britpop with Blur, Radiohead, Supergrass, Pet Shop Boys and Coldplay on the roster. Parlophone was on a roll and I watched artists sign to the label, make and release a record and then – with the right song and an eye-catching video - explode all over the world. I also saw just how much hard work was involved behind the scenes.

There are times in life when lady luck smiles on you. My boss at EMI needed someone to run the studios group which included Abbey Road Studios in London and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. He offered it to me and I had to stop myself biting his hand off. I call this “The Greatest Job In The World. Ever” and ran it for almost a decade. I had the privilege of being there while artists were making records and orchestras were filming some of the most iconic film music of all time. I hung out with them in the canteen and the bar, watched them work from the control room and sometimes even got to sit in the room while they played. It was a blast!
 
Leaving EMI I tried something completely new. With a business partner I set up a mobile phone publishing business in Africa. This may have been my mid-life crisis. I knew very little about mobile phones and had never been to Africa, but sometimes you just have to leap and have a go at something new. We set up offices in four countries and managed to grow our subscriber base to more than 10 million across several channels including a pan-African music channel.

 I loved my African experience, and I was proud of setting up a business that is still going strong today, but I missed the music industry.

Returning to the UK, I became CEO of Wise Music Group, one of the world’s biggest independent music publishers. Working with world class writers is an honour and learning how the song is the basic building block of the music industry, feeding both the record and live business – and can generate many different income streams – is fascinating.

gigomi is following

gigomi is not following anyone.