Tag Archives: industry

What you need to know when starting your own record label

Posted on by

Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to start something new or an aspiring musician who wants to go out on their own, this article is for you. It discusses everything you need to know about starting your own record label and becoming a big player in the music industry if that is your target. Of course, you might just want to set up a small local label to help local musicians, but these tips will still help. 

  1. A Name

To start your own record label, you need a name. It doesn’t have to be the catchiest phrase on the planet, but it would help. The name is important because it represents you and what you stand for. It will be your branding and will be the name everyone knows. If you are reaching out to artists and producers at any level, it will need to be a name that you are proud of. 

As music covers so many industries and genres, you also need to think about what the name means. For example, if you are planning on specialising in the Pop music sector, you might want to avoid something that represents another genre entirely. Obviously, it is down to you in the end, but the name is what will stick. Be imaginative as you would if you were setting up your own company or agency name. At the end of the day, the name is something you should be happy with. 

  1. Defining a Genre

This sort of goes hand in hand with the name choosing. If you are going to specifically settle for one niche then that will have played a factor in setting up your branding. However, if you opted for a label to be named after yourself for example, then you still need to make sure you have a defined focus. Whilst a scattergun approach may work for some people when trying to find clients, it helps to be more targeted. This way will also see you face less rejection. 

Imagine a band trying to make it in Rock ‘n’ Roll like Nirvana receiving an approach from a label which promotes Pop Music. They will likely dismiss your email or direct message. You do not have to appeal to everyone, as quite simply, you just won’t. This applies to those looking to start their own record label, as well as musicians, producers and songwriters. Be strategic and mindful of who you want to market to. In the same way as a marketing company refine their target audience for their newsletters and social media strategy, you will want to do the same when attracting potential clients.  

  1. Work Out When How You are Going to Distribute Your Music

When learning how to start a record label, you reach a point where you know it is about to get serious. As seen in the article on Pirate Studios, starting your own record label can be so rewarding. It can work in so many ways and can be extremely beneficial if you are an aspiring musician yourself. However, you do have to get it right, especially when it comes to distributing and releasing music. As we have seen down the years, the music industry can ride in waves. Artists can have a stellar year and then you may never hear from them again. 

That is why it is so important to avoid releasing and distributing when you feel like it. Similar to when approaching clients and artists, it is important to avoid a scattergun approach in this regard. As there is new music being released every hour, every day, timing is everything. Even the artists and labels with the biggest status will still research the best time to release. Perhaps the best example is how much thought goes into getting the Christmas Number One spot in the UK. This is quite a profitable time for record labels and in the UK, there was always a battle against Simon Cowell’s X Factor juggernaut. 

  1. Think About How You Are Going to Distribute Your Music

Since streaming and downloads started being counted towards the charts and other official figures, how you distribute your music if you are a record label has become a lot more complicated. Obviously, you can still look into releasing online and this is what most new record labels will do. Finding a digital distributor can be quite simple if you know where to look, and this means your records will hopefully land on all streaming sites such as Spotify and others. 

On the other hand, it can be more profitable to get your music distributed to shop floors. With HMV still going, there is still scope for this to be done. However, this can come further down the line if you are just starting out. First things first, don’t overthink it and just get your music distributed online. 

  1. Spread the Word

Perhaps the most important part of starting your own record label is to spread the word. Word of mouth is a great tool. Similarly, to an artist trying to get their name out there, you are wanting to do the same. In an already saturated industry, it is all about timing and word of mouth. Get your friends and other business to promote your new label.

Do some scouting as well. There are many unsigned bands and artists with loads of potential that just need a break in the same way you do. Signing a fledgling artist with bags of talent and ability is easier said than done, but they are out there. What better way to give your new record label a real boost by getting that talented, unsigned artist on the radio. Some record labels started out as bloggers reviewing unsigned talent and this led to promotion online. From there, they realised they had a knack for spotting talent and ability, which led to them setting up their own recording label. 

What you need to remember is that everybody has to start somewhere. Just have a look around and make sure you have everything covered. 

 

Collaborative post with our brand partner.

How The Pop-up Food Industry Has Grown

Posted on by

Research by Eventbrite has found that the number of food and drink events which have been hosted on its platform has been increasing on an annual basis.

In an analysis of more than 40,000 of these events, the organisation has also discovered that the fastest growing trend was that of the pop-up dining experience, due to 82 per cent growth being recorded.

In this guide, Flogas, which is one of the UK’s leading LPG suppliers to businesses, has taken a look at how those in the food industry have begun to move away from brick and mortar establishments in their droves:

The growing popularity of pop-up food

To understand why pop-up dining experiences have become so appealing to members of the public, Eventbrite conducted a survey involving more than 2,000 people who have attended such events.

Three-quarters of the event’s attendees (75 per cent) felt that a unique dining experience is worth paying more money for. Around half of respondents also said that they would be happy to pay more for a meal from the exact same menu at a pop-up event where chef interaction is involved, as opposed to one served in a regular restaurant.

When it comes to what people look for in a pop-up event, 84 per cent of survey respondents said it was a unique menu or theme. This was followed by events held at memorable location (76 per cent) and occasions that promised to be a one-of-a-kind experience (74 per cent).

Chef and Co+Lab the pop-up’s creator, Melissa King, pointed out that setting up a unique event works both ways when it comes to the pop-up food industry. “There are so many chefs out there — they have their restaurants, their day jobs, but they’re looking for something more,” she acknowledged. “That’s what the pop-up culture offers them. They are able to take over someone’s space for only a few hours and convert it into their own identity. It’s not just about the food, it’s about creating a memorable experience for the guests.”

The growing popularity of street food

Street food is also on the rise. In fact, UN-FAO statistics claim that street food is now eaten by an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide and StreetFood.org.uk had some 2,800 members with over 7,000 units serving food across the UK as of 2015.

It’s little wonder that street food has proven so popular though. The produce available is usually inexpensive, for example, while it also provides a nutritional source that is based on traditional knowledge and often follows the seasonality of farm production.

You won’t need to break the bank to set up a business in the street food industry either. General guidelines suggested by The Hub has detailed that a small second hand catering trailer or market stall could be acquired for under £5,000. A report by the Nationwide Caterers Association acknowledges that a fully equipped market stall can be bought for around £3,000 and a food truck for an estimated £10,000.

Speaking to Produce Business UK, street food vendor Charlie Morse pointed out: “Street food as a trend is certainly growing, although it’s still not at the same level as in New York. I think it will die off a little as a trend and then become a normal, everyday offer. A lot of office workers go to street food

stalls to buy their lunch and eat something healthy, cheap and different. There are so many trends within food but it works when you consider that people are money conscious and like variety.”

Sources:

https://mkto.eventbrite.com/rs/269-CEG-133/images/DS01_The%20Rise%20of%20the%20Pop- Up%20Britepaper.pdf?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTnpFMFptRXpNell6TkRNMiIsInQiOiJrZUxnUGU5eDNSdkFVO VdUaG5seUUrVkYyOGlWeHJUaXFDMzY2TG8weDA3UXpCZ0M1bG9kaVdIXC9MNGU3akhObVZGSWo 1MXJzT0NtYU9ZQWpvdmtvK29cL2NTYnRqeit6NytRSWFCRnhrV3krVmlpcWlvbFd0WXRCZUk1aUkxdS syIn0%3D

http://www.producebusinessuk.com/purchasing/stories/2015/09/22/freshly-prepared-food- infiltrates-street-markets-to-deliver-what-people-want

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i2474e.pdf http://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/street-food-business/

http://www.changemakers.com/sites/default/files/the_street_food_revolution_document_final_1_ 0.pdf

 

Debra Messing ‘Pressured’ to Go Nude in A Walk in the Clouds

Posted on by

Debra_Messing_at_the_2009_Tribeca_Film_FestivalDebra Messing has revealed she was “pressured” to shoot a nude scene in 1995 film A Walk in the Clouds by the director Alfonso Arau and the film’s producers.

The Will & Grace star starred opposite Keanu Reeves in the film, it was her first major film and was not a pleasant experience. She also said that she contacted her agent about the directors request and was then informed she would likely be fired if she said no.

She went on to say that she was berated after approaching Arau about the scene. “Your job is to get naked and to say the lines. That’s it,” he reportedly said. When the time came to film the scene the filmmaker made her feel uncomfortable “He lifts (the sheet up), scans my naked body, then drops the sheet on top of me like a used Kleenex,” she said at the MAKERS conference in California, “He walks away without a word…The whole thing was a power play, a game. And the goal, to demean me, to strip me of my power and make me feel on a cellular level his dominance over me.”

 

In the end only her back was exposed in the film. The 48-year-old actress also reportedly had issues with Alfonso after he berated her for how she looked.

“How quickly can we get a plastic surgeon in here’, ‘Her nose is ruining my movie! I can’t do this! Look at this!”‘ Alfonso reportedly said.

Messing was “frozen, horrified, mortified” and “felt deep shame” about her Jewish heritage after his comments.

The Rise of The Fat Supermodel: Is The Fashion Industry Embracing Plus Size Models?

Posted on by

When it comes to the fashion industries obsession with waif like models, times they are a changing…well maybe just a dress size or two.  In recent months the industry has seen a sidestep in to the usually unmentionable world of FAT!  Several leading modelling agencies now have dedicated plus size divisions, recognising the huge surge in popularity of plus-sized fashion bloggers and Instagrammers.  According to Public Health England, two thirds of people in the UK are overweight and are in need of taking better care of their health.

The rise of the fat supermodel- Is the fashion industry embracing plus size models?

Candice Huffine became the first plus size model to feature in this years’ Pirelli calendar, has graced the front page of Italian Vogue, and has appeared in i-D and Harper’s Bazaar

Tess Holliday’s huge social media following, helped get her signed to modelling agency MILK Model Management who now have a separate division, Curve, which is dedicated to plus size models.

Advertisers using slim models for their ‘health’ campaigns have been heavily criticised by the public and media alike. Protein World’s infamous Are You Beach Body Ready? poster campaign backlash is a prime example of this shift in attitudes towards the ideal female body.

We asked Dr Marilyn Glenville, Nutritionist, women’s health expert and author of Fat Around the Middle: How to Lose That Bulge – For Good  for her thoughts…

areyoubeachbodyreadyadvertcontroversy

How difficult is it to maintain a super skinny body shape and still be healthy?

It is very difficult if not impossible to maintain a super skinny body shape and still be healthy.  And for women it is important not to lose too much fat, because then periods will stop and it can affect not only fertility but also increase the risk of problems like osteoporosis because the woman has lost the protection of the female hormones.

 

Do you see women who struggle to lose weight more regularly now?

Yes.  In my clinics in Harley Street and Tunbridge Wells, I frequently see women who struggle to lose weight.  Most of them just want to be a healthy weight and to have a way of eating that becomes a way of life rather than being on a constant diet or having to do fad diets.

 

Many women I see also want to change their body shape as well as lose weight as they know they are carrying too much fat around their middles which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer (especially breast cancer), heart disease, Alzheimer’s and high blood pressure.

 

Do you think the fashion industry should embrace models who better represent today’s average British woman?  

I definitely think the fashion industry should embrace models who look like the average British woman.  It makes it easier for the average woman to relate to the clothes that the model is wearing and more likely to want to purchase them.  If the model is super thin, then the average woman will think they can’t possibly attain that without starving themselves and knows that it is just not realistic for them.

 

Can you be healthy and bigger?

This is really dependent on body fat percentage rather than weight.  A person’s weight cannot differentiate between fat and muscle and an athlete and a couch potato can have the same Body Mass Index (BMI – a ratio of height to weight) and yet have a completely different percentage of fat and muscle.

 

A woman can be bigger and healthy if she has the correct percentage of body fat (25-31%). Too low, it risks her periods stopping, infertility and osteoporosis, too high then it risks heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

 

Want to shift some pounds naturally?

 

Dr Marilyn Glenville (www.marilynglenville.com) has joined forces with luxury health spa Champneys.com, to deliver a series of very special women’s wellbeing weekends this year.  These very special one and two day retreats are led by Dr Glenville herself and offer natural solutions and insight into four significant female health issues; Fat Around The Middle, Digestion & IBS, Menopause & Osteoporosis and Fertility.

 

 

Olivia Colman Calls For More Diversity In The Film Industry

Posted on by

Olivia ColmanThe amazing British actress Olivia Colman has said that diversity is not just about race and that there must be more opportunities for all in the film and TV industries. Colman told her views as she was appointed as a judge for the TriForce Short Film Festival. She said that it was important that a wide range of people had a chance to tell their stories.

Colman said: “This is not just about race, it’s about diversity in all its forms. TV and films are fundamentally about storytelling and it is important that as many voices as possible have the opportunity to tell their stories.”

The TriForce Short Film Festival will be held at BAFTA on November 22nd. TriForce is a networking firm which has been set up to raise diversity in the industry. Colman said it has been working for years to improve opportunities for people from “truly diverse” backgrounds. Which can only be a good thing. We see the same people over and over again on the TV.  We should also hear more different accents. I have been told many times to pretend I am not Scottish to help my career. I understand changing my accent for a role but denying I am who I am? It is just not right. So lets hope for more people from all walks of life.

What do you think?

 

If you are an actor then check out my book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. It is available in print and in all eBook formats on both Smashwords and Amazon.

 

 

Actresses Deserve Much More Than Being ‘The Girl’ And a Naked One At That

Posted on by

film characters - anna paquinIn my other life as an actress I have noticed a worrying trend. Well, I say ‘trend’ but actually it has been going on for years: female parts in films were the character has no name and is called ‘The girl’. The girl is usually the only female part in the film and will also have at least one nude scene. Just because it is not humiliating enough to be offered a script where all of the men have names and you don’t, you also have to get your tits out. Nameless and objectified: actresses deserve better than this. WOMEN KIND deserves better than this.

It is hard to describe just how depressing it is to work in an industry where women are reduced constantly to the sum of their parts and not even named. the worrying thing is that this is a common practice. Upon complaining about this on my Facebook, prominent film maker and casting director Rory O’Donnell said: “This is incredibly common. I made fun of it when I wrote The Landlady and gave all the female characters first, last and nicknames and called the only male character ‘The Boyfriend’….but he did get a name during shooting.” If only there were more people like Rory. 

But what is to be done? Well we need more female filmmakers for a start. Here are some highlights from an amazing survey done by Stephen Follows on his must-read blog.

 

  • Between 2009-13, women made up 26.2% of crew members on British films.
  • This compares favourably with top US films over the same period (22.2%)
  • Of all the departments, the Transportation department is the most male, with only 7.7% women.
  • The only departments to have a majority of women are Make-up, Casting, Costume and Production.
  • Visual Effects is the largest department on most major movies and yet only has 16.5% women.
  • 6.4% of composers on UK films were women.
  • 14% of UK films had a female director, compared with 3% of top US films.
  • The percentage of women on British films has barely changed in the past five years.

 

Read more about his survey here. It was in all of the papers so Stephen is truly doing his part for equality.  I often get asked why I don’t leave the industry. The truth is I did take a little break. Of course if my agent had called during that period I would have not said no, but it was a quiet period and I took the moment to reflect on my chosen path. One of them anyway. I often think that if I did not have this magazine and did not make my own projects I might go slightly mad. Luckily I do and I can fight instead. I made Prose & Cons which had a strong female cast and I am making more films with my filmmaking partner Steve McAleavy. The way forward is not to quit the industry, not to let these men give our breasts the starring role while our actual talent is just a nameless supporting character: the key is to raise awareness and FIGHT. Get men to join the battle and equal the playing field. Women deserve more and we won’t stop until we get it. The fightback starts here.

 

Catherine Balavage is a writer, film director, actress and the owner and editor of this magazine. She is also a published author and wrote the book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur which has received rave reviews and is a must for actors everywhere.

 

 

Enter The Prestigious Blogger Awards

Posted on by

blog, awards, enter, now, Exciting news: The UK’s most prestigious blogger awards are back to celebrate the very best talented industry professionals and individual bloggers from the lifestyle industry. What are you waiting for? Enter from Monday 1 September 2014.

Entries for the National UK Blog Awards will open on Monday 1 September 2014 and provide a unique opportunity for bloggers from the lifestyle industry to be recognised nationwide.

 

The first ever National UK Blog Awards took place in April and achieved huge success with over 900 bloggers entering the awards and 16,000 members of the public voting to determine which blogs deserved a finalist spot

 

Alongside the category for the lifestyle industry, bloggers will have the chance to enter into 13 other categories including automotive, education, health and events, whilst members of the public can also nominate their favourite individual or company blogger.

 

Gemma Pears, director of the National UK Blog Awards, said: “The UK Blog Awards provide a unique opportunity to be acknowledged and recognised as a true knowledge provider within your industry.

 

“Blogging is growing increasingly important in the UK; it’s a great way to position yourself as an expert in your field to build your credibility, as well as being able to showcase your knowledge whether you’re blogging as an industry professional or simply because you love to write.

 

“Awards are a hugely powerful marketing tool. They give you and your business immediate credibility and set you apart from the industry norm.

 

“Whether your blog is your business, a hobby or it’s part of your daily working tasks, a good blog can really help develop your client’s trust and helps close the gap between the ‘you’ and ‘ them’.”

 

You can enter your own blog or nominate a blog at www.blogawards.co.uk from Monday 1 September 2014, with entries closing on Friday 31 October.

 

The UK Blog Awards are on the look-out for expert judges from the lifestyle industry to help decide which bloggers will be announced as finalists prior to the awards evening in April 2015.

 

 

TriCoast Worldwide Strikes UK Distribution Platform Deals For Movie Slate

Posted on by

Leading US distribution and production outfit TriCoast Worldwide is set to release a number of its top-line movies in the UK including the Digital and DVD Autumn 2014 release of HEAVENLY SWORD, the CGI animated film based on the best-selling Sony Video Game and featuring the voices of  Anna Torv, Alfred Molina and Thomas Jane.

TriCoast Worldwide strikes UK distribution platform deals for movie slate

Newly-formed TriCoast UK Ltd, has agreed digital, DVD and theatrical deals with a number of UK outfits. The Movie Partnership, led by Michael Lee and Peter Dutton, will handle all digital releases as well as manage all TriCoast’s TV sales.  Spirit Entertainment will be handling the DVD releases and all theatrical releases will be managed through UK industry veteran Martin Myers and film financier Bertrand Lipworth. Myers will also oversee airline sales for UK and Europe.

 

Further releases this Autumn include 2 Jacks, directed by British helmer Bernard Rose and starring Sienna Miller, Danny Huston and Jack Huston, Toolbox Murders 2 starring Bruce Dern,  award-winning family drama Among Ravens starring Amy Smart and 3 Nights in the Desert starring Vincent Piazza, Amber Tamblyn and Wes Bentley.

 

CEO of TriCoast Worldwide Strath Hamilton said today:  “After twenty-eight years of producing movies and seven years distributing them in the USA and the rest of the world, we’re pleased to finally enter the UK market, where we’ve noted an upward trend in the distribution landscape, particularly the digital platforms, for good quality independent films”.

 

Acquisitions for TriCoast UK Ltd, will still be handled through the US acquisition team, headed by Daisy Hamilton.