The Big Music Project aims to “break barriers to the creative industries.” But what does that mean exactly? What the group does is helps 14-25 year olds kick-start their career in the music industry. They understand how difficult it is to get one’s foot in the door and so are dedicated to breaking down those barriers and making it simpler.
How do they do it? Well, they do have a website that’s just bursting with advice on career choices and insight into the industry. They actually create and locate paid internships and handle work placements in all of the areas of the creative industries. They work directly with UK Youth and 110 Music Hubs within the UK. These organisations run their own music projects. They have also brought Capital XTRA’s Music Potential in to the loop. They offer a programme dedicated to empowering and inspiring people to begin a music career. What’s more is that The Big Music Project is supported by the Big Lottery Fund.
The Big Lottery Fund supports the ambitions of young people who want to enhance the lives of those in their communities throughout the UK. They have given out 40 percent of the funds raised by the National Lottery and have invested over £650 million each year in various projects related to environment, education, and health. Since June of 2004 the Big Lottery Fund has awarded over £8 billion to projects that have enhanced the lives of millions of people. It’s nice to know that when you play the lottery, you are contributing to such worthy causes. You can even play the lottery online here if you would like to contribute. Who knows, if you play your numbers right, you may win millions.
There are often announcements of seminars on the music industry insights as well as topics such as job skills and dream jobs. Their first Big Music Master Class was focused on Ashley Bard. At 14 years old he had already broken into the music field and now he is a Senior Audio Producer assisting the team that creates production for the largest commercial hit radio station in London. Not too many 26-year-old radio producers can take credit for more than 10 years of experience in their field.
Chris Grayston, an Artist Manager, promoter of events, and label owner also offers his advice for making it in the business. He claims there is no sure-fire way of making it in the music industry, however there are a couple of tips to increase your odds of having it happen. He says, “It’s obvious that you need to have talent in the music industry, but being talented is not enough.” He said that being able to perform and sing is important, but there is always room for improvement of your skills. He says to take singing lessons, he says you need to have motivation and ambition, he says you need marketing knowledge, and he even admits that sometimes you just have to get lucky.
The site comes equipped with a wonderful job search feature as well. They are supposedly some of the best entry-level job opportunities in the music industry and would certainly help to promote someone’s career.
There is also a nice section on the site labeled, “Opportunities.” Here the site lists online and live events that the target audience can attend. Access to Music Songwriting Day is one opportunity listed here. It is an event for songwriters 16 and over. Here the participants will have the chance to have their music listened to as well as judged by industry professionals.
The site offers a free Media and Music Technology workshop for teens between the ages of 14 and 18. In this workshop the teens will receive hands-on access to creative media through imagery and photography. In the workshop they will get to use computers to record and create music to the music industry standards through sequencing and production.
There are so many more opportunities available to the students on this site. There’s a Vocal and Performance workshop that will explore harmony, vocal projection, presentation, and technique. MOBO UnSung is about promoting creative individuals who probably are not known, but have the potential and show great promise.
So, if you are looking to get a boost into the music industry make sure to check out the Big Music Project website here.
