Nick Howe is performing and promoting Independent Music Day along with Founder, Claire Hagan. Another interesting fact about Nick? He is also a proud ACM Alumnus, having graduated with a BA (Hons) in Music Business in 2012, studying alongside our Industry Link’s very own, Amy Stott.
Following on from his time at ACM, Nick flew to Los Angeles to pursue his solo career as a recording artist, investing £4,000 into time spent writing with one of ASCAP’s leading songwriter’s, Melinda Ortner.
Upon returning to the UK, Nick launched a series of events across London in a genius strategic move to kick start his solo career. Each of these events were headlined by none other than Nick Howe himself and held at prestigious venues such as Kensington Roof Gardens and Hackney Creative Festival.
In 2013, Nick landed a major sync deal with one of the most successful Apps of all time, Angry Birds. His song ‘It’s Only Love’ became the soundtrack to a promotional campaign for their charity partnership with Bird Life.
Most recently, Nick stepped off of a worldwide tour after performing live in fourteen countries, in which he recounts playing at some of his favourite places, such as the Natural History Museum in London and the Bus Palladium in Paris.
Other notable moments of his journey so far include working on the Long Live South Bank campaign to successfully Save The Skate Space on London’s Southbank in 2014 (accruing more than 130,000 backers, including Boris Johnson), performing live at Glastonbury, and as if that wasn’t enough, he has also been known to serenade Tim Minchin and the Princess of Sweden… as you do.
This leads us nicely on to Independent Music Day, Nick’s latest endeavour to ensure the empowerment of independent artists across the UK; a global day of discovery, which incentivises consumers to share, listen and talk about independent music and DIY culture.
So far, they have forty promoters working in partnership to elevate the cause, alongside the main festival in London, which, contrary to the name, spans across four stages over three days. More than two hundred artists are also supporting the movement, with many of whom scheduling their next releases for the days surrounding the event.
We managed to grab a few minutes with Nick whilst he was on the train and chatted about the inaugural International Music Day this month (IMD) on 24th February 2017.
Hey Nick! So good to speak with you; it sounds like you’re hard at work with your first event just around the corner? Any plans for once the event has finished?
This year has definitely be a learning experience – we are going to regroup after the event and review what we are going to do for the next one.
What have been your biggest challenges so far?
To be honest, funding and getting people to help out on something not-for-profit, along with balancing the necessary time commitment with our day jobs. I think not losing the plot is a task I deal with every day.
Event-wise, the main challenge is always promotion. I think most of the time artists are unaware how much time promotion takes up. You need many angles to promote an event. I have always said that when you think you have done enough – do five times as much. London has so many competitive events.
How can students at ACM get involved?
They can come for free and make the most of the opportunity to meet and network with the music industry. There’s also the chance to meet with the organisers who run over 300 events a year, so there are plenty of opportunities to grab just from coming along.
How can they sign up?
Just follow the links here:
Thursday 24th Feb:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exclusive-access-independent-music-day-thursday-tickets-32243318634
Friday 25th Feb:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exclusive-access-independent-music-day-friday-tickets-32243325655
Saturday 26th Feb:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exclusive-access-independent-music-day-saturday-tickets-32243390850
What movement are you pushing the most?
Our goal has always been to try and create awareness around the Independent scene. Use this as a vehicle to help artists get more exposure and consumers to become aware of independent artists.
How do artists benefit from being involved?
We have multiple event networks that are providing a great audience for the main events. Time Out have specifically advertised this to their tastemakers – which is a whole host of influential media and industry individuals. In addition to this we have our own media networks which are providing an audience for the acts.
Follow Nick Howe:
Follow Independent Music Day:
Website
If you’d like to be a student at ACM and set yourself up for a successful career in the music industry, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
