SONGS AND SCRIPTS AND DUNKING BISCUITS

Yesterday at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall in Hope Street, Liverpool, between the city’s two iconic Anglican and Catholic cathedrals, I attended the Music Career Industry Festival.

The festival, being organised and run by Sentric Music, a music publisher founded and based in Liverpool but also with an office in London, is mainly for people planning to build a career in the industry which included information on how to build live events, work in publishing, studio production; indeed most aspects of the mechanics of a sustainable music career, all of which covered the mornings speeches and separate presentations.

I attended the afternoons events which was for those more in the musically creative area, such as bands and artists. Armed with my all my massive symptoms of Imposter Syndrome I wondered if I would stand out because as is often the case at such events, be it festivals like this or workshops, I am often the oldest, or at least one of the oldest attending. And I’m not your A-Typical musician either, so I wasn’t sure how I would fit-in.

How will I be viewed by the fresh faced, bushy-tailed muso’s? Will I be afforded a patronising ‘aw bless’ smile by the young turks fronting the query desks at Sentric?

What helped a little was the afternoon’s keynote Q&A was with Guy Chambers, producer and songwriter for such musical luminaries as Robbie Williams, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, James Blunt, Scissor Sisters, Rufus Wainwright and Mark Ronson. As a musician he was also a member of The Waterboys and World Party.

However it is his work with Robbie Williams he is best know for, working on several albums with him and co-writing massive UK hits such as ‘Rock DJ’, ‘Feel’, ‘Millennium‘ ‘Let Me Entertain You’, and ‘Angels‘.

And quite settling for someone like me, with Guy being only five years younger than myself!

As someone who’s main enjoyment in making music now is in the actual opportunity to do it, any streams anywhere from anyone is a constant joy. However when  I started out seriously as a lyricist in a writing partnership with composer Bob Mouat in my late teens to late 20’s we were very driven to get our songs published and recorded, ensuring many trips to pound the streets of London to record companies were undertaken.

Now of course people do all the work via their computer screen at home, or on their mobile phone, building social networks to get known amongst the noise of social media. And yes, most of the panellists yesterday were in their 20’s and 30’s but as those most skilled in this field, it was interesting to hear how they progress, and the path is not as linear as you might expect.

Michael Aldag for instance, a young musician from Liverpool has built an Instagram following of over 308,000 by trial and error, but hit gold by doing little comedy pieces on his ‘platform’ (you hear that word a lot ) and as he explained, he hoped by doing this it would act like a trojan horse to sneak his music in without forcing it.

And it worked, with over 84,000 listeners a month on Spotify, and TV work for Channel 4 on something completely unrelated to music. Michael is a big personality as well as a talented musician. Social media was made for people like him and it is a natural home, so it would be wrong for someone a couple of generations along to judge.

Even Guy Chambers said social media is ‘everything’.

What I did find encouraging was the regular reference to the importance of being authentic. In the world of constant product and the largely unnavigated waters of AI, the requirement for authenticity is becoming more necessary than ever. Don’t try to be like everyone else, seemed to be the mantra from the event, don’t be a copycat, be an original.

So I’ll try and use social media better but of course I‘m no longer seeing music as a career I can dip my toe in without the pressure to compete. Do I really want to build a personal brand, another phrase often dropped into the conversations of the day?

But conversely did the day make me feel like a dinosaur? Well it all depends on perspective. I started off in my late teens doing this, in the days of knocking on doors and posting off cassettes. Now I’m here well into my 60’s still learning, still enthusiastic, and getting glee from someone I’ll never meet on the other side of the planet hearing my song, watching my video.

Back when I was all fresh faced and bushy-tailed myself, I didn’t have the means to do that. I was lucky if I could get my songs beyond the slush pile of a music executive or a mate living in the next street. Now I can reach anywhere and I feel just as incumbent to produce good work in 2026 as I did in 1979. And that’s a really good feeling to have.