It’s a hoary old cliché but knowledge is power. And when it comes to succeeding in music, you should make sure where possible that you are getting the very best advice. There are numerous bodies, organisations and institutions, both public and private, whose essential purpose is to provide the musician with different elements of what is required to progress in his or her career.

Some supply educational courses specific to musicians’ needs; others like IMRO and RAAP, collect royalties on the artists’ behalf; or like Music Network run vital support services, including awarding grants, funding the purchase of musical instruments and assisting with recording. Any and all of these outfits can be of assistance to an artist or band, especially on the way up.

TRAINING GROUND
For anyone wishing to make a career in the music business whether as an artist or performer or on the technical side, formal qualifications are increasingly the norm, if only to ensure that you are ahead of the rest of the pack. Hot Press runs the MIX course every year and it has been remarkably successful, not just in attracting students but also in assisting those who do finish the course successfully to get work.
In addition to the vital issue of your ability as a musician, performer or writer, depending on what you want to achieve, a range of other skills may be required. In particular, it makes sense to develop an understanding of how technology can assist the musician, whether in studio or on stage. Knowing how to record a demo or to upload a video on YouTube is one thing. However, to ensure that your work stands out in an environment where hundreds of tracks are released every month in Ireland alone, it really should be recorded and/or filmed to a professional standard.
Where to go to learn how to do it? The Sound Training Centre has been setting standards in audio education for over 27 years now, with full and part-time fully-accredited courses in music production, sound engineering, live sound, lighting and stage management. The college is part of a network of impressive facilities, including Grouse Lodge Residential Recording, Apollo, Sun, and Elektra Studios, the Button Factory venue and Temple Lane Rehearsal Studios. Studio clients have included Morrissey, The Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, REM, the late Michael Jackson, Paolo Nutini, Muse, The Coronas and more – which means that there is a wealth of experience for the STC to tap into at any given time.
Each year, the Advanced Sound Engineering students at the STC release an album in aid of a chosen charity. The 2011 album, Silver Lining, was a phenomenal success. James Vincent McMorrow’s cover of Steve Winwood’s hit ‘Higher Love’, from the collection, featured on Amazon’s advertisement for LOVEFILM.com and became a standard in his live shows.

Over €80,000 was raised for mental health charity Headstrong. The collection, available on iTunes, won the Audio/Music production category in the Digital Hub’s Best in Show 2011 Awards. It was, in other words, a big success.
For the 2012 edition, students released a record in aid of the Dublin Simon Community to assist those dealing with homelessness. The Shortest Night contained covers of classic soul and rhythm ‘n’ blues songs, by Villagers, Jape, Pugwash and Neil Hannon, among others. In addition, The Sound Training Centre holds regular Open Days and evenings and invites all interested candidates to come along or to take a personal tour. The college is, as they say, well worth checking out.
Most young musicians and artists starting out these days (and many well-established ones too) no longer have the back-up of major record companies and management, who in the past, frequently took care of the entire business side of things, leaving the artist to concentrate on the creative end.
These days most artists take a hands-on approach. Ultimately, of course, a musician needs to be paid for his or her work, whether it’s a live or recorded performance. This is where organisations such as IMRO and RAAP (Recorded Artists, Actors & Performers) – who handle different suites of rights on behalf of their members – come in. Since it was established in 2001, under Éanna Casey’s direction, the latter has collected and distributed more than €50 million to recording artists. How does it work? Well, in addition to the publishing and songwriting rights administered by IMRO,when a sound recording that a musician has performed as the named artist on is broadcast on radio or in nightclubs, bars, hotels and restaurants etc., a royalty payment is due – and RAAP collects and administers that payment on behalf of the performer. This royalty (known as Neighbouring Rights) extends throughout the world. RAAP has established reciprocal agreements with collecting societies, acting on behalf of artists and bands, in every territory where that right exists. As it is a not-for-profit members’ organisation, RAAP members receive 100% of their foreign income. Some artists have made the costly mistake of signing to agents based mainly in the UK, who will typically charge a fee of between 15 and 20% for collecting the same royalties, and bind them to three or four year contracts.
In order to make their service more easily accessible, RAAP will roll out a new online portal in May 2013 that will give members 24/7 access to their repertoire and a much greater level of detail on where their payments are coming from and what recordings are getting played in different territories. It’s all very, very useful information for any artist planning to develop their international career.
In addition to their day-to-day role in collecting royalties, RAAP also works alongside IMRO and IRMA, as part of the industry umbrella organisation IMIR, lobbying at national and European level for law makers to enhance the intellectual property rights and economic wellbeing of its members.
Another important body that serves the musician directly is Music Network, a national music development organisation funded by the Arts Council. Music Network provides a range of supports for professional musicians, including the Music Recording Scheme. The scheme, which is managed by Music Network, provides support for performers and composers working primarily in non-commercial genres, through awarding funding for music recordings. The aim is to ensure that the work of Irish composers and performers is available other than in live performance and to ensure that important or neglected materials of Irish music are preserved and disseminated to the highest professional standard.
Music Network also runs the Music Capital Scheme, through which funding is provided to both non-professional performing groups/ensembles and professional performing artists for the purchase of musical instruments. This scheme is funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. In addition, the Young Musicwide Award is a unique professional development scheme, open to classical, jazz and Irish traditional musicians. More details on all of these schemes are available at musicnetwork.ie