A rundown of what happened at our popular live music event series

Posted on: 23 November 2021 in Enterprise

On Monday 27th of September, 24 students started their journey of attending the Live Music Events & International Touring Workshops Series.

They were presented with a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, to gain a great insight from highly experienced, industry professional - Daniel Molina Morales, regarding what happens behind the scenes in this exciting, forever-changing industry. The series lasted over 4 sessions of which all contained exciting, diversified information and activities, with a takeaway task after each session for the students who were split into four multi-disciplinary teams. The Student Success Enterprise team saw this opportunity as a great way to give students from various courses and countries, the chance to not only learn about the music side of the industry but also what happens behind the scenes in terms of business, social, economic, and political issues.

 The First session: Understanding the music industry

During the first session of the workshop series, Dani introduced the students into what each week is going to cover and why it is useful for students to understand this information if you want to go on in your career within this industry. He talked about his own personal journey from university into the Live Music Events & International Touring industry and what it takes to make it in the industry, highlighting the key traits needed to be successful, being work ethic, determination, and most of all… passion! He also showed the difference in the hiring process between this industry and other industries for example, during interviews, he is more likely to ask questions regarding a candidate’s passion for music, experience living abroad, and what makes them unique.

Dani later went on to speak about the different roles within the music industry, this was super useful for those who only knew what it was like to be an artist, rather than other roles such as agents, promoters, and managers. A large amount of the session was spent on distinguishing the difference between big organizations in comparison to smaller businesses when talking about agencies, record labels, and promoters. Live nation being one of the main big corporations as a promoter used as an example, showing the advantages of their dominance within the industry, but contrastingly, the benefits of being smaller, independent promoters as well. Not only this, but the impact of new business models over recent years in the live music events industry such as festivals and government shows, which can help the growth of the economy. Furthermore, the last part of session one was interestingly the impact of effectively reaching your audience and how this can be done. Dani explained how different bands do it very differently, through different social media platforms, as well as the importance of YouTube and TikTok, being a platform, which had an exceptional growth rate throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, which was helped by the use of music trends and challenges, for example, Drake’s Toosie slide challenge.

 The second session: the financial side of the business

The second session was a great insight into the financial concepts within the live music industry. Topics such as taxes and VAT, gross and net income, profit and losses, terms of payment, and much more was covered in great detail. Many students enjoyed this session as it showed the different costs and expenses which have to be covered within the industry, students who study business-related courses were familiar with some of the content covered and the way it was presented through accountancy style cost sheets, cash flow forecasts, and profit/loss spreadsheets. However, for students who may not have been used to this type of information, it was a great opportunity for them to learn and understand the financial side of businesses. Dani gave useful information in regard to breaking down the costs within a business. Fixed costs such as production and marketing, and variable costs such as venues, were compared to the fixed incomes such as sponsors, and variable incomes such as food and beverages, this breakdown of costs and income was useful to show a realistic view of what a business will experience in the live music events.

 The third session: real-life, worldwide music industry struggles 

Additionally, based on the feedback given, a lot of students chose the third session as their favourite session as it covered recent, real-life, worldwide issues such as sustainability, diversity and inclusion. Within the session, Daniel Molina spoke about the impact of Brexit and Covid-19 on the industry. He discussed whether specific countries require work permits and visas for short-term tours/shows post-Brexit, distinguishing the advantages and disadvantages of this. Furthermore, the importance of the live music events industry to the UK was covered, with interesting facts such as approximately 12.6 million tourists attending live music events within the UK in 2019. This shows the importance of these events when it comes to economic growth within a country and the impact it could have if these tours were to stop, introducing the connection between music, the economy, and politics.

 Other topics covered in the third session included how technological advances have changed the industry, especially throughout Covid with shows in the ‘Metaverse’ such as Travis Scott’s Fortnite performance. Also, interesting topics such as the Gender gap in Britain within the live music industry was shown due to the 80% male-dominated line-ups in the British festival report, as well as the tackling of systemic racism towards black people within the industry.

 The four session: pitch your ideal music festival concept and artist line-up

The fourth and final session in the series varied from the other sessions where Daniel Molina Morales would usually be presenting the information to the students and creating a discussion afterward. The final session involved students applying what they learned in the previous sessions, to pitch their ideal music festival concept and artist line-up. There was a wide variety of ideas and no two were the same. Students had taken on board all of the information from previous sessions and presented fantastic work back. Some of the concepts included an audio and visual art collaboration festival ideally in association with Tate Modern, another was focused on a sustainable music and education festival for the Liverpool City Region. One festival was focused on the independent artists in Liverpool but in collaboration with the musical ecosystem that supports musicians and events and the last festival concept was to create cultural events with traditional music, food, and activities that provide a fun experience whilst the audience are indirectly being educated on the traditions and values of different cultures.

After the final session the students and staff went to celebrate at the Arts Bar Liverpool to continue networking in a social environment, students continued to ask any other questions they had, whilst enjoying some local entertainment.

 Overall, the feedback received showed how 100% of students said that the Live Music Events & International Touring Workshops Series had enhanced their student experience.

After the final session students had the option to go through a video interview application process to win a trip with Daniel Molina to experience a European live music event from behind the scenes, being able to shadow Dani and learn from his day-to-day work. The successful student who won this unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Emilia, gave her individual feedback after winning such a prize.

“I'm grateful for this opportunity and I'm looking forward to it! Live Music Events and International Touring Workshop Series was an amazing experience! As a person who was always passionate about music and business, I found it extremely interesting. During my application for the workshops, I've never imagined that the prize of joining Just Life Music for an event in Europe with Dani Molina Morales will go to me. Not only have I gained knowledge but also, I've met incredible people. During the workshop series, the most enjoyable part was working within the assigned groups on the live music event pitch. ”

 If you would like to find out about more unique enterprise opportunities like this, join The Green Room Community of enterprising students and graduates today to be the first to hear about all upcoming and future opportunities!

We also have an upcoming documentary making on a iPhone series which follows a similar format to this workshop series, Applications are now open here: https://bit.ly/documaking22