The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Noted success
Michael Alexander meets staff and students at Perth College UHI which has been voted the number one in the UK to study music business
I knew Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol’s lead singer) because he was at the same university as us
The walls reverberate to the sound of Bonnie Tyler’s Holding Out For A Hero, important-looking assessors sit in silence, judging the quality of the performance and the audio and lighting work of students hidden behind the scenes. The hall at Perth College UHI’s Goodlyburn Building is alive with creative energy.
There’s far more to the music industry than performing – and fewer places better to learn about it either – according to the latest National Student Survey results.
That’s because Perth College UHI has been ranked by students as the number one university at which to study music business in the UK. Not surprisingly, it’s an achievement that both staff and students are extremely proud of.
It comes as students continue to deliver a variety of exciting projects, including their own independent record label Vadana Records, Perth Music Expo and numerous music events across Scotland.
The ranking is also a stark reminder of the huge contribution the music industry makes to the UK economy, despite the challenges posed by technology.
According to the 2017 Measuring Music Report published by UK Music – the umbrella organisation which represents the collective interests of the production side of the country’s commercial music industry – total GVA (gross value added) contribution by the music industry in 2016 was £4.4 billion.
That figure is up six percent on the previous 12 months, with the number of jobs growing to 142,000.
One man who knows all about the army of musicians, artists, sound engineers, producers, publishers and managers that work behind the scenes is Perth College UHI music business lecturer Richard Smernicki.
The 44-year-old former Tayport Primary and Madras College pupil grew up in Tayport and studied geography and economics at Dundee University. He comes from a musical family and has played drums in bands for many years.
Influenced by his big brother Paul, who is a former director of digital at Universal Music Group, Richard listened to a lot of Seattle grunge bands in the early 1990s as well as shoegaze – the subgenre of indie rock and neopsychedelia that emerged in Britain in the late 1980s.
Some of his earliest memories of gigs were at Fat Sams in Dundee where he saw bands like Ride and the Charlatans.
In the mid-1990s, the earliest band he played in was Kingsize and like many young musicians, he had dreams of making a living from it.
Then, thanks to a connection with a tour manager from Dundee, the opportunity arose to work on tour as a technician with Swedish band The Wannadies – who had a mid-90s hit with the You and Me Song
From there an opportunity came along for a Scottish A&R scout at Polydor Records.
Travelling up and down the country, it was Richard’s job to scout out new talent to sign to the label, which he says was an enjoyable time.
Yet without a doubt his biggest achievement of that era was the pivotal role he played in bringing Dundee University-formed Northern Irish-Scottish rock band Snow Patrol to Fiction Records – an imprint label of Polydor.
The band, which went on to be nominated for six Brit Awards and has sold more than 13 million records worldwide, were brought on board thanks to a “team effort” by Richard and his brother.
“I knew Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol’s lead singer) because he was at the same university as us,” says Richard, who now lives in Invergowrie.
“I actually remember supporting them in a band at the old Lucifers Mill in Session Street, Dundee. They were friends and I always thought it was clear Gary was a talented songwriter.
“I was young at that time. I was fairly new in the industry – you have to bring in your own projects. But I don’t like to think of it as anything special. It was what I got paid to do as an A&R representative. Ultimately it was down to the talent of the act.”
Richard has experienced the transformation of the music industry over the past 20 years. He’s seen the impact the internet has had on music, as well as the challenges it’s posed: from the rise of MySpace to the ability to upload music for free.
A recent development has also been the change in revenue streams, whereby online downloads or streaming has given people a pre-paid unlimited music alternative, be it through Spotify, DiSA or Apple Music.
“It’s a new phase now where music fans are more willing to pay for music and intellectual property,” he says.
For the past nine years, however, Richard has been influencing the next generation of talent at Perth College UHI where he helps deliver a Music Business BA Honours degree.
With the University hosting the largest music education centre in Scotland, the aim of the course, which includes a popular guest speaker programme, is to give students key employability skills in the “real world” music industry. It attracts students from all over the world.
An Erasmus scheme is currently run in association with Linnaeus University in Kalmar, Sweden, and approval has also been granted for an exchange with Point Park University in Pittsburgh, USA.
With 10 percent of those currently working in the UK music industry originally from EU countries, the University says it’s good for the dynamism of the class to study alongside people from different countries. Yet several students told The Courier that if they’d known about Brexit they might not have applied.
Laimi Siauruseviciute, 25, a second year student from Lithuania, who helps run the Perth students’ Vadana Record label, says: “To have ideas from different parts of the planet helps creativity. That’s how it grows.”
However, the indie music fan who has ambitions to work on the music festival circuit adds: “If I had known Brexit was coming I wouldn’t have applied. I want to know I have the choice to move where I want to, when I want to, when I can. The truth is we still don’t know what the impact is going to be when it comes to us trying to get jobs.”
Maryah Itani, 25, a fourth year student from Belgium, has a particular interest in how personalities and cultural identities are shaped by music.
Despite Brexit concerns, Maryah has “no regrets” about being on the course and says its positives include the “personal touch” of lecturers getting to kn0ow students’ strengths and weaknesses, the encouragement to “get out there” and build real networks, and also the running of the Vadana Record label.
“I’d say it’s really useful because everyone involved gets direct experience of what it’s like to be involved in a label – especially a smaller-sized label which is the norm now,” says Maryah, who has ambitions to work in cultural policy and believes there is much untapped musical potential in Scotland.
“A lot of people are doing their own thing, releasing works by artists they know personally. It also takes away the pressure from making mistakes because we still get help from lecturers who give us feedback.”
Katharina Schwan, 20, a second year student from Germany, who is interested in marketing and becoming a tour manager, also enjoys the handson approach. The metal and German rap music fan also likes the course’s international element.
However, for Edinburgh-raised Neil Patterson – a first year student who has cerebral palsy – the course is a platform for his interest in widening access to disabled performers.
The 23-year-old who works with the charity Drake Music Scotland and performs with Rock Choir – the world’s largest contemporary choir where no experience or singing ability is required – says: “One of the lines I get hit with so often is ‘we don’t have stage access because we’ve never had disabled performers’, to which I respond, ‘don’t you think it’s the other way around? You’ve never had disabled performers because you’ve never had disabled access?’
“The course is great for understanding how ideas can become reality and the satisfaction survey results are no surprise.”