Each month we publish our ‘SMB Music Monthly’ Spotify playlist, featuring tracks created, released or chosen by the staff, students, alumni and friends of SMB: The School of Music Business. To find out how to have your recommendation included in the upcoming set, scroll to the end!
The eclectic playlist from October included some incredible tracks.
Listen to it HERE. A few highlights included:
Harry Stanhope studied Artist Management and Advanced Artist Management at SMB. He now manages an incredible emerging artist called JacobNeverhill, who is releasing a number of singles throughout the year, having recently secured a recording contract. We selected his single ‘Gold’ because it’s a testament to his sublime vocal ornamentation and a demonstration of a pristine song writing ability.
James Cooper, Head of Sync and Creative Licensing at Sony ATV, and also tutor of our Music Publishing course at SMB, selected tracks from Four Tet, Fink and Ride, who he had just been to see in Kingston. The single he selected, ‘Repetition’ from their glorious 2019 album ‘This Is Not A Safe Place’ was produced by iconic Erol Alkan and is out now on Wichita Recordings.
We also proudly shared Feral Five’s latest offering ‘Ego’ which I currently listen to on a daily basis! The track has been described as “a dynamic electronica tune of power and desire.” Feral Five front-woman, Terry Tyldesley is a respected music industry pioneer; tech expert, songwriter, producer, BAFTA nominated filmmaker, founder of Kitmonsters.com, curator of Music Tech Fest (Berlin) and chair of ethical music streaming service Resonate Coop. We are always thrilled when she joins us at SMB as a speaker on the Music Business Fundamentals course to discuss the future of music tech. One recent student summed up her regular SMB guest spot; “Mind. Blown.”
Jack Clothier is the founder of the iconic, AIM Award Winning label Alcopop Records. He is also the tutor for SMB’s Record Label Business course. We featured a number of recent releases from the current Alcopop roster including Nelson Can and the legendary Helen Love! Music trivia fact – did you know Alcopop! once released a single on a very innovative format – not a CD, cassette or vinyl… but on a £300 bicycle! They also ‘broke the internet’ after buying the UKIP web domain from under their noses right in the middle of the 2015 general election, redirecting visitors to their own website and store!
‘Don’t Cling To Life’ From Dublin based quintet, The Murder Capital, was selected by Ivan Marziano, who following his time at SMB formed the label Painted Halo. Since then he’s secured his roster a host of successes: BBC Radio 1 plays, BBC introducing Record of The Week, major Spotify curated playlist support and extensive national/international tastemaker press!
Alumni of various courses with SMB, Alize Proust works for the incredible Sofar Sounds, as well as being a successful artist manager. She chose a beautiful, folk infused track from Hazey Jane called ‘Lay Low’. I’m so happy she introduced this artist to me!
Joshua Gerschel shared the title track from his recent signings, Rapturous’s first solo EP ‘Lions Den’. Joshua studied artist management, music marketing and more at SMB in 2019. He is the respected executive director of Hub One Recordings and we’re excited to hear more releases and recommendations from him in the coming months.
Dan, co-director of SMB, selected incendiary tracks from DIIV and Idles. And I (Matt) selected a track from Blondie, to celebrate the release of Debbie Harry’s biography ‘Face It’ and a track from Blakey, who I managed and who, within a year of his debut, is approaching ten million streams on Spotify alone.
A varied and vibrant playlist! Thank you to all those that suggested a track. And it’s now time to do it again!
What have you been listening to, releasing, promoting, or even performing, throughout the last 30 days? Which songs should we be listening to?
Send your suggestions to ‘info@theschoolofmusicbusiness.com’ or leave a comment on the Facebook SMB Alumni Group post.
Please follow, share and listen to the playlist. Find the SMB Spotify profile HERE