We were thrilled to welcome some of the most exciting up and coming names in the grime scene recently for an intimate masterclass covering the secrets behind their success.
The ‘Young and Behind the Music’ masterclass at ACM Guildford featured a panel including Samuel Eni – radio presenter, Ben Anderson – manager of Ghetts, Nick Asiama – founder of Certified UK, as well as UK Grime MC Laughta and her manager Nadia Khan (who also manages Lethal Bizzle). The class opened with the panel explaining their roles in the music business and how they got there.
Ben told the story of how he gave up a banking career in Birmingham to start up an events company specialising in music nights. With no previous experience in this field he booked Ghetts to perform alongside a band for his first ever headliner. After just three shows he’d locked in Ed Sheeran to perform and now runs events company Musicalise alongside managing Ghetts.
Laughta explained how she chose to pursue music after her father died, sharing that she found events to be a great route into the music industry, as it enabled her to make great connections. After recording her first EP, she was able to sell out leading venue the Queen of Hoxton for her launch party.
Certified UK founder, Nick told the class how he learnt his craft on the job – making use of every single opportunity sent his way which ultimately lead to him working with brands like Samsung in his day to day career.
Nadia entered the industry via music PR. After struggling to get a paid position, she undertook a free internship alongside working at weekends to support herself. After three months of working tirelessly, she was offered a paid position at the company she interned for. Now managing Lethal Bizzle and Laughta, Nadia was clear to the students that it wasn’t easy and took a lot of hard work to get to where she is now.
Questions were encouraged throughout the session and the panelists shared lots of golden advice for the students’ future careers. When asked about what to send prospective managers, Nadia explained the need to include links to social media, and that it’s important to not add too many attachments. Ben added that they also need to make sure their social channels are up to date and that they only follow up emails if they can show progression from their first correspondence. Laughta urged the students to trial potential managers and to look out for scams – ‘it’s important to work with the right people’.
It was an excellent masterclass, with the students having clearly learnt a great deal to help kick start their careers in the industry.
We’d like to thank the panel; Ben, Samuel, Nick, Laughta and Nadia, for an extremely insightful and useful session for our students.
If you’d like to study at ACM, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
