As we are close to the end of the year, this episode of the podcast "Success Beyond The Score" is dedicated to reflection, in particular about the critical event that marked 2020 and 2021: the coronavirus pandemic.

How did it affect the music industry? Specifically, how did it impact musicians? Today you will hear true stories from Anna Brooks, Tony Bean, Louise Dengate, Dan Whitehouse, Abigail Kelly and Ruby Turner MBE, in which they will tell us about their hardships, opportunities, the good and the bad.

Find the video of the episode on YouTube and choose your favourite podcast platform to listen to the audio version on this list.

Recently, I’ve been binge watching ‘Race To The Center of the Earth’.  It has adventure, dizzy heights even from my sofa, a little drama, great scenery and of course teams competing for the prize of one million dollars. I love shows like these because  I find them inspiring, a little scary (when someone gets hurt or they have to climb up a super high cliff face) but also interesting.

How does this relate to music? Last time, I mentioned I would share with you one of the things I still do now to keep me moving and growing as a musician.  On reflection, there are 3 things, but today I’ll illustrate the first one through the Race.

Each of the racers in the Team have a goal.  A goal to win the million-dollar prize.  They are focused on that goal and all roads lead to that goal.  They train for that goal; they strategize towards that goal and at the end they will know if they achieve the goal.

This is something I do.  No,...

A new episode of my music business podcast “Success Beyond The Score” is now available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms!

This time, I asked my guests about their careers’ highs and lows. What did they learn from both the brightest and the darkest times of their careers? What do they value the most after all the ups and downs? You let me know what you think, leaving a comment.

Also, remember that there is a new free download, dedicated to some key actions you can do to always get paid before gig day.

Welcome to a new episode of Millicent's podcast, Success Beyond The Score. This episode is a juicy one, as the guests will talk about the essence of the business side of music. Record labels, contracts, financial planning, education and training, networking, all that is going to be covered by the brilliant Ruby Turner MBE, Dan Whitehouse, Anna Brooks, Abigail Kelly, Louise Dengate and Tony Bean.

Give it a watch on Youtube, or visit this page to see all the podcast platforms where Success Beyond The Score is available.

I’ve been thinking about ways to help you with your music development and the thought occurred to me, how do I know if you are standing still, going backwards or moving forwards with your music?

I thought about this because many people look at me and think I have it made, or that I don’t have a clue about what-what’s because I was born that way.  But, I can tell you that although I’m moving forward there were times when my music stood still and when it went a way back!

In my 20s, I was gigging a lot, mainly in the Gospel circuit.  I was well known in my circuit and then I fell in love, got married and moved to the North of England. 

Now, in those days there was no internet or mobile phones, just letters, landlines and call boxes on the streets. Lol! The Gospel music circuit in the North was not as developed as the Midlands or South, so I had to travel back often. I didn’t have role models who commuted, also work...

The Skylark Collective defines itself as a sisterhood for women in podcasting. As part of their efforts to break barriers in the podcast production world, they created the International Women’s Podcast Awards, which had its first edition this year.

The ceremony took place on Thursday, September 23rd, on a London venue. The podcast Success Beyond The Score, which you can find in all podcast platforms and YouTube through our list, was shortlisted for the category of “badass business advice”, so Millicent attended the ceremony.

Unfortunately, Success Beyond The Score did not win in its category, but Millicent was happy to share time with wonderful women who create podcasts for a variety of themes and audiences. The full list of nominees and winners, plus some photos, can be found on the Instagram account of the Skylark Collective.

Check Millicent’s photos and thoughts on her own Instagram account.

Anything can happen on stage and, as performers, we must be prepared! However, sometimes things go wrong no matter how hard you think about every possible inconvenience ahead of time. That was the case of Taiwanese-Australian violinist star Ray Chen during a concert in Brussels some years ago, when one string of his violin broke mid-song: Watch on YouTube.

We feel his pain, but the video is hilarious! Check how everybody reacts super fast, while the director pays no mind whatsoever to the chaos unfolding right next to him. The show must go on and orchestras know this better than anyone!

We hope this brings a smile to your face and some energy for the week that just started. If you want to learn more about how to make your performances a success no matter what, be sure to check the e-learning course "10 Things The Most Successful Artists Always Do, That You Can Do, To Give An Unforgettable Show"

It's coming real soon.  Check out the video for the new changes to my Podcast, Success Beyond the Score,  for Season 2.

You may want to check this out where you are but in the UK we have a campaign called 'Fix Streaming Now!'.   Basically what we have found is that independent music creators earn very little if not a fraction of a pence or cent in Royalties for the play of their music on streaming platforms where as Record Labels, in particular the larger labels, take a bigger slice of the pie because of the size of their catalogues and how the system works in their favour.  This system needs to be fairer especially at a time like now where every bit helps. 

Read more about the 'Fix Streaming Now' campaign on the Musicians Union site here and do what you can where you are to get this equitable for all music creator.   

Links to have your say to the UK Government are here:  here: https://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Home/News/2020/Nov/Calling-all-songwriters-composers-and-performers-a

I wrote an article for the Musicians Union in recognition of World Menopause Day, which is today because I struggled to find information on how it impacts women carrying out their music when my symptoms began a few years ago.  

I hope my views will help men to understand what the women in their life are going through, and for women to feel they are not alone.

You can view the article The Journey of a menopausal musician on the Musicians Union website or read it below.  I only ask that if you find it interesting...or not, I would love to hear your views.  Please leave them in the comments section below this post.

Kind regards

ms
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It was during an MU Committee meeting where we were informed that temperature checks would be part of COVID testing for musicians entering rehearsal rooms and Studios, that I laughingly said, “What about us women of a certain age? We do...