Success Beyond The Score

This year, the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) organised their fifth version of Musicians' Mental Health Month. With a focus on Imposter Syndrome, they are offering a number of resources for musicians, ranging from coaching and therapy sessions to blogs and Q&A articles on the subject.

Imposter Syndrome, which consists in the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills, affects people in all professions. It can become debilitating, opening the way to anxiety and paranoia. If you have confronted these feelings before, please know that you are not alone, and that there is a way out of this negative mindset.

This page on the MU's website contains a summary of the activities and resources of the YCAT's Musicians' Mental Health Month. Share it with friends, it might help more that you think!

Continuing with our journey down memory lane, today we bring the two episodes of the podcast Success Beyond The Score dedicated to the award-wining international operatic soprano Abigail Kelly.

Her engagements include a variety of roles, like the female lead in the ‘The Marriage of Figaro’, which she performs in various languages – Italian, Russian, German and French. Abigail is the Ambassador for the National Touring Opera and is passionate about making opera available to all. Abigail is a workshop leader and vocal tutor and has been featured in Black Hair and Beauty magazine.

In the first part, episode 6, Abigail explains why she chose to become an operatic soprano, the things opera singers do which singers in other genres do not, her journey to becoming a full-time musician, and the impact that COVID-19 had on her life and career.

In the second part, Abigail gives her insights on how to bounce back; dealing with fame and the mundane; tips for building a full-time music career...

Contracts, regulations, taxes, liabilities, trademarks and copyright. There is a big legal side to working as a musician. Not all of us, particularly those who are just starting, can afford hiring a professional to take care of that. Even if you have the resources, you still need to know your way around legislation to better communicate with your advisors, protect yourself and your audience.

With all this in mind, on Wednesday 22 April 2026, Millicent will be teaching a FREE webinar via Zoom about legal know-hows for gigging musicians. It is open to everybody who has access to the internet and wants to learn! All you need to do is sign-up following this link.

If you would like to have an idea of how the sessions go, here we have a couple of examples.

• Click here to watch a segment of the session about how to promote your music.
• Click here to watch the answer to a question submitted by a participant to that same session.

Please, share this event with everybody who could be inter...

So far, this year we have offered two free webinars for emerging musicians: ‘How to stream your live music performance’, and ‘15 ways to promote your music online and offline’. They were successful and enriching experiences that gathered testimonials like this:

I found [‘15 ways to promote your music online and offline’] really interesting and informative. There were so many fundamental and incredibly useful tips that had somehow passed me by, e.g., adding information about yourself in the signature of your email – genius! I absolutely agree with the “concentrate on one social media platform at a time” approach. It will make my life a lot easier.

We are very happy with these results, and we are going to bring you more of these opportunities throughout the year. Here is a basic outline of what is to come:

• April: Free webinar about the legal framework for musicians and copyright.
• May: Exclusive events for Time For My Music members.
• June: Short paid course about how to get book
...

On May 7, Wales will vote to elect the 96 new members of the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament). In preparation, the Musicians Union has written a manifesto that describes actions to improve conditions for music, culture and the arts.

Election time is one of the best to make your needs known to leaders and politicians. If you are unsure of how to proceed, the MU has outlined some actions and provided templates in their website.

Don't sit back and wait for others to decide how your community is going to be managed. If you work in the arts and culture sector, it is vital that you make your experience and struggles part of the discussion for a better government. Let's pave the way to make Welsh music and culture shine brighter than ever!

Once done with our revisit of season 1 of the podcast Success Beyond The Score, today we want to direct your attention to season 2.

First aired in 2021, and produced under the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, this season introduced two big changes: the presence of guests, and the video call format. The episodes, available now on YouTube on top of all the usual podcast streaming platforms, started with a brief intro:

The first guest of the season was Tony Bean, the CEO and founder of 5AM Records. He is an international artiste developer, songwriter and record producer who has worked with major record labels such as Polydor, Motown and Warner Brothers. Tony has worked with Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Lemar, Beverley Knight, Kenny Thomas, Tyrese, Alexandra Burke, Freddie Kofi, Nu Life, Monique Thomas and Eternal, to name a few.

The first part of the interview, which constitutes episode 2, starts with Tony talking about what it is like being a se...

This is a reproduction of the statement posted on Millicent's main website on 20.12.25.

Whilst I am mainly a gigging musician, I have also written and produced music during my career. I have distributed my album Reflective Notes and my single Take Me To The King as physical copies, through the radio, and, as many other musicians, through streamings services, including Spotify.

As one of the largest providers of music streaming services in the world, Spotify was, for many years, the platform every musician wanted to grow in. Their reach is still enormous, yet there are several factors that have pushed me towards the decision of removing my music from it.

The main concern I have is the lack of regulation over music generated with artificial intelligence. In the last year, journalists and even casual listeners have uncovered that multiple “artists” verified by Spotify are not in fact human, but the result of using generative AI platforms like Suno or Udio. Said “artists” are boosted ...

These episodes of the podcast Success Beyond the Score complete the segment about music press kits. If you want to learn more about how to make money from your music and how to promote yourself, be sure to join our mailing list to be notified of our offers on this and other topics.

Have a listen:

19. What should be your killer music track for your press kit?

Sometimes, potential clients ask you for your music instead of your press kit. So, what should be your killer track, the one that gets them thinking you are the one to book? In general terms, what is the client looking for in your music?

20. How to make serious money from your music

Would you like to know how to increase your earning potential through your music? Would you like to earn the money you desire from your music? Millicent shares her experience of making a living from her music in this episode. 

21. What are the top three essential things to have in your music press kit?

Millicent wraps up her series on the Mus

...

The following group of episodes of the podcast Success Beyond the Score are all about how to market yourself. While the event discussed in episode 14 has long since past, the process described is a good example of what to expect when trying to get that sort of gigs. From episode 15 onwards, Millicent will talk you through the design of your Music Press Kit.

Have a listen:

14. How to perform in the Commonwealth Games 2022

Would you like to perform in the Commonwealth Games in 2022, which are being held in the city of Birmingham and the West Midlands region, United Kingdom? In today's episode, Millicent explains how to get yourself in.

15. What should you have in your Music Press Kit?

What is a Music Press Kit? Is it different from an Electronic Press Kit? What should be in it? Whether you are in the early stages of your music or performing regularly, a Press Kit is a must.

16. How to write an artist bio

What should you put in your music bio? How should it be written? What sho

...

Performance art demands the better and the most from creatives. Our physical and mental capabilities are always being tested. We engage our memory to learn the parts of our act and be able to perform them on stage from beginning to end, and we need endurance to withstand it without losing our energy and presence. We require quick problem-solving skills to react accordingly if something goes wrong (and how many things can and will go wrong!), along with good stress and anxiety management. Our craft has an impact in different parts of our body: tendons and joints for dancers, vocal cords and respiratory system for singers, etc. For all of this, a health service specialised in the needs of performing artists is essential for the survival of our industry.

This is where BAPAM, the British Association of Performance Arts Medicine, comes into play. Established in 1984, it is now the largest provider of clinical services to the UK's performing arts sector, supporting everybody from students t...