Success Beyond The Score

Gigs! I’ve had the opportunity to play so many this year that I can’t do nothing but feel blessed (and a bit exhausted, haha!). No matter if big of small, I bring everything to the stage and I have the time of my life, as you can see in the header photo of this post. It was taken during the Birmingham 2022 Festival by Laurence Stephenson. The event was incredible! If you want some specifics on how it went, I wrote a little recap on my personal website.

Such occasions would not be possible if I was not confident in my ability to pull a crowd and make the experience unforgettable for them. It is incredibly rewarding, and that’s why I want you to be able to do the same: to appear confident and get people’s attention, to make them remember you, look you up after the gig and talk to their friends about you. For this reason, I put together a course called “Showtime! The best ingredients for giving a great performance“, in which you can learn:

• How to get comfortable with your music and pe
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Oh, what an adventure it was for Millicent to post the content of the podcast Success Beyond The Score live on YouTube for the third season! Through a bit over two weeks, she talked about many essential things you need to know to grow your music career:

1. Mon 4th July: Welcome and what to expect. 
2. Tues 5th July: Does your music have the juice to pull a crowd?
3. Wed 6th July: Why do musicians get killed by sound?
4. Thurs 7th July: I’m a musician. Why do I need a business plan?
5. Fri 8th July: Three reasons why you should charge for your music starting today!
6. Mon 11th July: Is playing for free a contradiction for musicians?
7. Tues 12th July: Do you have a music hobby or a music business?
8. Wed 13th July: This is why you should video record your Gigs.
9. Thurs 14th July: Stop! Don’t record until you’ve done these!
10. Fri 15th July: Three essentials for putting on your own show.
11. Mon 18th July: Three reasons why you should contact the sound engineer before your Gig.

You can revisit any and al...

It's no secret that the cost of living rises have affected everybody.  It may be that you have to cut back on the amount of holidays you take, or figure out how you will make £1 stretch to purchase necessary items.  Well, here are Millicent's 12 tips to help you manage your money worries.  Don't forget to do you due diligence and seek professional advice to see if these will work for you.  

1.  Sell stuff you no longer need!  Maybe you have an extra instrument, or two, or three, or four in the corner gathering dust.  Do you need it?  Could someone else benefit from it?

2. Cut back on ready meals and takeaways, and cook from raw ingredients.  

3. Call in any I.O.Us. 

4. Look through your insurances, utility bills, bank charges and see if you can switch to a provider who is offering a better deal.  Of course, read the small print!

5. Cancel any subscriptions for services you no longer need.

6. Become more energy efficient.  It takes more electricity to boil a full kettle when you o...

There are some musicians who go for many years without really knowing how to earn consistently from their music, or how to turn their music into a successful and enjoyable music career. 

Here’s the good news, this Monday, I start 11 days of amazing FREE live sessions, on YouTube covering a variety of ingredients to help you on your journey. Feast your eyes on the topics:

1. Mon 4th July, 1pm: Welcome and what to expect. 
2. Tues 5th July, 1pm: Does your music have the juice to pull a crowd?
3. Wed 6th July, 1pm: Why do musicians get killed by sound?
4. Thurs 7th July, 1pm: I’m a musician. Why do I need a business plan?
5. Fri 8th July, 1pm: Three reasons why you should charge for your music starting today!
6. Mon 11th July, 1pm: Is playing for free a contradiction for musicians?
7. Tues 12th July, 1pm: Do you have a music hobby or a music business?
8. Wed 13th July, 1pm: This is why you should video record your Gigs.
9. Thurs 14th July, 1pm: Stop! Don’t record until you’ve done these!
10. Fri 15th July,
...

Since 2018, the UK committed to celebrate Windrush Day every year on June 22 to honour the British Caribbean community. To contribute in occasion of the day back in 2019, the Musicians Union invited Millicent to write for the guest blog, exploring the impact that the Windrush Generation has had on her and on the British music scene as a whole.

The article is called 'Children of The Windrush Generation Make Music'. You can read it on Millicent's website and also on the Musicians Union page.

The podcast Success Beyond The Score is soon to have a new season! The wait has been long but we promise it was worth it. We’ll provide details soon (as soon as the end of this week!), but while the time comes, why don’t you listen to the seasons that are already there?

No matter if it is your first time, or if you have already studied the episodes and benefited from applying what you learned to your career, we believe there’s always something new to take from these capsules of key knowledge of the music industry, provided by decades of experience by Millicent and her guests.

You can listen to the two seasons on the following platforms:

• Spotify
• Stitcher
• Libsyn
• Deezer
• Apple Podcasts

And you can watch the videos of season 2 on YouTube.

Stay tunned!

The brand name “Success Beyond The Score” started as a podcast back in 2019. Since then, it grew into the this website full of different resources for emerging musicians. The podcast itself has two seasons with 50 episodes in total, covering all kind of relevant topics for artists who want to achieve their goals in the music industry.

Usually, people stick to the latest content of shows that have been airing for a while. In the case of the podcast "Success Beyond The Score", doing so would not be advantageous. Have you never listened to it? Or maybe you did so long ago and don't remember much? Go to episode one of the first season and start, or restart, your journey into the secrets of the industry.

If you want all the episodes with their respective info, so you can choose what to listen and in what order, you can do it in this link. Share and discuss with your colleagues, and of course, be sure to contact Millicent if you have topic suggestions or questions you’d like to see address...

Are you interested in setting up your own YouTube channel to widen your music reach, but are not sure what to do? Do you worry about breaking it, and feel step-by-step instructions by a musician would help you to understand the screens and get it working?

On Wednesday 30th March, 7.30pm until 9pm on Zoom, Millicent Stephenson will be running a Zoom webinar called ‘Mastering YouTube for Musicians – Part 1’ to address all these concerns and answer your questions.

The content of the session will be:

• How to login
• Understanding your Channel layout
• Steps to upload your videos
• What to put in the boxes (fields) and what tags to use
• How to share your video to get views
• How to grow your subscribers organically

The course fee is £35 and you can book your place on this website.

See you on Wednesday!

On Wednesday 30th March, 7.30pm until 9pm on Zoom, Millicent Stephenson will be running a Zoom webinar called ‘Mastering YouTube for Musicians – Part 1’. The session is directed towards musicians who want to increase their reach online through YouTube, but aren't sure of how to navigate the platform and use its tools to their favour.

The content of the session will be:

• How to login
• Understanding your Channel layout
• Steps to upload your videos
• What to put in the boxes (fields) and what tags to use
• How to share your video to get views
• How to grow your subscribers organically

Interested? The course fee is £35 and you can book your place following this link. 

Are you interested in setting up your own YouTube channel to widen your music reach, but are not sure what to do? Do you worry about breaking it, and feel step-by-step instructions by a musician would help you to understand the screens and get it working?

Perhaps you have put videos up but have had zero or one or two views. This may also be the case with your subscriber count. Would you like to know how to increase both things without paying for advertising?

On Wednesday 30th March, 7.30pm until 9pm on Zoom, Millicent Stephenson will be running a Zoom webinar called ‘Mastering YouTube for Musicians – Part 1’ to address all these concerns and answer your questions.

The content of the session will be:

• How to login
• Understanding your Channel layout
• Steps to upload your videos
• What to put in the boxes (fields) and what tags to use
• How to share your video to get views
• How to grow your subscribers organically

Millicent will talk from the experience she's got with her own YouTub...