Success Beyond The Score

The last weeks of December and the first of January are a time to relax and look back, but also to look forward. It is a good moment to decide on what you want to achieve in the new year, which is important because, without goals, you could find yourself drifting and not getting anywhere fast.

With this in mind, I tend to write my yearly music business plan around this time of the year. Yes, it is a scary word for some, but I have found that writing a plan has helped me to achieve more goals in better condition, than not having any outline at all. 

It is a good exercise to write it out. Doing so, I have learned to differentiate elements that could be done efficiently from those that would take longer, and also distinguish between the urgent and the important. Using the plan as a guide, I have also been able to go through the year seeing the opportunities that match my goals and go for them, and reject those that, even if they look beneficial, don't match and would only be distracting...

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, not extreme sports although I wish  – lol! But at 42, when I gave ...

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 and family commitments increased, so eventually, I gave up travelling. ...

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.