Success Beyond The Score

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...

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!

On Saturday 18th June, the Musicians Union will be joining the trade union movement in London to tell the government that the workers of England demand and deserve better! Members of the union are invited to join, assembling from 10:30 am at Portland Place in Central London. There will also be a rally from 1:00 pm in Westminster Square.

These are some of the demands:

• A real pay rise for every worker – and a real living wage for all
• Respect and security for all workers – ban zero hours contracts, ban ‘fire and rehire’
• Demand decent sick pay now
• End racism at work
• Tax energy profits to pay our bills
• Raise universal credit
• Boost union bargaining rights
• And more than that: we demand a government that listens and acts to support working people.

 Register your interest to join the MU on the March: [email protected]

 Additional information:

• Official TUC event website
• Need transport? Find a coach to London near you.
• ...

This was Millicent's speech to move the (MU) Motion 20: Being Black in the UK Music Industry, delivered at the TUC Black Workers Conference:

Good morning Conference. I am Millicent Stephenson, Musicians’ Union, and I am moving Motion 20, ‘Being Black In The Music Industry’.

Music is important and woven into the fabric of our society. It motivates, soothes, conveys ‘I love you’ and ‘good-byes’. It is a social, physical, spiritual thing which goes through our being. What would life be like without music?

Music is also a professional career choice on par with any other. However, within the music industry there are stratas and issues. One of which is ‘being black in the music industry’.

You may be familiar with Jazz music, songs like ‘Summertime’ and ‘At Last’, but did you know that it came from the black communities of the United States? Also, the root of Jazz is the ‘Blues’, the music of...

We live in a busy world.  Our phones keep us active, the internet cries for our attention, and then there is the demands of family, friends, work and even our music.  There are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. You might even find you feel stressed.  

There are many tips, videos and blogs on the internet giving advice on how to cope with stress. I learnt the hard way how much my health was affected by working maximum hours with limited sleep, so three years ago I started to realign myself and it’s paying off. One of the things I did was to consciously plan breaks in my day and week.

A break can be a few minutes each day where you mentally come away from work. This could be looking at nature, the sky, having a short sleep, doing something creative, but not music. These things will help your brain, which in this regard is like a muscle, to rest, relax and recover, renewing you to do your next job. 

A break can be moments taken to...

As the Government plans to limit access to higher education music and the arts in England, the Musicians' Union has put together a guide to the consultation's questions and key points to raise.

There is time until May 6th to take part in the consultation, which will be taken into account when defining the final policy. It is extremely important for people involved with music in the country to voice their opinion and concerns, because access to higher education has a direct and strong impact on the future of the industry, one we can't overlook.

Review the information provided my the MU.

Take part in the consultation.

Please share this with as many people as you can; the more voices and perspectives are taken into account, the best the chances for a good outcome are!

Help Musicians UK and Musicians Union have helped funding the PiPA (Parents in Performing Arts) Classical Music Survey, which aims to identify patterns in job and working environments in relation to work-life balance, and develop practical strategies and resources for Classical Music organisations to better support parents and carers, and the wider workforce.

You can take the survey clicking here.

The survey was developed in partnership with Association of British Orchestras, Liverpool Philharmonic, SWAP’ra, Black Lives in Music and UK Music. It will investigate the impact of caring responsibilities on career progression as well as wider worklife balance and wellbeing challenges in Classical Music.

The survey will provide data driven insights to enable PiPA to develop a range of strategies and resources for the Classical Music sector to empower organisations to better support parents, carers and the wider workforce.

PiPA wants to hear from people from all backgrounds...

The online evening performance by Time For My Music had the aim to raise funds for the homeless. The women chose two charities to achieve this: “The House of St. Barnabas” and “CEO Sleepout”.

Both of these were brought to the attention of the group my Anouck, who was also in charge of talking about them during the concert. You can listen to her following this link, and read more about each charity in the links below:

Working to break the cycle of homelessness by giving people affected by homelessness the skills and confidence to get into employment and find accommodation.

Visit the official website of The House of St. Barnabas.
Donate to the The House of St. Barnabas.

Around the UK business leaders are invited to sleep rough for one night to raise funds to fight poverty and homelessness in the UK.  Monies collected are donated to charities at the front line of homelessness and poverty.

Visit the official website of CEO...

Did you know that, without being clear on your motivation, you won’t achieve your music targets or complete your plans?

During lockdown I, like many, had my live music work restricted, postponed or cancelled. I was depressed for the first two weeks of our first lockdown.  Although I was worrying about my income, I was mostly sad not to be able to meet people and do my thing. Why? Because I enjoy the fact that my music makes people feel better and it takes them to another place. It’s one of the reasons why I go on stage. Realising this helped me to adapt the way I work during lockdown so I could continue doing what I do. 

 The other thing about motivation is that it can change. In the early days, I just wanted to play because I felt this is my talent and I must deliver. Later on, it was about earning through my music and making it my full-time career, which I did. Nowadays, it’s about making a difference by imparting my experience to help others...

From the Musicians' Union, there's an invitation to take part in the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) Women’s Committee’s anonymous survey, which seeks to gather comprehensive data in regards of sexual harassment directed towards women. The goal is to help building a safer and more equal world of work for all.

Take the survey following this link.

Remember to check the Musicians' Union website for relevant information regarding the music industry in the UK.