Created in Birmingham

Digital Central has an interview with “band manager, label owner, promoter and magazine producer” Scott Roe of Solar Creations as part of their series of chats with music industry folks about what’s good and bad and needed in Birmingham. His summary is worth swiping I feel:

Strengths

* The region is extremely diverse in terms of musical output, creative business ideas and management styles.
* Good range of small music venues which have always been a good breeding ground for new talent.
* Spirit, determination and passion for succeeding within the music business.
* Experienced music industry players who have a wealth of experience working throughout the UK and abroad.
* The location should be a huge advantage for us.
* The perception of the region’s music scene has risen dramatically over the last five years or so.

Weaknesses

* Lack of skilled music managers, skilled business types involved with music business or vision to explore markets outside of the UK by many.
* Inappropriate use of funding on a yearly basis; too much discussion and talk about “The industry”
* Lack of medium-sized music venues (that old chestnut!)

Read on…

The third in my series of long interviews with notable people on the Birmingham creative scene is with Rich Batsford.

Rich is a pianist who’s lived in Moseley all his life. However, the main focus of the interview is Project X Presents, a collective of performers and technicians who put on the multi-genre Like Fxck gig last summer. Rich explains how it all came about, what’s next for the group and what it all means.

Read on…

Click here for a long interview with Mark Badger. A long time fixture on the Birmingham music scene Mark runs Iron Man Records and in 2000 founded the Birmingham Music Network.

My first meeting in this exploration of the Birmingham Creative Community was with Rob Youngson, a digital fine artist who is currently represented by the St Pauls Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter. His work is inspired by the geography of Birmingham to create landscapes reminiscent of Rembrandt and Turner. We were joined by Laurence Quant, a poet who’s working with Rob on a book and gallery show combining their works and who I intend to talk to more at a later date.

Read the full interview…