I’m inspired

Success. What it takes to make it. Exposure talks to people who’ve been there and done it

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50k selling independent UK Hip Hop artist

Alex DuttyIf you want to be successful in the music industry you’re going to have to give up late nights. I spend a lot of Fridays in the studio - all the nights that everyone’s out partying. But I’m in the studio trying to make this career happen. It’s not as glamorous as everyone thinks, it really isn’t. It’s a lot of hard work and it’s a lot of time spent on your own writing songs. You can’t really have all your friends around you. You’re not going to be productive.

There are some good points to it, but there is a lot of sacrifice. I would probably still be with the mother of my child if it weren’t for the fact that music is my life. I’ve literally given up everything I loved for this music, so be prepared! Basically, be sure this is what you want. For me, if I didn’t give this my all, it would be the biggest regret in my life.

It’s very important to have goals. I haven’t achieved all of mine. If you aim to be top 10 in the chart, you might be top 20. You might not reach what you aim for, but the higher you aim, the higher you’ll achieve. You can’t please everyone, so you have to have something within you that tells you “I’m going to follow my path.”

It takes years of development to become an artist, to become a proper artist. Someone who’s not just going to be making quick cash, and then forgotten about in a year or two. To be a real developed artist, you need development. And you can’t develop an artist within a few weeks like on X Factor in front of millions of people. It’s not healthy for them.

Success for me didn’t happen overnight, that’s for sure! It’s been years. I started making music when I was about 15. I ended up going along the wrong path, like a lot of kids do. They draw inspiration from the wrong people at times when they grow up in certain surroundings. I wasn’t much different — I made mistakes that I regret now. I fell into the wrong crowd, and I was easily led. I ended up going to prison when I was 18. I was locked up until I was 21.

I wasted a lot of time. I could have spent that time working on my music, and it wouldn’t have taken me so long to get here – I’m 31 now. It took a long time because I had many years taken away from me for my stupid behaviour.

Alex Dutty

When I got out I had to start from scratch again. I went and studied music technology. I did sound engineering as well. I learnt how to use the equipment, and then went to work in a studio. I started making the teas, working my way all the way up to assistant manager. Then I started doing journalism as well to build up contacts, and to learn how the industry worked. I’ve managed to see the

industry from a totally different perspective. I went from there to making my own music in my studio. I made a mix tape, and I pressed it up myself. I went out there and sold it over ten thousand times, and it got a good response. I did that five times over. In the UK I’ve probably sold the most records independently without a record label.

“It takes years of development to become an artist, to become a proper artist”

Guy MasseyMusic producer for Paul McCartney & Manic Street PreachersWhen I started I had to do very long hours as a tea boy at Abbey Road Studios. I worked 16 hours a day doing this before I could move up to tape operator. I missed my friends, but if you want to work up through the ranks you have to do that amount of work. During that period, about two years, I did not leave the studio.

There were times when I thought, “I can’t do this.” When I first started producing and engineering, I was a bit green, and sometimes I’d take work on while I was still learning, and clients would get stressed.

I recently took on a project, just after moving to my new studio. I felt very stressed, but it’s like climb-ing a mountain. I just kept going and afterwards felt glad that I overcame that hurdle. This job is mostly good fun!

It’s different for people who want to get into music now; the industry has changed. The tea boy, tape operator, engineer, producer route has changed. You can make a record in your bedroom. You do a lot of the parts of the process yourself. I did have a laser like idea of what I wanted to do and stuck to my

guns. So I would say that despite the way you get into it, music has changed; it all takes focus: be very focused and there are sacrifices. It is worth it.

I grew up in Liverpool. It had a drug culture. I fell into that at 14 and started smoking weed very young. I do regret it. It’s had little knock on effects throughout the years. I got into a group that did that. I just did far too much. I know some people can dip in and out of things, but if I had my time again I would not do that. I’d follow my own path.

Guy Massey

“I worked 16 hours as a tea boy the day before I could move up to tape operator”

Alex Wheatle MBEAlex Wheatle MBEAward winning novelist and poet

I was very troubled as a teen. I grew up with no parents, in a children’s home in Surrey. When I was 14 I was moved to Brixton, which was a massive culture shock to me. I had to learn to walk, talk, and act like a Brixtonian. I fell into bad company, trouble with police, trouble with other criminals, and eventually ending up in prison at 18. Police were brutal back then and I have the scars to show it.

Sometimes when you’re at your lowest point you meet the right people. That’s what happened to me when I was in prison after the Brixton riots of 1981. My cellmate was one person who really encouraged me to read, and get back on my feet. He wasn’t the only person though. Throughout my life I’ve had people trying to encourage me, but sometimes it doesn’t sink in until later on. Pay

attention to those voices that are trying to help you.

I wasn’t successful straight away. During my 20s and 30s I worked in engineering, which paid the bills, but didn’t fulfil the artist within me. That’s what scares me now. I fear that if I don’t keep devel-oping my stories, my poetry, my lyrics, I won’t be exercising my creativity and will end up working back in a job that doesn’t meet my artistic needs. If you’re going to spend hours in any job, you have to enjoy it.

And young people need to believe that they are talented in their own way. Through education and through life we will find our talent. Try different things and see what you can excel at.

Guy Massey

“Sometimes when you’re at your lowest point you meet the right person. That’s what happened to me when I was in prison”

Poet & MitchPoet & MitchM - Work ethic is so important, for me it stems from motivation. I watch motivation videos on YouTube, and I read books. And you have to have the right people around you. I can’t stress that enough.The right people give you that motivation. Keep reminding yourself why you’re doing what you are, and the work ethic will come. You have to want it.

P - For example, we are doing this show on television. On top of that I’m doing three other shows. I do so much. I realised I could not dedicate the amount of time I wanted to it but needed to. I subconsciously delegated some of it to Mitch. He’s just run with it. He’s now saying, “you got to get this done.” He’s running me. I like that. I mean I dedicate 6-7 hours to sleeping. The rest of the time I’m working. This is my life. It’s all for a greater cause.

M - I can’t stress how much you have to want your goals. Some people say they want it, but their actions tell you something completely different. And there’s networking, oh my God, networking is so important. Some people think that you just show up to a party looking the part, then sit in a corner, and don’t talk to anyone. Firstly you come in acting like a superstar, so firstly you don’t look approachable, you haven’t got the likeability, you leave with no contacts.

TV presenters and writers

“ I can’t stress how much you have to want your goals. Some people say they want it, but their actions tell you something completely different”

Poet & Mitch

P - Be comfortable in your own skin. When I was young I used to be a crybaby. I was very emotional. People would call me ‘Kyley Wiley’. Tears would pour down my face. But eventually I got to a point where none of these things that I heard, none of these irrelevant things I focused on mean anything. I’m here for a purpose. I feel like God has put me here for a purpose. My reason is for the greater good. It may seem far fetched but I feel like I’m here to make a big impact, and a difference and change people’s mindset from materialism and hatred and all that, to this thing called love and projection and hugging people, and showing everyone if we work together we can go forward in life.

The thought of a star on the floor in Hollywood with my name in the middle keeps me going: my story as an inspiration to others. Then I could go and help those people in Haringey. Those youth workers who think they are doing a good job.

I can actually go and do some real youth work. That’s why I used to hate about my job. I was so passionate about these young people, when they did not have money to get on the bus or when their parents didn’t really give a damn about them. Many claim to care about young people. No, this is how you care: not by giving them money, but by giving them opportunities. Okay you want to be a footballer? Let’s make sure we dedicate enough time to you to at least give you a chance. There is no guarantee in anything except that I will give you all the opportunities I can. Then it’s up to you.

“ I can’t stress how much you have to want your goals. Some people say they want it, but their actions tell you something completely different”

Kelle Bryan

When I was young I aspired to be like Janet Jackson, Five Star and Musical Youth. They were the acts doing what I wanted to do. But it always seemed a long way from me, a little East End girl no one’s ever heard of, to Janet Jackson. It just seemed like such a distance; almost unachievable and unattainable. What’s key [to being successful] is having the right people to support that vision, your goals and your dreams. My main mentor was my mum who inspired me because she had never given up, and I had seen how she had grown up.

A good work ethic is the difference between success and failure. It doesn’t just mean profes-sionalism – it’s all about that strength and depth of character that’s going to get you though. If you are tenacious and a non-stop-type person, then nothing is going to stand in your way. It will sustain you through any length of career. Careers are a journey, and it’s that work ethic and that core belief that gets you through.

Being successful is down to a number of things; it’s not just about who you know. You might know someone and think they’re really influential and they can get you where you want to be. But, the two may not marry at that particular point. That doesn’t mean that later down the road it won’t come up, but sometimes knowing the right people isn’t going to open the doors for you.

This supplement was produced by Saphron Lee-Own, Jerome Tajah, Loga Suren, Philip Goldsmith, Jonathan Imiere, Sorayah July, Elisha Palmer, Jerome Ghartey, Zoe Koumi, Jalil Gibson

Member of 90s pop band Eternal

“ Careers are a journey, and it’s that work ethic and that core belief that gets you through”

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