We get an insight into his day-to-day role as well as find out what he’s listening to and looking forward to attending this year.
Q: Tell us your story – how did you end up joining Artist Services at Ticketmaster?
A: I studied pop music and record production at uni – long days in the studio and various music business modules made me know that I wanted to build a career in live entertainment.
Prior to being with Ticketmaster/TicketWeb I worked at a few tech companies and start-ups, the last of which had a live events and ticketing team which gave me an insight and grounding into the industry and made me want to learn more.
In 2015 I joined the TicketWeb team as a client account manager – managing the events and working closely with the Artist Services team. I stayed in that role for two-and-a-half years before an opportunity opened up in the Artist Services team and I jumped at the chance to try something a bit different.
Q: Can you explain a normal day at work for you?
A: I ride into work early most mornings to run through the various onsales of the day and some general QA on any tours or events we have on.
I co-ordinate a lot of our ticketing and marketing for artist services, so I spend most of my day working with our clients on upcoming campaigns or keeping our internal teams up to date. After work I think it’s important for our team to get out there and listen to new bands, so I try to go to a few gigs a week when I can.
Q: What has been your favourite campaign to work on?
A: This past year I’ve worked on all of the Tom Grennan tours and it’s been exciting to see him develop so quickly, plus he writes a great pop tune!
Q: What are you listening to at the moment?
A: My music taste is quite eclectic – I listen to most genres, but I can be quite picky about what I like.
Recently I’ve been exploring the world of African and Middle Eastern funk music, with Ata Kak, Balla et ses Balladins and Hamid Al Shaeri being some current favourites.
I’ve also really been enjoying Nils Frahm’s latest record, hopefully I’ll get to see him this year.
Q: You’re a musician yourself – tell us a bit about that and what’s your advice to other musicians making their start in the industry?
A: There’s not a massive amount to show for my musical endeavours except for appearing on a (very) small stage at Glastonbury, a feature on Steve Lamacq’s demo of the week and some truly terrible haircuts. Sadly, my band wasn’t very driven and quite naive. In retrospect I can see where we made mistakes – you have to work hard to have a chance of making a living in the music industry…making connections, being reliable and rewarding your loyal fan base are all key.
Q: And finally, what live event are you most excited for in 2018?
A: I love going to the London day festivals – Field Day has Four Tet, Floating Points and Mr Jukes; Citadel has Tame Impala. This summer is going to be great!
