contents
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editor’s letter
fair’s fair
domestic bliss
power of a 2 year plan
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SUMMER 2015 | ISSUE 1 PART 2
Welcome to this the second part of Issue 1 of Made for Music magazine. I’m delighted to be bringing you 2 interviews and one article from 3 very different women in this issue. One is an artist the other two work with artists but each one is committed in her own way to supporting musicians and artists in creating a thriving career. What I have discovered in bringing these 3 pieces together is a desire for this magazine to be a trustworthy source for inspiration. One topic that comes up quite often when I ask women at all levels of the music industry what they would find helpful or useful in forging ahead in their careers is the lack of role models. “
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I’ve heard this in Scandinavia and in the USA and the UK. And I can see the truth in this viewpoint. Wondering what this means for me (what do I need to provide in my magazine to help to address that gap) I realised that it’s not that the music industry lacks women role models. Amazing women are almost the rule rather than the exception in my experience. It’s just that no-one is really telling their stories in a role-model making way. What there is instead is a very strong tradition of myth making and fairy-tale telling in the music industry. Whether it started with the music media or the industry itself is a moot point. What I do know is that it feeds into the public’s unending appetite for stories about artists who are innately talented (rather than trained at length) or overnight successes
(rather than the rightful begetters of success created over years of toil and hard work). Whilst this makes for pretty stories and dozens of reality shows the world over it doesn’t help anyone currently in the industry trying to create a real career to work out what other people like them actually did to get the success they’ve achieved. It’s my intention for this magazine to be a finger in the dam of the deliberately confected river of nonsense and myth about what it takes to succeed in music. Whether we’re talking about women who are trailblazing and making a difference in the world or in the industry, I’m willing to contend that there are no overnight successes. The fairytales aren’t real and they really aren’t helping. On the other hand – each of the women in this issue is very real and is truly committed to helping… in particular helping artist – even though one of them is a successful artists in her own right. They also have being published authors in common. I find each and every one of them an inspiration – and I know you will too. In Shannon Curtis’ case she’s an artist from Southern California who has not only cracked the profitability code of house concerts and put all of her learning into a great book (now in its second and updated edition) but she is walking the talk of using her committed and engaged house concert audiences to build herself a community (not just a fan base) with whom she has real connection. Whilst not
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the topic of this interview – please check out her latest run-away success project – (not a fairytale!) her video for her latest release ‘I Know, I Know’ which she made with the help of her community and was last seen hitting the 3-million views mark on Facebook and YouTube as well as being shared by Upworthiest. The article about a delightfully simple but incredibly powerful process for creating forward momentum in your career is contributed by Jeri Goldstein – 20 years a manager and agent and now a woman committed to helping artists get GREAT gigs – not just any old gigs. The depth of
Jeri’s industry knowledge and experience is profound. What she’s sharing is cool. The first article is with our cover woman – Lottaliina Pokkinen. Head of Legal Affairs at the Finnish Musicians’ Union, Lotta has an undeniable and undying passion for helping artists to get treated fairly by the organisations and individuals they end up working with or for. She has such integrity and spirit you can’t fail to be inspired by her. I know I am whenever I meet her or hear what her latest victory is on behalf of artists. Until the next issue when we’ll be meeting more inspired and inspiring women – enjoy.
– I shall be in Finland in May and in LA and Austin Texas in June – so if you’re in any of those locations I’m setting aside some time for face to face meetings with anyone who thinks they might like to get my input or help with their music life. If that’s you - drop me an email. – feel free to tell me who you admire as a music industry female role model – and I’ll see if I can get them to give us their insights in an upcoming issue.
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“ “ Lottaliina Pokkinen was first pointed out to me at a conference for women in music in Helsinki. In hushed tones (for fear she’d overhear) she was described as being the woman who struck dread into the heart of any manager or agent in Finland who was writing a new artist contract in case the artist decided to take it to her, the Musicians’ Union counsel, for scrutiny. And they weren’t exaggerating… Of the 51 franchises of The Voice reality television show in the world to date, as far as she can tell, Finland is the only one where the contract (one of the worst she had ever seen) was challenged legally and numerous clauses amended (pretty much without a fight by those responsible) in favour of the artist. She is a true Amazon for fairness for artists. And (in the spirit of full disclosure!) someone I am so proud to call my friend. 6
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Photo © Mr Jukka Lehtinen
Making a difference
– Everyone I am interviewing in this magazine is someone I see as making a difference in some way. Is it important to you that you are making a difference? – Yes, very. When I see unfair things happen around me, I want to change them.
Vision
– Let’s go back to the beginning. When did you know you wanted to make a career for yourself in the music business? What was your original dream/vision? – It all became clear at a very late age. I studied both violin and law, and for a long time was not sure what I wanted to become. At the age of 25 I got a summer job at the Musicians’ Union and realised that it really is possible to combine both my sides.
– When did you get your first start in the industry and what were you doing? How did it come about? – I used to study violin and played a lot of gigs with local bands and the symphony orchestra. I also worked as a studio musician. This way, I got an excellent view of the insides of the industry. In 1999, I got a summer job at the Musicians’ Union and things started to fall into their places. A friend of mine got a job at Teosto (Finnish equivalent to PRS) and it dawned on me that there are places which combine music and legislation. I picked up the phone and called the president of the Musicians’ Union - whom I did not know before – and got a summer job. In 2001, just 2 weeks after I graduated from the law school, I started working as a permanent lawyer at the union.
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Defining Success – What have been your proudest moments so far and why are those particular achievements so important to you? – ■ Negotiating alterations to the agreements of “The Voice” and “The Voice Kids” – realityTV singing competitions in Finland. • With options for a recording contract, publishing contract, merchandising contract and several touring contracts with non-negotiable terms (which everyone had to sign in order to be able to take part in the competition), they definitely were the mostunfair contracts I had ever seen. • For example, the original recording contract for “The Voice” included a “passive participation” clause, according to which Universal was entitled to receive a share of artist’s income from all entertainment activities (such as acting and touring). This share was 50 %, and 80 % from sponsorship deals. In the amended version, the share is 12 %. • As far as I know, similar alterations were not made in any other country. It was great to see that it is possible to negotiate alterations to the contracts of an international format.
■ My own book (a Musicians’ Contract Guide).
It is my dream to share knowledge about the fact that artists have rights too. I got free hands to write the book, and asked great musicians (such as Michael Monroe) to share their experience in the music industry. ■ Starting my own business Lehtinen Legal Oy. Through my business, I mainly work with authors, such as Sofi Oksanen. It has been great to expand my working-field, and get to know more incredible artistic people. It has also been great to take things into my own hands, and have that independence. Tipping point – What was the tipping point for you? What happened or what did you create that prompted those successes? – I don’t see there being any one tipping point, or me achieving the “ultimate success”. In this field, you are never “ready”. The legislation and technology evolve all the time, and you have to keep up with it. What I am really proud of, though, is the fact that I have been involved in many things which have 8
never been done that way before. It is great to “pave the way” with my clients. Mindset – beliefs – What mental attitude/mindset/ beliefs did you have to employ (or change) to achieve them? – Patience, a lot of stamina, passion. – How do you hold on to your beliefs in the face of challenges or things not working out quite as you intended? – Being very passionate about them. Believing that I am on the “right side”. – People in the music industry can talk a fair bit about it being a hard place to make a living, being male dominated, being in decline and so on – do you think you are affected by this and how do you resist getting caught up in these stories? – You have to believe that you are on the right path, and that there are no ready-made answers. You can always question the way things are done, if you feel that they could be done better. Money should not be the no. 1 motivator, but justice, fairness and passion. – What strategies do you use to deal with professional criticism/rejection? – I don’t really have strategies for that, but I do accept that since I criticise the business a lot, the people on the other side of the business may criticise me. – What strategies do you employ to stay focused, inspired and on track to your goals? – The main motivator is to meet musicians and other artists and see how my work is affecting their personal life. The most motivating thing is to work with inspirational people and share the passion. Conditions for Success – What is your biggest challenge (bad habit/weakness) to achieving your music business ambitions? How do you overcome it? – To keep a clear vision, even though things don’t change as fast as I would want them to. You just have to believe that things will eventually change in the big picture, even if it does not seem like it looking closely.
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One of the things I admire most in Lottaliina is her total commitment to living by her values in her career and life. Passion and Fairness turn up in so many of her answers in this interview but they are also totally visible in how she does her work, the work she chooses to do and how she makes her biggest difference. From writing her first book to make it easier for artists to understand their rights to threatening a lawsuit pushing for contract-changes against a major industry player due to the unfairness of their singing-contest contracts, Lotta’s values run through every aspect of her career like a vein of gold through bedrock.
Being crystal clear on your values enables you to do a number of powerful things. ■ You can ensure any decision (big or small) is in alignment with your true self. This is priceless - easy to implement and life changing.
■ If you ever feel really stuck with a situation or project I assure you a quick check with your top 5 values will reveal that at least one of them is being neglected or compromised. With this insight it’s really easy to create a strategy to get unstuck. ■ You can make who you are understood by colleagues, new clients and even new friends very quickly. I encourage my clients to use their values words in all forms of outward communication from tweets and newsletters to formal project proposals. The words joy, grace and creativity turn up in pretty much all of my retreat proposals, for example, because they are 3 of my top 5. In fact they turn up in my blog posts, lectures and talks too. Are you clear on your own values? Do you know what your top 5 are? Try this exercise to get clear on your top 5 and then, once you know what they are, make the most of them by: 1. Making a commitment to yourself to live by them 2. Checking anywhere in your life you are feeling stuck or lacking energy to see which of your values are not being respected. Create a strategy to get the compromised value back in integrity. It’s literally life changing.
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I used to take the injustices a bit too personally, but have learned to be more professional about them. – What are your 3 key conditions for success? ■ Passion. ■ Fearlessness. ■ Interest in asking questions and searching for answers that feel right. Collaborating – Getting big stuff done requires combined effort – How easy (or difficult) do you find it collaborating with others? – Collaborating with my clients (musicians, authors) is one of the best things in my work. It is also very important to share ideas with lawyers from other fields of the cultural industries (acting, journalism etc.) – How have you found the best people to collaborate with? – They tend to contact me… I also found you – Tamara – by you contacting me. I have been very lucky in that way. – What strategies do you employ to keep your relationships with your fellow collaborators working smoothly? – Open mind, honesty. Money – Part of a sustainable and joyful career is earning enough money to live a good life and invest in yourself, contribute where you want to make a difference etc. What is your money mindset? – If my no. 1 goal was to make a lot of money, I would work in another field. Money cannot be the first motivator, or otherwise you lose the big picture. I have decreased my working hours at the Musicians’ Union to 60 %, in order to have more time for my own company. This obviously also meant cutting the monthly pay-check to 60 %. I am very happy with the arrangement, since I now have more time and freedom to do things on my own terms.
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Photo © Mr Jukka Lehtinen
Applying what you’ve learned – What advice would you give to any woman who wants to achieve the kind of success that you have created but is unsure, stuck or scared? – Just do it, start something and see where it takes you. Trust your gut feeling. • Don’t be afraid to ask the questions that you feel need to be answered. • Surround yourself with people, who inspire you. Don’t be afraid to contact people you don’t know before – people usually want to help each other. – If you had it all to do again, what 3 things would you do differently?
– I probably would not be where I am today, had I done something very differently. – If you could go back to meet yourself as you started out on your music industry career – what advice would you give yourself? – It’s worth it, even though things don’t necessarily change as fast as you would like them to. Future – What are you dreaming of accomplishing next? – Building my company, moving my knowledge to other fields of the cultural industries, staying at the front-line of evolving the industry.
Voice Kids” – reality-TV singing competitions in Finland ■ My own book (a Musicians’ Contract Guide) ■ Starting my own business Lehtinen Legal Oy Your Heroines (music or otherwise):
■ Tove Jansson ■ Keith Haring
Anyone who follows their dreams even if they are against the norm
Job description: Head of Legal Affairs / Finnish Musicians Union Creative Director, CEO / Lehtinen Legal Oy Number of years in the industry: 15 years, although it all started even before my birth (I come from a musicianfamily) – and I started to play violin at the age of 5. Career highpoints to date: ■ Negotiating alterations to the agreements of “The Voice” and “The
Delete as appropriate: Introvert /Extravert Both are needed, but euphoric feelings are best shared in a group. Starter/Finisher Both; I love to vision ideas and see them finished. Detail person/Big picture person • Both; details are very important, but you cannot lose the big picture. Big goals/little goals/no goals Big goals are made of little goals. Planner/Flying (by the seat of your Pantser) Definitely a planner, but always leaving room for surprises.
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– What inspired you to create this wonderful, generous and super-useful book? – We’ve been doing house concert touring really intensely over the last three years. As we found more and more success with the model we kept putting more eggs in that basket. I pretty much abandoned club
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touring in favour of this model. It’s way more successful. It’s way more fulfilling. I make way more money. Last summer we had a great tour and we finished up the season with a concert at our own house in southern California and we invited everyone we knew to come and
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there was a friend of ours – a musician and entertainment lawyer – who couldn’t come because she was speaking at a music conference about house concerts. She asked me if I had any pearls of wisdom to share. And I thought – why am I not the person speaking? I’ve performed 150 concerts in the past 2 years. I felt like I would love to share these ideas with people – and so that planted the seed. It started out as a presentation – and then my husband (a music producer) and I were talking to his manager and she lit up and said “oh my gosh! you should write a book”. It was the idea that I could plant a flag.
Here’s what I’ve learned; I’d like to share it with you. I never intended to write a book. I write music. But we’ve had so many artists since we’ve been doing the house concert model asking ‘how did you do this’? ‘Can you share your ideas’? This seemed like a logical vehicle to help other people do this for themselves. – What would your proudest moment be in your experience as an author? – I feel super-proud of how these ideas have really helped people. A music acquaintance in the Seattle area – is a great musician and writes fantastic songs. He deserves to be FAMOUS. He’s that great. He’s been small
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a wife and family. And last year he hosted a house concert so he got a sneak peak at the model and got to see how we do what we do just by being involved in the process. So long before the book came out he started using some of what we do, and he sent me a message saying, “I’ve been leaning heavily on your model and it’s literally changing my life”. I love to hear that. He is someone who deserves every bit of success that comes his way – but was kind of stymied about how to make it happen. – What I love about the house concert model is it allows artists to monetise their work without having to play the traditional industry game. I never felt the rules of that game suited many women really. This seems far more empowering and in alignment with what most women care about. – I agree. You know there’s a certain type of career you had to have traditionally. Part of what has to go along with that is a lot of compromise with who we are. You have to vamp it up and be sexy. What if I don’t want to? What if I just want to make meaningful connections? And this is what house concerts are about - this is about relationships. When you’re talking about empowering women to do music their way part of it is about enabling them to have relationships. Women don’t feel safe projecting an image that’s not really them. This allows you to be you – to be real. And people really seem to like that. Which feels amazing! Another thing about the house concert model is – it’s non-competitive. It’s funny – I’ve received some comments from people saying “thank you for sharing your knowledge because some people would just keep it to themselves. I figured out my secrets and you’re on your own”. But the whole thing about this model is it’s not competitive. There are plenty of people in the world who love music and would love to hold house concerts. My concerts aren’t going to compete with yours and vice versa. In fact it goes back to the female musician idea – one of the things I have not enjoyed about the traditional music industry is the 14
competitiveness. I hate it. Everything in my being rejects it. I don’t want to compete. And so this feels really good. It feels really good to do what I do and share the ideas openly and without competition. – I can see and hear you confidence in this model. You really have tried and tested it. You know what works. – Summertime touring works. People are more open to a concert on a Tuesday in the Summer compared to, say, in October. And that allows us to pack the dates in. And yes that’s exhausting. But at the very same time it’s the best kind of exhausting. We just feel – “that was amazing! I am sooo tired but that was awesome”. Good tired. – Do you have plans to try anything new? – A holiday tour would also make sense at some point. People like hosting events at that time of year. I have it on my radar that I’d like to make Christmas album. So that would be a logical tour to promote that on. It would be particularly interesting – if we could make the numbers work out - to pair a holiday house concert tour with a good cause. It would be another hook. People feel good around the holidays about participating in an event that does some good in some way. – In the book you talk about the power of this model to create super-fans… Now you are building that type of an engaged audience do you see potential in offering things beyond concerts? – Yes, I do. Retreats. I had this idea that we could do a long weekend. Folks who are wanting to work on their song-writing craft. Be inspired by ideas for advancing their careers as an independent musician, do some co-writing. And as my husband is an engineer and a producer by the end of the weekend each of the people who comes would have a demo of the brand new song they made that weekend. That’s a baby idea at the moment… – I was delighted to see your book being featured in an article in the Huffington Post. What was their best question? – She asked me if I thought the house concert model encourages quality in the music and the performance. My answer was
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an enthusiastic yes. There’s is nothing to hide behind. You’ve got to be good. There’s no smoke and mirrors. Does it weed out the more mediocre performers? If you don’t have a product that’s going to move people – you’re not going to move people in a living room. And you’re not going to make money and it’s not going to work for you. – So when you imagine yourself 5 years or even 20 years from now – what do you imagine yourself doing? – 20 years from now I want to travel around in an Airstream mobile home with my husband doing this. Honestly I can see myself doing this til the day I die. Obviously I’ll take into consideration how my body feels in 20 years and how much I want to be doing. But I don’t want to stop this doing this. What I’m really interested in doing is exploring how to grow and expand this idea. I don’t know what that will look like in 5 years but I’m super-interested to find out because I think there’s such a lot of promise here.
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16 Photo Š http://www.doodlelovedesigns.co.uk/collections/wall-planner
a super simple but effective strategy to reduce stress, raise your value and gain career momentum *.
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– How important was planning ahead by 2 years for your career? – It worked for me while managing my acts and planning tours. It worked for me while planning and writing my book, How To Be Your Own Booking Agent, because I was able to begin my marketing and create a buzz for the book before it was even written by knowing which conferences I was going to attend well in advance.
frames that are at least one year ahead of the time frame when you receive your grant money. So even though many artists I work with are not involved with arts councils, many are. And even when artists who showcase at booking conferences, whether those conferences cater to performing art centers or clubs or college activities, those conferences are always booking at least 6 months to 1 year to 18 months into the future.
It has been working for me as I plan various online course launches and new projects.
– What first inspired you to have this idea? – I’m a planner. When I was booking acts into my college coffeehouse, I planned out my year and then knew who would be taking over the year after that. Then when I began booking artists, I began to discover conferences for the college market and they were 6 months away to 1 year away and I needed to know whether I would attend or have my artists apply to showcase. All of that future casting required planning ahead. As I booked my tours, I was constantly looking ahead to know where the artist wanted to tour further out so we were booked rather than scrambling for gigs at the last minute. It’s not really a new idea as much as a habit artists need to adopt for themselves. Most managers and those who work with festivals or performing arts centers have got to think in 2 year blocks and often longer to keep up with booking cycles. It is mostly independent artists managing or booking themselves that haven’t adopted this 2 year planning cycle.
– Having checked out your website and video – I see you used to be a manager and now you coach artists and managers. Did you apply this strategy to both stages of your career in the music industry? And was it different when you applied the process to being a manager versus being a coach? – I did use this strategy while managing my artists in an effort to get them to look further out than their next upcoming tour. Most artists are not as focused on the future as they are on the immediate. That is why someone on the team or in the group needs to have a long-term vision for the artist. Now I try to teach my clients and those who are on my mailing list to incorporate this strategy and learn to look further out that the next gig or tour or event. – What was the process from idea to action? (Did you start with one year and find 2 was better?) – No, I instinctively knew that a 2 year plan was necessary because so many performing art centers work on an 18 month to 2 year booking schedule. Also having worked with arts councils all over the country and in Canada, they usually have application time
– You mention the benefit of being able to capitalize on being organized so far in advance – for example being able to buy early bird tickets and save money. What have been the 3 key benefits to you (or your clients) of adopting this strategy?
■ By knowing which booking conferences
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or showcases appropriate for any artist the artist wants to attend at least one year prior to the conference, they can meet early-bird application fees and save money.
actually booked, it had many shifts and changes. But by having the initial vision, I at least had momentum and something to work towards.
■ Planning tours with this method allows an
– Is there such thing as “calendar stress effect”? In other words, do you or your clients ever feel overwhelmed having so many things lined up ahead of you? – On the contrary, having things lined up far in advance is a stress-easer. I most often hear artists stressed out by having an empty calendar which causes the last minute scramble to fill in any kind of date whether it is good for their career or not just to get some money. That leads to an undervaluing of any artist in the markets they play. By planning tours further out, an artist can pick and choose the right sort of gig to move their career rather than take something that might diminish their value in the market. Once they get in the flow of booking further out, the likelihood of having an empty calendar is less and less. An empty calendar is likely to lead to an empty bank account, less money to do special projects or recordings.
artist to have momentum throughout their booking process since they can place anchor dates, special events and personal events on the calendar 2 year out. Then they plan to surround them with appropriate types of gigs giving the booking process some momentum and the artist a sense of forward movement and career building.
■ The artist can build career moving tours
when they know what’s coming up instead of simply accepting gigs willy-nilly without focus or purpose. They have the ability to book return gigs to a market on their schedule when someone asks for a date that doesn’t work they can look ahead on their calendar and suggest an alternative date when they will be in their area, fleshihg out an already building tour. – How do you keep yourself motivated when things don’t work out as planned on the calendar? – Life is a juggling game. You have to be flexible while maintaining a forward vision. If something comes along to throw your plans into a tizzy, you have to hold true to your vision and see what can be done to keep you on track as much as possible. Tour dates get juggled all the time. The date you thought would start the tour is now at the end and everything needs to shift around is not an uncommon occurrence. I often mapped out a tour and when it was
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– Are there any potential sticking points to implementing this strategy – where people make a great start but get stumped? If so, what are they and what do you recommend they do to get over this sticking point? – Mostly I think it is hard for people to break old habits and implement new ones. If someone is used to booking gigs at the last minute and are stuck in that rut of never getting ahead of their own process, then focusing attention two years out may be a challenge to start. But with everything, you have to start somewhere and the best time
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to do this is now. I’d start by getting two fill-inthe-blank erasable wall calendars and find a place that you will see then everyday and put them up. Then start filling in any dates you already have booked. Then fill in any events, festivals, conferences you want to go to or try to get into in different colors.
be needed and when you want to be back from any tour. Having this visual image is much more motivating that having a calendar tucked away in your phone or in the cloud. You have to go to those and if you don’t, then you are not being spurred forward.
Right away you have a visual image to drive you forward. Now you can see when to fill in surround dates on anchor dates already booked. You can see exactly how many might
Having the calendar hit you in the face everyday, gives you constant ideas, something to constantly be working on. That gets you out of your self-imposed rut.
I first came across Jeri Goldstein and her divinely simple but effective strategy when she mentioned it in an excellent article where 51 female music entrepreneurs gave their best advice . It was her idea amongst all that good advice (and yes, I read all 51!) that really stuck with me. Months later when I came to decide what strategies I wanted to cover in this magazine, hers was the one that popped into my head immediately. Having interviewed Jeri to find out more, I discovered that she was every bit as industry savvy and genuinely helpful as her strategy.
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* If you want to check out the rest of the great advice from the other 51 female music entrepreneurs, it’s here if you would like to receive the upcoming Part 1 and Part 3 of this magazine go ahead and click
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Next issue is coming soon!
Made for Music | Part 3 if you would like to receive the upcoming Part 3 of this magazine go ahead and click
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Š Tamara Gal-On UK 2015