Blog 3 – A Challenge 

 

Being a music and audio production student at Queen’s I do not have to look very hard to see the impact covid has had on musicians and the music industry as a whole. In the uk alone more than one third of all jobs in the industry were lost throughout 2020 as reported by the BBC. ^[1] This collapse of the music industry can be felt at every level, including recording studios and not just the live industry which was hit hardest. As musicians became less active throughout the pandemic, most studios saw a significant drop in business and this was no different on my placement at Stoney Road Studios. This was an issue not only for the studio itself but for me also as I was relying on there being enough sessions/work for me to fulfil my base requirement of 100 hours of time spent.

Using the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle which consists of six key sections – Description, Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis, Conclusion and Action ^[2] – I am going to reflect on how I was able to help proactively improve Stoney Road’s ability to attract potential clients through social media marketing/ advertising.

Description

My placement started out fairly busy with a number of sessions including live band recordings and podcasts, however as the academic year progressed I noticed a downturn in the amount of work happening at Stoney Road and established that this was likely due to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the music industry. I decided to take a proactive approach to the situation and see if there was anything in particular I could do to help improve the situation. In order to do this I made a list identifying potential things I could do to help attract new customers to the studio including making content for social media advertising/showcasing the studio and its facilities, and pitched it to Brian the studio owner/manager.

Feelings

When work was a bit dry at the studio it was easy for me to feel discouraged and disheartened about my potential career choices as its easy to get caught up in how things are in the moment. However I also felt determined to make the most of my time on placement and do everything I could to help the studio succeed as a business. 

Before pitching my ideas to the owner I was feeling nervous as I was unsure how he would react or feel about the ideas I had to offer. This was also the first time I had done anything like this – coming up with my own ideas to help market a business – but with an A-Level in business studies I was quietly confident about at least a few of my ideas as I had backed them up with solid research and evidence as to why they may be beneficial.

My pitch was received very well and I can only assume that by his reaction Brian was feeling very pleased to have some free advertising work done. After the pitch its safe to say I felt relieved that it went well but it also left me feeling motivated to get started producing some work.

Evaluation

Overall I think my pitch went very well and ended up being a ver positive experience. It was very well received and Brian was enthusiastic about a number of ideas I had – in particular producing a studio tour video showcasing the facilities on offer. My pitch led to a brainstorming session together and we are now working to create some of my ideas, having at the time of writing this blog finished filming for the studio tour video.

Analysis

One reason I think my pitch went so well is due to my aforementioned A-Level in business studies (grade A). This is because it provided me with a wealth of knowledge on marketing including identifying target markets and carrying out effective market research. Through the use of this prior knowledge I was subsequently able to carry out my own research prior to my pitch and identify what kinds of people would be interested in the studio and also what kinds of things would attract them most the the studio. This meant I was able to carry out the pitch with lots of information ready to present ensuring I came across in a professional manner with evidence to back up my ideas.

Conclusion

I think the biggest thing I have taken away from this whole experience is to trust in myself and trust in the skills I have learnt throughout my life as the whole experience proved to me that even tho I may be doing something that is new to me, I will likely have some kind of transferrable skill I can rely upon, in this case being my business studies qualification. 

If I were to do something like this again the only thing I would change is to do it sooner i.e. try to always be proactive as I waited for a few months of having little work at the studio before even thinking of things I could do myself to help. A proactive approach to solving problems is the best way to come up with effective solutions.

Action Plan

In future I will try to consider how proactive I am being, not only on placement but anytime I am faced with a challenge, may it be in my work or personal life. I will also try to be less doubtful of myself as in this instance if self doubt hadn’t kicked in I would’ve made my pitch a lot sooner and Stoney Road would likely be in a better position in the present.

Bibliography

^[1] BBC News. 2021. Covid-19: Impact on music industry revealed and why UK cases are so high. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58962606> [Accessed 24 March 2022]. 

^[2] My.cumbria.ac.uk. 2020. Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle. [online] Available at: <https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveCycleGibbs.pdf> [Accessed 24 March 2022].