News release Music to make you SMILE
March 12 2009
Big names from the music industry dropped in on Southampton Solent University's inaugural Solent Music Industries Live Event (SMILE) on Wednesday, March 11th.
Guests included Nick Halkes, founder of XL records, Maria Forte, mastermind of Radiohead's In Rainbows download campaign, and Janine Warren, PR for Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party.
A packed lecture theatre heard Nick Halkes recount the tale of his purchase of the rights to Reel to Reel's classic 1994 dance track I Like to Move It – for a paltry £1,500 – before it became an international smash hit.
Maria Forte, whose career has put her at the forefront of digital rights management, fascinated students with her accounts of the huge fees charged for the use of audio samples. Happily – amid pessimistic proclamations about the supposed decline of the music industry - Maria offered a positive view of the industry's future.
Martin James, the event organiser and Senior Lecturer in Music Studies hoped the event would inspire students to emulate the success of the speakers. He said:
"Meeting music industry professionals will hopefully demystify the industry – help students to realise that the people who work within it are just like them, and that they too are able get into the industry.
"The fact that respected industry speakers are eager to come to Solent demonstrates that the university is increasingly recognised as a centre of excellence in popular music", he added.
SMILE was well received by the student audience. Alex Henderson, BA (Hons) Urban Electronic Music said:
"It has definitely inspired me to get into the music industry. I'm just off to enquire about work experience opportunities with Nick Halkes."
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