On Thursday I had the honour and privilege to lecture on" A&R and Artist Development " to students at University of Westminster studying for MA in Music Business .
I really enjoyed the evening....especially the questions after my talk.
Towards the end of the discussion I put my last post " 10 things you need to be a great A&R " on screen and went through all the points
Point 1 is...." Great Taste "......and a student asked me to define " great taste "...a great question which I have pondered ever since
After due consideration I have decided that :
Great Taste is impossible to define.....I love Curtis Mayfield and loathe Status Quo....you may love Status Quo and loathe Curtis Mayfield.....neither of us is right nor wrong....our taste in music is entirely subjective
HOWEVER...there's always a however with the Soul Guru ...I believe that great taste is linked to :
LOVE of music...I fell in LOVE with SOUL music aged 11 when I bought " Just My Imagination " by The Temptations
STUDY of music ...once I fell in love with SOUL it became an obsession....I grew to know great music from mediocre
COMMITMENT to music....it became my obsession,my life ,my LOVE
SELF-BELIEF........for example on Thursday after a discussion about whether a Soul artist could ever be the biggest artist in the world a student said he thought Emeli Sande could be... I disagreed as I think she's bland and MOR..I prefer Laura Mvulu...it was a great conversation...I took his opinion on board ...
I've been called arrogant,opinionated and much worse......I've never cared what anyone thought about me....talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words.....my love of, and commitment to ,British Black Music,Dance Music and Electronic Music can never be doubted...I talked the talk and walked the walk............I always will....I AM The Soul Guru...
I really enjoyed the evening....especially the questions after my talk.
Towards the end of the discussion I put my last post " 10 things you need to be a great A&R " on screen and went through all the points
Point 1 is...." Great Taste "......and a student asked me to define " great taste "...a great question which I have pondered ever since
After due consideration I have decided that :
Great Taste is impossible to define.....I love Curtis Mayfield and loathe Status Quo....you may love Status Quo and loathe Curtis Mayfield.....neither of us is right nor wrong....our taste in music is entirely subjective
HOWEVER...there's always a however with the Soul Guru ...I believe that great taste is linked to :
LOVE of music...I fell in LOVE with SOUL music aged 11 when I bought " Just My Imagination " by The Temptations
STUDY of music ...once I fell in love with SOUL it became an obsession....I grew to know great music from mediocre
COMMITMENT to music....it became my obsession,my life ,my LOVE
SELF-BELIEF........for example on Thursday after a discussion about whether a Soul artist could ever be the biggest artist in the world a student said he thought Emeli Sande could be... I disagreed as I think she's bland and MOR..I prefer Laura Mvulu...it was a great conversation...I took his opinion on board ...
I've been called arrogant,opinionated and much worse......I've never cared what anyone thought about me....talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words.....my love of, and commitment to ,British Black Music,Dance Music and Electronic Music can never be doubted...I talked the talk and walked the walk............I always will....I AM The Soul Guru...
No comments:
Post a Comment