Musicians' Clinic
The Musicians' Clinic is a monthly event held at The Hawley Arms in Camden, North London and organised and run by tourdates.co.uk along with several other Camden based music businesses.
The purpose of the clinic is to offer informal advice to upcoming bands through a network of highly experienced music industry executives.
Topics covered include legal advice, merchandise, PR & a demo critique. The event is held monthly on a Monday evening between 6:30 - 8:30pm and is free of charge, however, bands are strongly advised to book using the form below to avoid any disappointment.
STOP PRESS!! We have a brand new format for the clinic startting in September 2011.
The first half will remain demos but we're cutting it down to 5 per month giving about 10 minutes for each tune's discussion - (ed. book now if you want to be heard by the panel!!)
The second half will be cater to our returning artists by featuring a topic of discussion, lead by a short presentation from a keynote speaker, with 30-40 minutes of Q and A and discussion to follow.
Reserve a place at one of our musicians clinics
preferred date
artist name
contact name
contact email
contact phone
tourdates page
myspace page
www.myspace.com/
# of band members
to help us plan the clinic, please tell us which sessions you'd most like to attend
first choice
second choice
third choice
fourth choice
fifth choice
Reservations are subject to confirmation and dealt with on a "first come, first served" basis. No guarantees are made regarding the availability of the advisors and any advice given is offered without warranty.
Merchandise & Band Management
Steve Lowes, Director Of E Commerce, Backstreet International Merchandise Ltd & Band Manager
Steve Lowes has a wealth of Marketing and Music Industry experience, stretching over 20 years. As a marketing manager with BMG Records, he worked with a wide range of alternative artists, including Tool, Spiritualized, Henry Rollins, Sleeper and The Wannadies, as well as co-running indie label Indolent. His career continued at Polydor Records, working with Platinum and Gold artists like Ian Brown, The Cardigans, and Portishead.
Lowes then ran his own Artist Management Company, Retaliate First Management, successfully guiding the careers of the likes of Just Jack and Ian Brown, as well as running his own indie record label and publishing company. He currently manages hotly tipped London alt metal act, The Fearless Vampire Killers.
As Director of E Commerce at Backstreet International Merchandise, Lowes is responsible for the marketing and development of their webstores, running stores for the likes of Metallica, Sonisphere Festivals, NME and Spin Magazine to name but a few. As he puts it, “You can’t download a T shirt…yet”
Legal
Leonard Lowy - principal, Leonard Lowy & Co
Leonard Lowy qualified as a solicitor in 1978 at one of the relatively few firms that specialised in the entertainment industry in those days. After gaining experience in private practice for a few years, he left to take on the position of Head of Legal Affairs at Island Records Limited, Chris Blackwell's world-famous and ground-breaking label, which was then still independent and very much at the cutting edge of popular music.
In 1985 he was appointed to the Board of Directors at Island. In 1987 he left Island to return to private practice, joining a prestigious music law firm in London's Mayfair, eventually becoming joint senior partner in the practice before leaving in December 1998 to set up Leonard Lowy & Co.
Publishing
Francis Pettican, Fairwood Music International
Francis joined Island Music in 1974, ending up as the General Manager before leaving in 1986 to form Fairwood Music Publishing Group & Westbury Music Consultants.
Fairwood represent a number of high profile song writer’s, not least David Bowie for the world, with eleven (11) offices around the globe, whilst Westbury Music Consultants are a general music business consultancy with artists clients such as Kate Bush, Oasis & the Spice Girls and licensing clients as Gallo/Warners & EMI Records South Africa.
Merchandise
Andy Allen - CEO, Backstreet International
Andy Allen is based in-between the UK the US and has been involved in the British Music scene for over 20 years. He is the Managing Director of Backstreet International Merchandise Ltd. which has been providing merchandise for over 15 years, initially servicing bands and record labels.
Recent clients include: Scouting For Girls, One Night Only, Turisas, Ben Harper, Babyshambles, Amnesty International, New Order, Damien Rice, Clutch, Dropkick Murphys, Satyricon, Nike, Xfm, Polydor Records, EMI Records and Universal Records to name but a few.
PR
Mel Brown - MD, Impressive PR
Mel Brown is an established music PR of 22 years. She started Impressive PR over 10 years ago and has a staff of 7. Her company covers all areas of PR – national, regional, student and online and also looks after TV and Radio campaigns for established artists for arena and theatre tours and new releases.
Prior to starting Impressive Mel has worked with acts as diverse as TLC, Saint Etienne, Adamski, Barry Manilow, Sarah McLaughlin, Haddaway, Snap, David Devant & His Spirit Wife amongst many others even working with Simon Cowell on acts that included Sinitta, Worlds Apart and Curiosity Killed The Cat.
Since setting up Impressive she has launched and worked with major artists such as Muse, Coldplay and Snow Patrol and thrives on finding new talent.
Her team are currently working on hot new acts A Place To Bury Strangers, Gideon Conn, People In Planes and Jimmy Screech.
Impressive also represents the Human League, ABC, Tony Hadley, ELO, 10cc and Billy Ocean.
It is important for any good PR company to be able to handle a diverse cross section of music so contacts remain good in all areas in fact for the last 9 years Impressive have also been looking after comedians. These have included Joan Rivers, Jimmy Carr, Stewart Lee, Josie Long, Rhod Gilbert, Jason Byrne, Andrew Maxwell, Mitchell & Webb, Stephen K Amos, Russell Peters and Lucy Porter amongst many others for TV, tours, Edinburgh Festival and DVD releases.
A&R
Andy Ross, A&R guru and band manager
Former boss of Food Records, 120 consecutive top 100 singles, six UK number one albums with three different artists including Blur. Currently manages Bleech.
The musicians clinic would not possible without the support of:
The Hawley Arms
For those of you who haven’t been here before, we hope you like it. We’ve worked hard over the last 4 years to create a home-from-home atmosphere, where people can relax, meet friends, and enjoy quality pub grub and perfect drinks. The Hawley wouldn’t be the Hawley without our excellent team of staff, many of whom have played an important part in the Hawley’s development and who work so hard to ensure that Hawley times are good times!
In February 2008, a major fire in the market behind us forced us to close, but after 9 long months, we reopened our doors again in November. For those of you that remember the pre-fire Hawley, we hope you’ll like what you find now. Although we had to change some of the layout of the pub to comply with new regulations, we’ve tried really hard to retain the old feel of the place.
