As a musician turned entrepreneur, Vanessa Bosåen is uniquely positioned to serve the independent artists and businesses she works with as President of UMG Virgin Music UK.
She spent the first 15 years of her career working and touring across the UK and Europe under the name Vanessa Knight, forming a one-man band consisting of piano, loop pedal, drum machine and MIDI keyboard.
Midway through, dissatisfaction with her partners and a desire to take control of her career led her to start her own record label, publishing and live management company.
Today, Bosåen works with a number of artists and company owners who have traveled a similar path, including British rap duo D-Block Europe, St. Vincent, singer-songwriter Jamie Webster, and 1975 label Dirty Hit, Nigeria’s Mavin Records , last year, Rema’s caused a stir clam downBritish hip-hop music giant EGA Distro, etc.
Bossan has been with Virgin Atlantic for three years and says she has found her home. “You’re at the forefront of independent industry entrepreneurship,” she said. “I’ve always really enjoyed this challenge, and the crossroads I’m at now, where I’m part of Universal but working with the independent division, feels like exactly where I should be. The resources we have around the world are second to none. .
In addition to her acting and business career, Bosåen served as an independent record company representative on the board of the British music industry trade body BPI for six years and as director of the BPI Innovation Center. That position led to her becoming a mentor at Abbey Road Red, where she now sits on the board of directors.
Although her full-time recording and performing career has come to an end, Bossan hopes to make a comeback in retirement. “When I’m 70, I’m going to have very long gray hair, follow in Patti Smith’s footsteps, and release a hard rock album.”
Here, we chat with her about lessons learned throughout her career, the strength of today’s independent industry, the evolution of labeling services, and more…
You’ve been a musician, an independent record label owner, and now you’re leading Virgin Music UK. What lessons have you learned in these different roles?
I think we often believe that there are doors that are closed to us, but I quickly realize that no one is guarding those doors. All you have to do is go to the door and push it down yourself. You can often get through without anyone noticing. It’s a real lesson as an artist, as an independent label and now. You have to keep pushing those doors open because if you do it right, no one can stop you.
How has your experience as a musician influenced your work today?
It runs through it all. You understand what it means to make a living as a musician because you’ve done it, and you understand all the different pressures.
Especially when we’re working on the recording side, we have to remember that there’s a lot of different things going on with the artist beyond that. Also, when you meet an artist, if you can make a connection through their musicianship, the way they play, how they interpret their songs or their writing, it gives you a real sense of who they are and why they’re here. industry jobs. Then we can talk business. It really informed all of those discussions, conversations, and relationships. This is the key to it.
It is said that it is more difficult than ever to make a living as a musician these days. What are your thoughts on this?
A lot has indeed changed. It’s changed in a good way and making music is easier than ever. Barriers of cost of kit, instrumentation or education are gone. Anyone with music in their heart, heart, and brain can produce and record music to a high standard, and that’s awesome.
It provides so many opportunities for making a living to many musicians and artists. Yes, it’s difficult, but it’s definitely possible. I think I say there are more musicians making a living from music now than ever before. But there are more people try Now more than ever, you can make a living from music.
What advice would you give to musicians trying to make a living from music today?
Don’t give up – because almost everyone does. If you keep going, it will give you an immediate advantage. If you find that people aren’t responding to your music, if you’re just reaching out to friends and family, it’s a difficult truth that sometimes you need to take a look at your music. As a musician, you are never expected to be the best from the beginning.
“We see this with the most successful artists. They will tell you how they kicked down the door, kept going, always believed in themselves and didn’t give up.
Keep writing, keep making more music, because if you really believe in yourself, you’re going to start to resonate with people outside of your inner circle. Keep looking for opportunities because they are out there, but you have to have enough willpower to keep going. We see this story with the most successful artists. They’ll tell you how they kicked down the door, kept going, always believed in themselves and didn’t give up.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
A long time ago, when I wanted to start my own independent record label, I had no idea how to do it and assumed there was some kind of big gatekeeper standing in the way.
I complained about this to a friend and he just wrote on a piece of paper, “You have a record label now” and gave it to me. It’s like okay, you’ve got it, now go figure out the next step: get the music, get the deals, figure it out.
From that moment on, I just did that and it was really important to me to realize that you don’t have to go out and ask permission from the music industry. Not many industries are like this, and most industries do have more gatekeeping. On the music side, you can host gigs, find musicians to work with, start releasing music, and create music. This is a treat we can get.
You’ve been with Virgin for three years. How do you see the future development of the labeling services industry?
For one, I’m not sure if it would be called a tag service. Global CEO of Virgin, Nat [Pastor] and J.T. [Myers], has talked a lot about how we are more than just distribution and don’t call us distribution. Not just the language, but the way we work as partners, the way we work with labels and artists is constantly evolving.
We hope to provide the best global strategy services to independent industries. This is evolving rapidly in a very exciting way. It’s almost unrecognizable from what it was 10 years ago, but it’s certainly a vibrant part of the industry.
It’s not just about service, it’s about us working with the best entrepreneurs to make sure they have everything they need while also allowing them to grow. What services can we provide you? is a big part of it, but also, how can we help you grow your business?
How would you describe the health of the independent music industry today? What changes would you like to see to better support it?
I think it’s very healthy, probably healthier than it’s ever been. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, there are always areas we can improve. But I think the scope of the music, the quality of the music, and the artists that are coming into the independent space are very exciting.
What do I want to change? One area under pressure is small live music venues around the world. When I first started out as an artist, there were so many venues in the UK and Europe that I could tour for months on end. Back then, the rules for traveling and working in different countries were much simpler.
Now, it’s difficult for touring artists who aren’t yet famous to cut through red tape and get a visa that allows them to work across borders. This is especially important with streaming, where an artist from anywhere in the world can find success in a completely different region far from home. I hope more can be done to promote cultural exchange and allow artists to tour internationally.
As a music fan, this is pretty simple. We can support local venues by simply going and supporting live music. Go out and see more shows!
What is the most exciting development in the music industry today?
No matter where you are from in the world, your music can resonate across the globe. We see this with artists like Rema, who we have worked with clam down.
The exciting thing is that if your music is connected and you work with global partners, you can reach the entire world. Regardless of the language, and regardless of whether we mix languages together, what matters is the feel of the music. It’s a challenge as far as time zones go and it makes all of our work longer, but it’s worth it.
Is there anything else you’d like to change about the music industry besides more support for grassroots venues?
I will ban the use of cell phones in any meetings we have. We should be present, we should talk to each other, and we should really get to know each other. Get rid of WhatsApp and get rid of your phone in any face-to-face meeting. If we got rid of our phones, we would get to know each other faster.
If you could go back to the beginning of your career and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?
There are a lot of little moments that you can look back on and be like, “Oh, I didn’t spend enough time on production and I wish I had because I would have gotten better as an artist faster.” Or I wish I’d made this decision here or that decision there, but I’m actually pretty happy with where I’m at right now.
I’m so grateful for everything I’ve been through to get to this point. So I would tell my younger self, this is going to be crazy, you’re not going to know which direction you’re going to go, but just keep going because it’s going to get really good.
What are the plans and ambitions for the future, especially at Virgin?
At Virgin we want to work with the best independent industry around the world and we’re doing that in really exciting ways. I think there’s no limit to how ambitious we can be with the artists and labels we work with. This is what Virgin Atlantic is doing globally, and that’s what’s really exciting.
Virgin Music Group It is the global independent music division of Universal Music Group, which brings together Universal Music Group’s record labels and artist services businesses, including Virgin and Ingrooves.
global music business
