From Something to Nothing, From Passion To Profession
Acclaimed pop-soul outfit, Stone Jets, teach Creative Entrepreneurship In The Modern Age, and leave no stone unturned.
Many young, gifted, and aspiring artists find themselves in the tantalising position of having a strong output of music on the one hand, but no means of capitalising on their artistry on the other. At the same time, it’s common for us to imagine there being some sort of inconsistency to being creative and professionally minded at the same time, with a lot of artists tending to regard their creativity as their single most precious asset and giving little thought to business matters. But if the modern pop-music landscape tells us anything, it’s that the most successful artists are not necessarily the most creatively talented. What else have they got going for them (notwithstanding their youth, sex appeal and arguable good fortune)? Undoubtedly it’s their capacity to market themselves, to build a strong brand, to forge industry connections, to manage their finances, and, of course, to generate sales.
Stone Jets are a successful pop-soul outfit from South Africa whose first involvement with Raw Material came via Tiny Brixton, when they headlined a sensational, sold-out show last month. They are ‘successful’ in both senses of the word, having crafted a unique, powerful sound, as well as built a career out of their music. Having themselves been on the professional journey that many artists have yet to embark on, and recognising their position of being able to share the wisdom amassed along the way, Stone Jets proposed to lead a course at Raw Material at last term’s Programming Committee. Unsurprisingly, it was one of 2 programmes selected to run this term.
“I think they know they’re speaking to an audience with widely varying levels of skills and experience. They do a great job of making the programme accessible to the fullest extent possible, while keeping the discussion at a high level.”
“Given and Manfred really go the extra mile to make each session as informative as possible.”
From Nothing To Something is all about getting people to be entrepreneurial with their music. Now in its final week, the programme has so far covered everything from live performances to merchandise sales, licensing deals to data and analytics, streaming platforms to finance, and AI to mental health. It’s music to the ears of our community in Brixton who generally face significant barriers of access and opportunity to start building a career, and often might not fully understand the nature of the music industry. Manfred and Given do an amazing job of mapping and demystifying the music landscape as a whole and showing them how they can continue to take strides after the conclusion of the programme.
We are so grateful to Stone Jets for bringing such an instructive and valuable course to our community, and can’t wait to welcome them back in the near future.
“Possibly my favourite thing about the programme is that we are treated like we really have what it takes to be successful artists.”
https://stonejets.com/raw/
