In our latest ‘In Conversation With..’ post, we chat to Erin Glynn - a recent graduate of the University of Gloucestershire in music business. As part of DMC’s yearly mentoring programme ‘DMC FUTURES’, Erin is currently working with DMC’s Marketing & Communications Manager, Kirstin McEwan, helping to market and promote this year’s conference, and building up her skills and knowledge in using social media and creating content.

Find out more about Erin below, and keep an eye out for Q&A’s from Erin coming soon!

Hey Erin! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself..

I’m Erin, I’m 23 and I’ve just recently completed a degree in music business. My dream career would be going into the live industry but I’m so glad that there are opportunities like this out here to help broaden my career aspirations with something I hadn’t thought to do originally.

What sparked your interest in music and gaining more experience in working in the music industry?

The spark that got me was helping others in achieving their goal, for example the first job I wanted in the music industry was in A&R to scout out artists and give them their ‘first break’. Probably quite a firm view to have but you’ve got to have somewhere to start.

When I realised that A&R was harder to get into than I first realised and no longer solely about attending shows to scout artists, I started to cast out my net to what I really enjoyed, which was live shows. So why wouldn’t I want to work in a job that I loved that wouldn’t really be a job because I loved it.

Then COVID came along so I began to cast that net again for a viable job in the industry as many industries in the music sector, amongst other art industries, are taking a hit.

How important do you think it is for people to engage with local projects to further their own skillset or career?

The first thing that comes to mind is that ‘charity starts at home’ and I know that’s not really applicable to this topic but it’s important to look at what’s happening around you before jumping to looking at what’s happening in Glasgow or London, for example. Yes, there’s a lot happening there and you could find something, but while using that time discovering in a new place you could be spending it locally and helping to support not only local artists but local venues and staff.

There could be a higher chance of getting experience in local projects with less competition than further afield and - don’t get me wrong - absolutely go for as much experience as you can get but you could stand out from the crowd with some previous local experience to back you up, and build up a network of contacts that could have their hand in many honey pots that you might have looked over. That sort of thing could catapult you further in your career.

Do you think social media is a useful tool for engaging people in important topics of conversation?

It definitely is. It can engage with people of all ages that have a smartphone. It’s a good way to reach out and it allows people to connect and respond freely if they want to and for whoever put it out to see the results of how many people they reached. So its useful for people and companies alike in that sense. It’s a quick response, news or announcements can be put out in real time, and people will have it on them all the time to see these updates.

You ran a music review website as part of your university course – can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Misplaced was started as a local review and interview platform around the University of Gloucestershire performers, where I attended university. This was my final year project, talking to (as I said performers) but also others in the industry with their projects like artist management and a project focused around doing a UK tour in 24 hours.

Again when COVID, I feel like this is a main point I keep hitting on, happened in March I came back home and I had to shift my focus from local. So I started to reach out to bigger artists and got an interview with Beans on Toast and Frank Turner which was amazing of them to take time out of their day to talk to me (even if it was through email!) After this high point was reached I hoped to carry it on with reaching out to bigger artists again which sadly didn’t come to fruition, and eventually as uni ended the project was put on the back burner to focus on getting a job. I’m really hoping I’ll get back to it though, it’s something I really enjoyed.

If anyone wants to read further, here’s the link to the full website: www.misplacedmusicreviews.co.uk

Are there are local or national acts on your radar right now?

I’d have a problem pinpointing a local artist at the moment with being out of the scene for so long, which is another reason for getting involved with DMC to reconnect and explore around what local artists are currently around.

Nationally Josie Proto is an artist that comes to mind from England, have to say I discovered her on TikTok, with all its controversy, I do find it a useful tool in discovering artists because of musicians that are updating on there and its something I look for. I’d have to do a deep dive of who else nationally, because I think at the moment I’m listening to international artists the most.

What do you think of the music scene in Dumfries? And in Scotland?

As I said above I’d have a problem pinpointing an artist in Dumfries at the moment with being out of the scene for so long.

In Scotland, it’s very diverse. It’s funny because on the surface it doesn’t seem it but when you scratch that there’s a whole network of different genres and scenes, with the SAMA and SAY Awards, being the first that come to my mind. Even with those being the ones on my mind I know that those are not where it ends, and there’ll be many more that I don’t know about yet.

Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

It’s hard to say, I’d definitely like to be out of retail and working with my degree, but if not that then certainly something within a creative field. Maybe social media because I think at the moment that’s certainly going to be a booming field but its also quite diverse with most, if not all, markets utilising this field.

Keep an eye out for some Q&As coming from Erin soon!

In Conversation With.. DMC Mentee, Erin Glynn