As you may or may not know, North Street Music provides a variety of different services to musicians. These include
- Concert Promotion
- Venue Programming
- Session Musicians
- Artist Services which include Business Skills courses and consulting, performance training, festival programming, representation/ management
- Studio and Recording Services
Having spoken with Bourby late last week, she has provided me with incite into owning a business within the music industry. I asked her four questions, in which were
- What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of owning North Street Music?
- What motivated you to start North Street Music?
- What are the major difficulties in owning North Street Music?
- What do you consider to be key personal attributes required for small business owners?
The advice I got is as follows.
The advantages of owning North Street Music was that Bourby
- Has complete control over what she does work wise. There is freedoms in what she wants her North Street Music to focus on
- Has the ability to fulfil a dream of hers
- Has flexibility in hours and choice of what projects she wants to work on
- Is able to take full responsibility of she does
- Is able to choose who she employs
The disadvantages of owning North Street Music is that Bourby
- Has to do everything herself
- Has to do all operational and strategic planning
- Has no holidays
Bourby had a few inspirational motivations for starting North Street Music. These include
- Wanting to make a difference within the music industry in Australia and the UK
- Wanting to help musicians out
- Wanting to share talent and
- Wanting a job that meant something to her
She does have difficulties with owning her own business. These are
- Working with musicians. This is difficult as she finds it hard to help people who don’t know how and cant help them. As a result, Bourby runs business skills and music event skills course to up skill musicians.
- Finding ways to survive. As Bourby owns her own business, there is no guaranteed income.
Personal attributes Bourby considers key are
- To be brave – Business owners need to be able to pick up the phone to anyone and to face things you don’t know or understand
- Be unbelievably disciplined – need to ensure everything is completed by deadlines and to keep on top of all tasks at hand
- To be incredible with time management
- To love admin
Just listening to Bourby speak I could hear her passion for the music industry and everything that she does through North Street Music. She is a wonderful example of the person I would aspire to be… hardworking, dedicated and passionate about what she believes in.
Aleighsha Glew 