Breaking Into the Music Industry Without Being ‘The Talent'

If you’ve ever dreamed of working in the music industry but thought you needed to be a virtuoso musician or have a degree from a prestigious music school – think again. The world of music is vast and there are countless ways to be part of it without playing an instrument or producing tracks yourself.

In this piece, we’re amplifying a couple of the voices of the women in MassiveMusic London who have carved their own paths in music, proving that passion, curiosity, and determination are just as valuable as technical skill. It seems like now more than ever before, the need for DE&I is critical, which it is, and this is why we are here to share with you advice we wish we’d had when starting out, how we found our place in the industry, and why there’s room for more women to step in and shape the future of music today. 

Whether you’re drawn to music supervision, licensing, branding, or any of the many creative roles that keep the industry moving, this is your sign that there’s a place for you here.

Len Mattea, music producer at MassiveMusic London

I doubt the imposter syndrome will ever completely leave me and that’s still the truth of being a woman in the music industry in this day and age. But we are fighting for things to be different for the next generations to come, and the words that follow are part of my fight.

I spent most of my childhood at my grandparents’ house. No matter what room I was in, through thinner or thicker walls, the background was always filled with piano melodies coming from the study where my grandpa would spend entire afternoons, sitting on that piano stool, playing and composing. He imposed piano training on my mum when she was little; she wasn’t allowed to have friends or hobbies, so when she finished her homework, it was piano time – whether she liked it or not. This only stopped when she met my dad and ran away. So when mini-me, at the mere age of 4, asked to learn the piano it was unsurprisingly not well-received. We shouted and cried through the years about it, I even ran away once to make my point, at the age of 12, but her answer was always, “You can choose to do anything but music”.

I ended up leaving my country at the age of 14 and studying in international schools abroad. Some of my friends still say that maybe, just maybe, if my mum had let me do what I wanted to do I wouldn’t have the tenacity inside of me that pushed me to move abroad by myself, become bilingual, and gain a healthy dose of independence. I guess we’ll never know. 

I ended up studying fashion, then acting. I even thought I could be a writer at some point. And still, none of the amazing life experiences I had or rare opportunities I was offered ever pushed that obsessive thought out my head: music is still the only thing that moves me. Those words still echoed in my mind every single day. Those same words also led me to throwing everything out the window to get my first job in the music industry at the age of 23. 

I was dating the lead singer of a rock band at the time, but I was more attracted to his talent than to him as a person. So, when I got my first job as a receptionist at a recording studio, my life felt like it took its very first turn towards the destiny I wanted. I was told off half the time for leaving reception unattended and sneaking into the studio to spy on the producers and all the equipment. Eventually, I took courses to learn about music theory, DAWs and developed songwriting skills. Although I can’t proudly say I play any instrument too well, I have developed a great musical ear. Whether I knew it or not, that same ear had been quietly forming since the earliest days of my life, when my grandpa would play the piano in the afternoon and would ask me to sing the notes back and guess the intervals in the scale.

The point here is that passion and obsession are two sides of the same coin.

If you want something enough, there is no stopping you. Of course, most women have a harder time doing what they want; whether it’s because they are forced to do something (like my mum) or forced to stay away from something (like myself). It’s a constant battle – but eventually you have control over your life and initiatives like Balance The Mix are there to make sure that not every woman has to push this hard to do what she loves.

I can now say, at the age of 31, that I have produced some great pieces of music, sang on stage multiple times and written songs that have been used for some huge brands.

My mum did what she could with what she had, I am no longer angry – but I do know now that it’s crucial for us, as women, to lift other women up and give them the chance to shine.

Hannah Crawford, creative development manager at MassiveMusic London

I’ve spent the whole of my career working in the music industry, despite my official musical credentials consisting solely of a grade two piano certificate from around 1999, a love of music, and, as of last year, co-hosting a radio show with a friend and former colleague (shameless plug for HAN+FRAN). I began working at a record label when I first arrived in London in 2009, before moving into a music production and licensing agency – surrounded by people doing a job I never really knew existed. It turned into my dream! At MassiveMusic, my role is to show off the amazing work my team creates – spanning bespoke composition, re-records, commercial music supervision, and sonic branding while bringing new clients into the fold. I get the benefit of working alongside these creative musical minds everyday and while I know a fair bit, I didn’t have the musical education and prodigious talent at the beginning that I thought this industry would require.

My advice is – don’t let your lack of formal education stop you from working in a world you love. While I’m not one of ‘the makers’, I did have a deep passion and respect for those who are, and I’m lucky enough to work with a talented team of women in our production and supervision team every day. Working alongside a killer team makes my time working here even more rewarding. At MassiveMusic, we champion diversity in the form of our Balance The Mix initiative, and in our work patterns at every opportunity, tackling the imbalances we often see in the creative industries.