Every musician has to start somewhere. Every budding musician has to learn their first chord, get up on stage for the first time or write their first song. But who do musicians turn to when they are inexperienced in such matters? Who do musicians go to to ask about making a career out of their craft?
In Ireland, the answer to that question for musicians without a formal training who could be categorised as rock and pop, electronic and folk, rap and beyond, is First Music Contact.
First Music Contact (FMC) is a free informational resource for musicians and the independent music sector in Ireland. They offer advice, one-on-one meetings, clinics and online resources offering on contacting media, copyright, recording, releasing a record, promotion and everything in between.
FMC is very often the first time a young band will really be taken seriously and asked why they want to be in a band, what their ambition is and how they're going to make that a reality. Angela Dorgan, who started FMC, is often the person asking the questions and she describes FMC as helpful for musicians "at the key gear changes of their careers".
With just one other full-time staff member in Brendan Millar, FMC do all of this, and pay for the running of their office for a mere €90,000 a year, which they receive in funding from the Arts Council.
And there's more
Except that's not all they do. FMC also run the online music portal BreakingTunes.com which features over 10,000 Irish band profiles along with an annual FMC tour of Irish music nationwide. In conjunction with Culture Ireland, they run Music From Ireland, which aims to promote Irish music internationally at festivals like South By Southwest, Canadian Music Week, Eurosonic, The Great Escape and CMJ through showcases, meetings and exhibition stands.
"This year we received €85,000 to go to seven international events," Dorgan says of the Culture Ireland partnership. "About 80 per cent of that goes directly to musicians for their flights to those events and then we hire backline and produce the shows and also produce Irish audio samplers for each event."
Still, the threat of funding cuts in the arts world is always looming. "We are constantly trying to come up with ways to get around an ever decreasing fund," says Dorgan. "I suppose our greatest achievement - which might be invisible to the average onlooker - is that in the last five years we have had our funding cut 50% by the Arts Council but we haven’t dropped the ball or the standard in the delivery of any of our key services."
Hard Working Class Heroes
For the past 12 years, FMC have also run Hard Working Class Heroes, the Dublin festival featuring 100 bands who play in venues around the city for fans, peers and local and international industry professionals and music buyers. Performers have included Hozier, Villagers, All Tvvins, James Vincent McMorrow, The Strypes, SOAK, Kodaline, Little Green Cars who have all broken internationally since.
The 2015 edition is due to take place from October 1st to 3rd and the call for bands to apply was opened this week. Bands for the festival will be picked by a panel of local and international judges who work in music.
"We are Ireland, here are our best 100 bands, come and see them, come and work with them," is Dorgan's short pitch for the festival, which recently has given space on its programme for the the tech industry's music startups too, including Soundwave, Gigstarter, Whole Word Band and Fan Footage.
New developments for 2015
For the second year running, Hard Working Class Heroes is receiving sponsorship for the festival from HMV which Dorgan calls "a great stabilizer." 2015's festival will feature some new developments including a jazz showcase in conjunction with Improvised Music Company, an Icelandic exchange and a collaboration with the Dublin Theatre Festival.
The 100 bands who play at HWCH now receive income opportunities through FMC's Music Trail initiatives throughout the year which features bands playing acoustic sets in barber shops, cafés, tattoo parlours, Dublin airport and more, with the idea that getting them in front of the public on busy days like New Year's Eve and on city festivals can promote them and Irish music, while each band receive €150 for doing so.
As for the judges who pick the bands, what do they look for other than the four main categories: quality of songwriting, songs, recording and 'gut feeling'?
"The most frequent remark we get back is that they are looking for ‘that song’," says Dorgan. "What we have seen in the 12 years of the event is if the songs are there if that little bit of magic is there, then you’re in. Another frequent comment is concerned with ‘honesty’, if you are not trying to be something else, if your songs are honest and good then you’re in."
Industry support is lacking
Still despite Hard Working Class Heroes reputation as a new music festival for future Irish stars, there are still obstacles in its production.
“Putting on a festival isn’t a problem, getting audiences isn’t our biggest problem either as we have a great reputation now with music lovers and bands. It’s not a popular thing to say but we don’t really get a very big amount of support from the industry here so every year is a struggle."
That lack of support can sometimes feel like it extends to any music that is considered commercial or popular. Classical music, for example has always received more funding than popular music. Yet, the reputation of Irish music abroad largely comes from its popular artists, who remain underfunded and underserved.
“I can’t tell you what I’d do for musicians with even one more staff member,” says Dorgan with some exasperation. “Popular music is art. Anyone writing a piece of music and lyrics and putting them together and performing them is an artist. Can we stop having the conversation that they aren't. Our sector should be better funded because there are a lot of artists in it. We need to do more for more of them. We should not fund our artists because it makes us look good, we should fund our artists so they can enrich our society."
With all of the bands who are finding audiences abroad, with the sights of the UK industry in particular trained on Ireland's new music talent and with a new generation of musicians ready to make their mark, Dorgan says there is much to be hopeful for.
"I’m excited with how many amazing women have featured in the How Music Works series. I’m excited that we are a music destination city now and we are working at increasing that with Tourism Ireland here and abroad. I’m excited that more acts are being signed again, I’m excited that HWCH applications are open and we might be just about to hear the next most amazing track to come from an Irish artist. I’m mostly excited at the confidence of artists in Ireland and that no matter 'How Music Works' that it’s the musicians work that brings us all to this point."
