WINTER | IN THE SPOTLIGHT
We transitioned in the second half of the pandemic to focus a lot more mental health .
If there ’ s one thing you could change overnight in the live events industry , what would it be ? As a positive statement , rather than anything that ’ s critical of people , there is significant power imbalance within the music industry as a whole . Freelance musicians don ’ t earn enough and they pursue a precarious career , while execs like me have a relatively significant amount of security . Grassroots venues really struggle , particularly at the moment , while women and minority groups are often left behind and working culture doesn ’ t always offer enough protection from bullying and harassment . There ’ s plenty of brilliant , positive , role models and positive examples but all those things are issues . It ’ s all about power imbalance . It ’ s all about a large group of people with very little say and a small number of people who can wield a level of influence they shouldn ’ t have . The outcomes of that power imbalance are completely opposite of what music should be . Music is this positive force in the world that brings people together from all backgrounds . Music is joy , unity and peace , and you would think the music industry ought to look like that . If I could change anything , I ’ d fix the power imbalances .
Now you are back at The Royal Albert Hall working as CEO , what is your number one priority ? The Hall creates these amazing events and we do that in partnership with all sorts of artists , promoters and others . The big question is , do we create those for everyone or do a lot of people in London and in the UK look at Hall and think that we don ’ t have anything for them ? So , we ’ re already on a mission to make sure that everyone in this country feels that the Royal Albert Hall has something to offer them . Looking at the performance history over the last three or four months , we ’ ve had RAYE , Loyle Carner , Digga
D and Esra Collective ; acts who you wouldn ’ t necessarily expect to be on the Royal Albert Hall stage . I ’ m pushing for that diversity of artists , and I think inevitably that means a greater diversity of audience and that can only be a good thing for the Hall . Underpinning all that is , is a strong desire of mine for the Hall to be a force for good within music industry .
What ’ s your favourite way to unwind ? I go home and play the piano . It ’ s very therapeutic . Let ’ s be honest , I play badly , I don ’ t go home and give concert-level performances to my wife and children but just hammering the keys gets it out the system and releases all sorts of endorphins and makes me feel great .
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