MA Music Business graduate Christian Gillett applied without an undergraduate degree. Despite this he was consistently one of our best preforming students. Now he has joined the Royal Albert Hall as their new Press Assistant and its the least he deserves. We sat down with him to talk about his new role and his time with us at Tileyard Education.
Firstly congratulations on your new full time position at RAH! Tell us what your role is and how it’s going?
Thank you! The role is as Press Assistant within the Marketing department of the Hall – so that predominantly means dealing with journalist requests and entertaining high profile press guests at events. So, one of the perks of the job is getting to network with those in the creative industries while enjoying some incredible performances in such a prestigious venue. So far, I’m only a couple of weeks into the role, but the team here have been so friendly and welcoming.
How do you feel Tileyard Education prepared you for your role?
I feel the consistency of writing assignments at TYE has helped me write consistently at a high level, which is great for when I have to draft up press releases and the like. During my time at TYE, I felt my networking skills and confidence in approaching people grew exponentially throughout the year, which is set to serve me well for when I’m talking with journalists both in person and via email.
You had a lot of other experiences in the music industry before joining us, what did you do before joining us?
As a musician, I’d been playing guitar in various bands for about 10 years, often playing small tours around the UK and self-releasing music. A highlight for me was independently booking a 10-day tour in China and Hong Kong where my band Zurich managed to turn a profit.
Within the world of employment, I had worked as a music journalist for South China Morning Post, an internationally read newspaper, from 2017-2020, where I would write album reviews and artist features every week. I also did a 3-month internship for dance label Enhanced Music in 2018. Through my experiences of independently booking gigs and tours for my bands, I managed to land a position as a Booking Agent for a start-up agency at the start of 2020. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the full experience within this position since everything closed last March, but I hope to find another opportunity within bookings in the future.
You applied without a degree, did you have any worries about doing a Master’s course?
Of course! I definitely felt I’d be at a disadvantage to those who had completed a BA degree, both in terms academic writing, but also dealing with student life – as I hadn’t been in education for a long time. Even after enrolling, I felt a sense of imposter syndrome and that I’d somehow managed to sneak onto the Music Business course by mistake.
As one of our most consistently high performing students, what advice do you have for students who apply without a degree?
I would say it’s natural to feel anxious without the experience of completing a bachelors, but I would use those worries or doubts as fuel for motivation to prove yourself. Because I just wanted to pass the year, I made a conscious effort to stay on top of assignments – starting them early and working on them every day in small chunks. I also bought and read all the ‘essential’ books on the reading list, which can be informative of how to write academically. Finally, I’d recommend finding someone either on the course or a close friend (who is good with writing/grammar) who isn’t afraid to criticise your work. This can really help you improve quickly.
Advice I’d give to all students – get involved with EVERYTHING you can. Whether it’s masterclasses, songwriting camps, A&R sessions, networking events – just say ‘yes’ and turn up. So much of the TY experience is the people you are studying with, so make the most of that opportunity to build strong relationships with them, as the year goes by so quickly.
We know you’re a busy man with lots going on, do you have any upcoming projects you want to plug? (gigs etc)
I’ve been focussing a lot on my solo project In Silo in my downtime. I’m hoping to release an EP in early 2022, and I have the demos for my second and third albums written as well. So, my goal is to make a concerted effort to actually get these songs recorded properly and released in the not-too-distant future.
I also play guitar in the Dolly Mavies band. Our performances are quite sporadic, but we host and promote a big Christmas show every year in our hometown church near Banbury in Oxfordshire, and it’s always a lot of fun. So, if anyone is in the area on 18th December, Dolly always manages to curate an incredible line-up of independent artists along with mulled wine, mince pies and the like.
Find out more about MA Music Business here.
