“We popped into the Big Indie Records office this week for a catch-up. With lots of exciting stuff on their roster, 2019 is looking to be a BIG year for the UK-division of the American Label.
Last year, we lined up a meeting with Big Indie, and Tileyard Education Music Business Alumni, Aaron Watts. Aaron was taken on as an intern in their Tileyard office, working closely with Executive Vice President, Richard Hannan and assisting with many exciting projects, including the growth of the Big Indie Big Nights that launched last year in collaboration with DIY Magazine. This year, Aaron has been formally welcomed into the Big Indie family, and is now a full-time member of staff, as the label’s Content Manager. Aaron will also be heading to New York with the label, who are curating a stage at New Colossus Festival in March with DIY. From there, he’ll be heading over to Austin, Texas to work at South By South West Festival, where the label will also be curating some up and coming talent.
This year, the label is getting busier, with some new and exciting projects in the pipeline, so Richard reached out to us, and we’re excited to announce, their family is growing, with the new addition of MA Commercial Songwriting & Production student, Femi Ashuri. Femi moved to London to immerse himself in the networks here at Tileyard and has been working as an intern with the label for the last 3 months. He’s becoming crucially placed in their publishing operation – dealing with sync opportunities alongside acting as an A&R scout for the label, assisting on live events and working through track submissions (and that’s not all of it!).
We asked Femi how his experience has been with Big Indie so far:
“I’m learning so much, I’ve always been interested in the inner workings of labels and publishing, I’m really enjoying all the work I’m doing here with Big Indie”.
We also asked Femi why Tileyard Education was the right place for studying his Masters, he said;
“I was going to study for my Masters in Wales, until I came to an Open Day here, and I knew this was where I had to be.”
Femi reports to Aaron, what a wonderful success story for both alumni and new student alike and we know Aaron will show Femi the ropes. We’re looking forward to catching up with the Big Indie team later in the year to hear about all the other exciting projects they’re currently building!
The first Big Indie Big Nights of 2019 will be at Two Tribes on Feb 13, featuring Ulysses Wells, who will be releasing a single with Big Indie on Jan 30. Big Indie are also an official sponsor of AmericanaFest UK 2019 and will be hosting a festival stage at Night Tales, Hackney on Jan 30.
