Charlie Arme started his first A&R job at Relentless Records whilst still studying at LIPA in 2007.
He went on to work at Virgin Records and Warner Bros before setting up his own company here at Tileyard. He is now a partner at Tileyard Music and is leading the MA course in Music Business at Tileyard Education. We caught up with Charlie to ask him a few questions about his career!
Lucy: Thanks for talking to me Charlie, I really appreciate it, I know you’re extremely busy with new releases right now. So Charlie, let’s start by talking about your career, I think your journey through the music industry is an inspiring one for lots of young people. You made your way through the music industry very quickly to get to where you are today. I know whilst you studied at LIPA you were also a scout for Relentless Records, could you tell us more about that?
Charlie: “I knew that I wanted to do music management so I started putting on concerts as an extracurricular activity at school. That’s what got me into LIPA, everyone that applies there has to do a project and present it in the interview. When you arrive there in your first week they partner you up with a second year mentor. My mentor happened to be a scout for Relentless and at the time he wasn’t feeling it was the right avenue for him, so he offered me up his job. I got paid £100 expenses a month. Through that I met the head of Relentless, he took me under his wing and I scouted for him in loads of different cities. I was really fortunate and I found a couple of acts that went on to do quite big things. By the end of my first year of university I was offered a full time job at Relentless Records.
I was desperate to go into full time employment but my parents wouldn’t let me quit my degree, so I would do three days in Liverpool, two days in London and spent the rest of the time going to as many different gigs as often as I could. During my holidays I worked full time with Relentless, my boss was happy for me to be really hands on, helping me A&R a couple projects myself, and even though I was only 19 he entrusted me with people’s lives and careers. It’s great being in a university classroom, but there’s only so much you can learn in the classroom. The best learning I did was always on the job and I was lucky I could get a degree and do a job I loved.”
Lucy: And, what happened after university?
Charlie: “After university I worked at Warner. I saw a completely different way of working. Music companies have different ways of doing things, but B-Unique where I worked (a subsidiary of Warner) handled management, publishing and records – it was the best thing for my learning to be surrounded by it every avenue. I was then made redundant because even though the industry had a high turnover, the scene was very ‘Myspace’. I totally understood Myspace, but everyone started transitioning to Soundcloud, and there were some people that were way better at finding acts there. It was a hard lesson to learn, making sure that your skill set is up to scratch.
At the time that I lost my job, we were in the middle of a recession, there were no opportunities, and everyone was getting fired. However my boss’ parting wisdom when I left was that I do my own thing and set up my own company. From there I found my way to Tileyard. I rented a place on Gumtree and started my own management company with a little bit of money I’d put aside, and the rest is history! Had I not talked myself into doing management, publishing and records I would of never have thought to be a manager and would have never had this opportunity. Some good advice I got from university was to keep doing what I’m doing and try to gain expertise in a couple of areas rather then just one.
Lucy: So you learnt quite early on that the best learning happens in industry?
Charlie: “Yeah.”
Lucy: Would you have quit university if you could?
Charlie: “Yes, I would have done so at the time, but now I am really happy I juggled everything and stuck at it.”
Lucy: That’s really interesting, so this weaves in really nicely with us talking about Tileyard Education as we are situational, and we are within the industry just by being at Tileyard Studios, that is something that has never been done before.
Charlie: “I said that from day one! Starting out I used to think to myself “What do I want?’ I wanted to do whatever I could to be in the right place. Many people will tell you that the music business is all about being in the right place, you can be great at what you do, but if you’re in the wrong place you won’t be able to get the success you deserve.
Honestly, Tileyard is the place, and there is nowhere like it in the world and I really believe if you apply that to a student, he/she comes here and will have endless opportunities. 80% of our staff are under the age of 30, we love having passion and ambition and the next generation have a real hunger for the industry – The ‘I don’t quite know it all yet but I have an idea’, I want them on my team. That’s really what Tileyard is about. It’s about those 20 year olds who want to have their own management company one day, and a Masters at Tileyard Education is a great way to start that journey off.
Being at the right place, being at the writing camps, being at the parties that we throw. It’s important because if you’re not at events, you’re not going to meet anyone.”
Lucy: We’ve been taking in applications since May, and they’re coming in fast, but we can’t let everyone in, and our maximum number for both our Masters programmes is only 20 students. Why do you think this sets us apart?
Charlie: “We have to be selective because we need stars. We need artist stars, we need production stars, writer stars, and we also really need management business stars. A couple of born winners change the whole music industry. We want to take the best and get the best to their highest potential level. That becomes possible here as you get to rub shoulders with lots of amazingly talented people. If you’re a producer, we have some of the most successful producers, if you’re a budding manager, you can have a conversation with an experienced manager.
You become successful by whom you know and where you are. You can ask all the right questions to all of the right people, which will get you the right answers. Tileyard Education could be massive, and its success will be determined by how good, as opposed to, how many people come out of it. The best courses in the world are the ones that have legacy and these courses will build legacy. You never know, I’d love to find someone we can be in business with one day – that would be the best thing ever!”
Lucy: Can you tell us a little more about the module you will be leading on, the Creative Business Project?
Charlie: “Well the module is super hand’s on, we’re going to take both courses and give everybody a budget to run a campaign, and every step along the way we’ll be bringing in industry advice. In a very ‘The Apprentice; style way, go and do it, get it wrong, and we’ll tell you how next time it can be done slightly better, or maybe on the flip-side you’ll tell us how to do it better? One of the best things will be the chance to have debates. There is no handbook in the music industry, no right way to do it; everything is down to opinion, what works, and what ends up with successful results. This module in particular, we may have some people with certain viewpoints, and all will be up for discussion, and I’m sure we’ll get something brilliant!
We’re interested in innovation, new ways of doing things, how to market artists, and how to make a break for an artist. The best thing about the Creative Business Project is it mirrors real industry, you will have to learn how to market your idea, if you fail, you might have to figure out how to do things for free. It’s going to be a real life case study that these students can take away. It will be the guinea pig test, after that, they will know how to go out into the real world and do it.”
Lucy: Would you like to talk about the investment fund as well that happens at the end of that module?
Charlie: “Yes, each student will be able to deliver their final projects to an investment fund for potential investment, and incubation here at Tileyard. The best thing about it is we will have a small enough student base to give all our students what they need to do this successfully. If a student wants to talk to the best radio plugger for a band they are managing, we’ll give them the contact, if they need a booking agent, we can give them the right phone numbers. This wouldn’t be able to happen anywhere else.”
Lucy: Thank you so much for talking to me Charlie, I look forward to seeing the delivery of your module next year!
For more information about Tileyard Music, go to: https://tileyardmusic.co.uk
