The biz's brightest new talents tell their stories. This week it's the turn of Scruff Of The Neck Records label manager Mitch Page.
Where did you start in music?
“I studied music production at university and followed what I thought would be my career in jingle writing. Needless to say, I didn’t have the chops and quickly found myself desperate to break into the business side of the industry. While doing various spots of work where possible, I found myself emailing the same 10 people every week with an update on what I was up to before someone eventually told me to just come to a gig and meet them already. I managed to collar him at the end of the night, sold my passion as best I could and started as a ticketing intern for Scruff Of The Neck, which was predominantly a live promoter at the time. Two and a half years later I am now the label manager.”
What word best describes your story so far?
“Resilience. It’s a familiar word for anyone just starting out in the industry, but being able to recover from knock-backs and let-downs consistently while trying to get yourself out there is essential. If I hadn’t have held on for the next opportunity, I wouldn’t have been able to break through into the industry.”
Why start an indie label these days?
“For the exact reason anyone should want to work in the music industry; to forge and develop the careers of artists. Without them, none of us would have these jobs. I thrive on being able to play a part in an artist’s story and, as an indie label, you are involved in often every part. We at Scruff Of The Neck are all about artist development, from artists still in their embryonic stage, to those who are really making waves. It fills me with joy to see them progress through each phase.”
What’s your proudest moment yet?
“I would have said being nominated for the Best Small Label award at this year’s AIM Awards was my proudest moment, until we actually went and won the thing! Being surrounded by colleagues, artists and Scruff Of The Neck founder Mark Lippmann, the man who gave me the chance to work in this industry in the first place, was a high point. This past year, we’ve had great success with our artists, lots of support from DSPs as well as one of our daft videos making it into the Amazon Music seminar at AIM Connected. Watching our management act Larkins headline a sold-out 1,500 capacity Albert Hall in Manchester was truly awe-inspiring, it really signified the future and just felt like the start of something much bigger.”
What’s your dream job?
“Other than an acclaimed jingle writer, this one right now! I thoroughly enjoy being able to be hands-on with our artists, I wear a lot of hats and I like being able to work on different aspects of our campaigns. I would love to progress further with our publishing arm and grow our success within sync.”
MITCH’S RECOMMENDED TRACK:
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