musicpoolberlin.net - Andy Iglis

Food For Thoughts: things we learnt at our Mental Health Community Evening with DBS Music (pt. 2)

musicpool intern — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 10:02:01 +0000

June 2018 will be remembered in the history of Music Pool Berlin as our Community Evening for that month was settled in one of the best location we ever had for an event so far, namely the sunny riverside of Funkhaus Berlin. Partnering with music production school DBS Berlin, our panel was dedicated to the topic of Mental Health and Creativity. Guest speakers included producer and electronic music artist Emika, artist manager Andy Inglis, head of artists management at K7! Rachael Patterson, and philosopher and counsellor Florian Goldberg; our own Andrea Goetzke was in charge of moderating the talk.

Writer Dee Cunning has summed up for you some of the issues and suggestions made by our panellists. Here below we want to share an extract of her latets write up, originally published via DBS Music Blog. The first part of the article can be read here. For a quick recap on the first part of the writing, have a look at the video below!

Things we learnt at Music Pool Berlin x DBS Music Mental Health Community Evening

Create a good routine

Never underestimate the power of a good routine – not only to become successful, but to safeguard your mental well-being. Whether you have the self-discipline to create your own work structure, or you need others to help you with that, it’s essential to stay deadline-motivated and take a proactive role in your career. One of Rachael’s clients, for example, took the initiative to request a weekly schedule for the whole of the coming year. She was positively surprised!

A great way to add some structure and support your lifestyle is to get a part-time job, Rachael reiterated: “It can actually be helpful to have a part-time job because you feel more committed to doing what you love in your downtime – especially if you have a job which gives you both the routine and flexibility to do these things.”

Networking is essential

And our panellists meant networking in both senses of the word: having a strong support network of close friends and family and striving for like-minded business connections. Although Emika described herself as sometimes feeling like she’s “on an island” having taken up so much responsibility for her business, she also stressed the importance of having a great team.

“You need advocates,” she insisted, “you need people that go into the world and say, this person is really good… People either hear about you because someone’s talked about you, or they hear your music, or they hear your music and then people talk about you. That’s how you generate some kind of buzz and some kind of opportunity and doors start to open.”

A quick fix won’t make it go away

There’s no avoiding it: the music industry has a drug and alcohol problem. As Andy pointed out, using alcohol to cope with stress has been normalised. “You don’t get dentists who get nervous and have a couple of shots of whiskey before they take someone’s tooth out,” he said, “but we seem to think it’s okay to do that – to get drunk before you have to do your job – because it’s so ingrained in this culture…and you’re strange not to do that.”

And where quick fixes are concerned, reaching for medication isn’t always the best option either. After anxiety meds numbed her Glastonbury experience, Emika reflected, “you should never need to go and take some medication in order to go on stage.” “That’s the thing about mental health,” she continued, “it’s so easy to just be given some drugs, or you get given a list and told to go and find a therapist, [but the therapists are all booked up] so you just don’t do it and it’s much easier to just take a tablet.”

So, what about the ultimate feel-good pill: success? Unfortunately, according to Florian, the gratification of achieving your ambitions will never be a bandaid to your problems. One of his clients believed that fame would heal the wounds of his traumatised past, he told us. “Then, all of a sudden, he had all that. He was on TV, his posters and advertisements were everywhere, the CDs were out. He had all of what he always wanted, but then he realised he still feels shit. The pain is still there, nothing has changed from the inside.”

The best way to deal with mental illness, in Emika’s book, is taking the time to proactively ask questions: “practise being in touch with yourself and looking inwards and try to understand your emotional world.” And, of course, to keep creating: “It might knock you down for a bit, but if you keep writing music, it can keep you connected to yourself. I think that’s how I’ve managed; I’ve never not written music. I always had a feeling that that’s what was going to save me and keep me going.” The rest is all about communication: talking to those close to you and working to find a therapist who really listens. Remember, healing takes time, patience, and commitment.

Soziale Absicherung

Community Evening

community abend

DBS Music Berlin

Funkhause Berlin

Food for thoughts: things we learnt at our Mental Health Community Evening with DBS Music (pt.1)

musicpool intern — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 11:01:42 +0000

As you might already know since you've landed to this blog entry, or if you don't know already as this is your first time visiting this website, Music Pool Berlin is an organization that deals on a daily basis with the vast variety of topics concerning the professional lives of musicians - anything which is not the creative work per se: from insurance and taxes to working with labels and managing your own bookings to rights management. One way in which we do so, is via our monthly Community Evening events, in which we organize panels and talks on music and creativity related topics, inviting each time a different set of speakers, all professionally involved with different aspects of the music business.

Our June Community Evening was dedicated to a very delicate topic: mental health and creativity. Inspired by the reading of the Help Musicians UK survey, we decided to partner with dBs Music, a Berlin based music production and sound engeneering school who has in the latest months organized a series of events dedicated to the topic of mental health.

If you've missed out this event for whatever reason, don't panic! Creative writer Dee Cunning has summed up for you a few interesting takes that emerged from our discussion. You can read an extract from the article below, and continue reading the full feature via the dBs Berlin blog here, where the piece of writing reported below was originally published.

5 Things We Learnt at Our Music Pool Berlin Mental Health Panel

You sound unique. You're made from pure creative potential. You can stand alone or be part of a symphony. To the opportunistic music business, that makes you an instrument to be played; to over-pluck till destruct making sweet money music; to neglect to go out of tune. In its obdurate scheme, it is the necessary thumb to your melody – but that's just not true. Because you’rethe musician, and ultimately you are you.

It’s no secret: although it’s amazing to be professionally engaged with your passion, the very nature of the music industry brings with it a framework that makes us vulnerable as human beings. As Help Musicians UK’s recent study reported, musicians are three times more likely to suffer from depression or anxiety than the average (UK) population.

Factors at play include precariousness of living conditions, merging of personal identity with profession, working late and inconsistent hours, alcohol and drugs, heavy touring schedules and simply never switching off. But as we learnt at this year’s dBs Dialogues mental health series, coming together to talk about these issues – taking ownership of them, even – is the best way to bring about change.

Last month, we continued the conversation in a collaborative panel talk with Music Pool Berlin, an invaluable organisation which supports musicians with practical resources and advice. “When I read the study and heard that dBs Berlin was organizing an event series on the topic,” said our moderator, cultural producer and curator Andrea Goetzke, “I got the idea to also organise one of our Music Pool Berlin community evenings on the topic of mental health and music.”

Our fantastic panellists were: electronic artist Emika, artist manager and agency owner Andy Inglis, !K7 head of artist management and former label owner Rachael Patterson, and philosophical advisor and coach Florian Goldberg. Bringing together extensive knowledge from all corners of the music industry, they discussed the health issues that arise, how we can take better care of ourselves and others, and what we can do to turn detrimental working conditions and structural issues on their head.

Read on for the first of our two-part round-up.

You are not your music

You put your heart and soul into your music – we get it. But that does not mean you should be defined by it. As the Help Musicians UK report put it, the way that musicians come to embody their work, arguably “renders them particularly vulnerable.” It's the tipping point where a career becomes all-consuming, criticism turns personal, or a personal brand becomes a cage. But remember, you are a human first and a musician second.

As Emika pointed out, finding your brand is a great form of self-expression: “In the beginning, so much of it is about settling on an identity that you feel is yours.” But what happens when that identity becomes a feedback loop, or if you disassociate from it after it's brought you success? “That started to get really unstable for me,” she continued. “Getting internationally recognised for my music, I started to realise that I was surrounded by a lot of people I didn't understand.”

But in an industry where branding is everything, is there any way we combat this? According to Emika, it's all about keeping a distance: “Emika is like a glove,” she said. “I created certain guidelines that I could put on and take off.” One of the rules Emika is most strict about is not sharing anything personal online: “I don't focus on what I share with people around me; it's around my music.” And Andy agreed: “It's very healthy to be able to separate yourself from your public-facing career or identity, even if they are linked in every way.”

Be the cause, not the effect

Not feeling in control of your work or your life can be a great source of depression and anxiety for anyone. And in the music industry, facing pressure from managers and labels to relentlessly create, tour or live up to a certain sound, it's a feeling all too familiar. “If we are pushed to be just the effect [rather than the cause], and if we allow that, we start to feel bad,” Florian asserted. “To really understand what it means in your personal life – to ask where am I at the source of things? and where am I at the effect of things? – this is especially important for an artist.”

This is something that Emika has personally experienced. So anxious about an upcoming Glastonbury gig that she had to medicate in order to perform, Emika reflected, “I recognised that there was a lot of people around me that pushed me to do that and that I really needed to change my entire life.”

The best way to regain control over your life, Florian advised, is “for an individual is to ask, what can I do to change things where I am?” “For artists, it's good to make your own plan,” he continued, “then do it and follow it up and find the people who are willing to collaborate with you.” In the end, it's all about prioritising your own well-being. “If you keep your eyes on the prize, it really doesn't matter what comments people throw at you,” Emika added, “you have to just be focused on what you want and know why you're doing it.”

[Continue reading here]

All pictures by dBs Berlin.