MUSIC BUSINESS tutors

		Charlie Pinder (Sony Publishing/V2 Records) - Music Business Tutor Following his studies at Manchester University Charlie went to work for RCA Records in the A&R department. He then joined Sony Publishing as A&R scout in 1993 and signed over the years, amongst others, Travis, Catatonia, KT Tunstall and Razorlight. In 2000 he was appointed MD. He joined V2 Records as Director of A&R in 2005 and left in 2007 to set up artist management/publishing company Riot Act. "After all these years of working within the political and commercial confines of big companies, I wanted to finally be in control of the whole process and the source of it all – the artists and their music”. Riot Act represents The Shebeats, Alex Cornish and Olafur Arnalds.

		Jake Shillingford (My Life Story) - Head of Music Business and Songwriting Tutor Jake Shillingford, founder of the cult orchestral alternative band My Life Story, released three successful albums and had six top forty singles. Jake started out co-promoting bands in a London club called The Panic Station booking early shows for The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Chili Peppers. His band My Life Story went on to collaborate with with PJ Proby, Marc Almond, Morrissey, The Wonderstuff and even headlined over Oasis. He now runs his own label and new musical project ExileInside, financed online by investors. ‘One of our most colourful lyricists’ Steve Lamacq

		Dan Swift (Aqualung/Snow Patrol) - Music Business Tutor Dan Swift is a producer working at the cutting edge of the UK music scene right now, producing white-hot underground bands such as Art Brut, Untitled Music Project and The Chapman Family, alongside major league artists Snow Patrol and Aqualung. He co-produced Aqualung’s Memory Man which the Sunday Times described as “genuinely ambitious pop” and praised for its “unashamed grandeur.” Art Brut’s album It’s A Bit Complicated, which Dan produced and mixed, was described by NME as having “Painfully brilliant stadium rock tracks.” The Guardian also gave it five stars. Dan produced both albums out of his south London studio SuperSwiftSound as well as mixing and engineering artists such as Snow Patrol, Kasabian and The Futureheads. He has just finished hotly tipped artist Sam Isaac’s debut LP “Bears”, local heroes Sam Archer, The Futures and Pablo and the Paint Set plus NME favourites The Chapman Family’s debut single “The Kids Are Not Alright”.

		Jon Stewart (Sleeper) - Senior Academic Lecturer Jon was the lead guitarist and songwriter for 90’s Brit-Pop stars Sleeper, enjoying 3 UK Top 5 Albums and 9 UK Top 40 singles. Jon has also written and recorded with artists such as KD Lang and Mel C, and has played sessions for multi-hit record producers Stephen Street (Blur) and Damian Le Gassick (Madonna). Jon writes a long-running column on the music business for Guitarist magazine, and also works as a music supervisor for film and TV projects. At BIMM Jon is Head of Music Business Studies/Senior Academic Lecturer and is available for one to one tutorials.

		Mel Thomas (BMG) - Head of Work Based Learning With over 7 years spent in house at major labels, Mel launched the band All Saints and managed their PR for three years before moving to BMG to work with Simon Cowell on Five and other major pop acts. After 2 years at Way To Blue, the UK’s leading music, film and game online PR company as Head of Press (Travis, Badly Drawn Boy, Basement Jaxx, The Streets) Mel moved to Brighton and set up Stay Gold PR, spending more time working with rock acts, consulting to BMG on Avril Lavigne and Pink (in 04) and music events Great Escape and Guilfet in 06. Mel teaches business to BIMM Professional Diploma (Level 5) and Foundation Degree and is a huge fan of rock music. The role of Head of Work Based Learning sees Mel use her industry contacts to generate work experience opportunities for students at BIMM.

		Simon Lowry (Hit and Run Music/V2 Records) - Music Business Course Leader Simon started music early, playing piano from the age of 3. He has recently produced albums by Rozalla and Cleveland Watkiss and in 2008/9 toured with Rozalla supporting Billy Ocean. Also a qualified Chartered Accountant, Simon was Finance Director of Dave Stewart’s Anxious Records and spent 4 years at Hit & Run Music, looking after the financial affairs of Phil Collins and Genesis before becoming Finance Director of Richard Branson’s newly formed V2 Records. He rejoined Dave Stewart as General Manager of Artist Network in 2002 and helped set up Stage Three Music Publishing in 2004, before deciding to get back to his musical roots with a course in Music Technology at London College of Music & Media. After securing a first class degree in 2007 he was awarded a scholarship to do an MA in Audio Technology, which he completed in 2008. Simon continues to work as a producer, freelance music industry financial consultant and also runs his own independent record label.