Beyoncé’s dad and former music executive, whose label has sold over 450 million records worldwide, led an exclusive workshop for aspiring musicians at a Southwark-based college – and he didn’t hold back.
Last week, the London College of Creative Media (LCCM), based in Southwark, hosted a special two-day free event with Mathew Knowles – a music business mogul most famous for managing Destiny’s Child, and his daughters Beyoncé and Solange.
His label, Music World Entertainment, has sold over 450 million records worldwide, including releases by Chaka Khan, The O’Jays and Earth Wind and Fire.
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In his own words: “People in the audience may not know who I am – but almost everyone in the music industry does,” Dr Knowles said in a backstage interview with the News.
LCCM specialises in music so the room was full of aspiring artists and managers, who were eager to hear what such an influential individual had to say.
One music business management student, Junadé, said as she waited: “I’m hoping to gain any kind of knowledge that could help us career-wise in the music industry.
“He’s Beyonce’s dad so he must have some secrets,” she added.
The workshop was over two days. The first day saw him give a live open lecture which involved him bringing individual artists from the audience up on stage and getting them to imagine they were in a record label meeting. He didn’t hold back with the advice he dished out to the students, even getting some of them to ‘sing him something’ acapella, on the spot.
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One young woman said if she got signed she would sing in multiple different languages and when asked, didn’t have a clear genre of music she wanted to make. After giving her time to explain and guiding her through what mimicked ‘a chat on the sofa with a label executive’ – Dr Knowles told the room: “I’ve got to be honest, if this meeting was real, I wouldn’t sign her.”
Backstage he later said: “I wanted people to hear that many artists… I won’t say most, but many artists – don’t know who they are as an artist.
“They don’t know what genre, they don’t know the imaging or the song. We heard all kinds of stuff in there today – and I wanted the room to understand that artist development is not done by record labels.
“So either managers have to do it, or you find it at schools like LCCM, which is giving folks the opportunity to experience these kinds of workshops.”
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He may have been direct, but everything he had to say had substance, and students were able to walk out with some practical advice from an expert.
On the second day, Dr Knowles invited a vocal coach to work with the students on things such as how to hold a microphone correctly, and how to use a mirror to master their connection with the audience – simple things that he said are crucial to artist development.
After the lecture, Delio Lima, 31, who also studies music business management at LCCM, said he felt “privileged” to be at one of the lectures. “The atmosphere he brings really does inspire you and his approach to business and music oozes star-birthing quality,” he added.
“We believe in experience. If someone has done the work – you can learn from it.
“It’s good to have some sort of access because these people are so big you don’t usually get access to them,” he added.
On Saturday, February 4, there was due to be a talk open to the public, but it was postponed to a later date due to train strikes.
Watch the full interview with Mathew Knowles on YouTube.
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