Speaker 2 (00:00.376)
Hello everyone and welcome to the My Local Marketer podcast. I'm Maria and today I'm speaking with Tara Deen, founder of Inside the Music Scene, a music podcast, former radio presenter, promoter and musician with many other strings to her bow. Tara, hello and welcome to the podcast.

I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. How are you doing?

Very good, thanks. So yeah, it's really nice because last time you had me on your podcast, Inside the Music Scene, which was so good. I think we nerded out over your setup at Mina's event.

Yeah, do you know what? was the first time I'd ever seen it in the dark because we in Capisham, didn't we? Outside of Vinn for the Angel Bar and it got dark and the lights came on and it looked kind of cool, didn't it?

I have to say it looked really good. You're going to make me take my whole branding to the next level. mean, even the top you're wearing at the moment, you've got branded merch. We've got... I am going to learn from the best I can tell.

Speaker 1 (00:52.302)
Let's represent the brands.

Speaker 1 (00:56.601)
Oh, stop it. No, not at all. Not at all. It's easier to know what to wear.

That actually makes it much simpler, if anything. So as I said in the introduction, you do a lot. So could you please give an overview of your background and summarize some of those many projects that you actually do?

Yes, so I'm going to take you right back to the start. I come from a very musical family. My granddad was always playing piano around me and my nan loved music as well. think my mum played clarinet. My dad's always been playing music. So I've always been brought up around music. When I was two, I started singing songs and making up songs in the back of the car. When was 18, I could finally perform live because in my area, there wasn't really anywhere to perform other than pubs. And I had to kind of wait till I was 18. So...

I did that, started singing at the Whole Cold Blue when I was 18, at Open Mic Night there. then music just kind of went from there. started writing songs, released an EP, wrote more songs, released an album. And then I thought, why not start at Open Mic Night? I started one with a friend off the tap bar and I run that on my own. Been running it for eight years, nearly nine, I believe. And under-18s can go in. Cause I had to wait till I was 18. So I wanted to make sure that, you know, under-18s had a platform to go and perform.

until nine o'clock out off the tap, maidenhead. In terms of Inside the Music Scene, that started in lockdown. It was actually formerly known as the New Music Podcast. I then thought that's a rubbish name because I couldn't say it very well. New Music Podcast sounded a bit odd to me because I said it too many times. It's a great name for somebody else, but for me, I got in my own head. So then I changed it to Inside the Music Scene after literally spending so long walking around the house going, Inside the Music.

Speaker 1 (02:42.658)
seen music inside, like literally all of the names inside the mute seemed stuck. And then I did a couple of episodes and then I got in touch with a new radio station that was just launching and they liked my idea. And then I was on DAB radio for a couple of years. The listeners were awesome. We played a lot of games. I got to meet a lot of people, made a loads of friends and got to meet some really good contacts as well. So that was really fun.

I then left the station and just did it on my own. So now I'm doing Inside the Music Scene on its own. It's been relaunched a couple of times because, you know, life gets in the way. I also work a nine to five job as well as running events off the tap, like, showcases, quizzes, festivals. I also then sing on the side as well. Cause when you're in the creative arts, you've got to have 5 million jobs. So yeah, I mean, that's literally the whole story. And now it comes to today.

And now inside the music scene is more than just a podcast. It's a social media platform where I go to events such as Purple Turtle Maidenhead Festival run events and Pride events as well. I'm going into a few people within the music scene. It doesn't stop at musicians. I really like to get to know the photographers, sound engineers, people that shoot music videos, as well as just artists as well, because it's a platform where it's for artists.

and music lovers, but it's to get advice from people. What are booking agents looking for? Cause you don't always find out that, you know, there's so many podcasts about just music. just wanted to take you behind the scenes as well. The scene is made up in so many people, not just people on stage. So that's kind of what I've bought to it. Supporting grassroots and professional musicians. People have got to start somewhere. Everybody was a grassroots musician.

You started the podcast a couple of times. What stopped you and how have you got going again?

Speaker 1 (04:42.794)
Yeah, I mean many things. Obviously life does get in the way. Full-time job, burnout, medical issues. You know, I think that we're all human and I think that's really important to be so open about it. Sometimes I just really haven't got the time because I'll have to prioritize my nine to five job and that's okay. Sometimes I'll be able to prioritize my podcast. But I think what's really important is to know when you're burning out.

I know the signs of burnout for me now and I stop. And it's so important that you stop and you know when to stop because you're going to just make rubbish content. And for me, I will just lose the love. If I don't have that time away from it, I might lose the love for it. You know, I think that when you put so much pressure on yourself to say, I've got to do this every week, for me, that's too much pressure. So I go into Cheeky Monkey Studios in Wokingham.

and I record a batch, eight hours of podcasting, absolutely shattered at the end of it, makeup is falling off. But for me, that's an exciting day. I get it all done and then I can sit on it. I release one a month. That is six months content. So six months content, break it up into little segments. So I do seven pieces of segment. I release the content once a month. Then I've got a whole week's worth of snippets. So I can do a little marketing campaign around that one release. And then for the rest of the month,

put out random snippets of going to the Purple Turtle or going to Reading Pride and stuff like that. So I've got a strategy behind Inside the Music Scene and it works for me and it won't work for everybody but in all honesty I've noticed that no one actually notices if you don't post for a week or two. No one really cares at this time because I haven't got the following at the moment. I haven't got something that I stick to and if nobody notices I'm okay to have a week off.

But when you're not posting, I think it's really important to note within podcasting and within music industry, just because you're not posting doesn't mean you're not working. Doesn't mean that you're not thinking I need to structure this show. I need to take a break. Something's not quite working. Let me take a break. Actually, to be honest, my talk show, I love it. I think it's gone really well, but I'm actually sitting back saying that could change. That could change.

Speaker 1 (07:10.498)
I need little bit of a break to kind of think about, okay, what can I change? What can I put in? And it's always a learning curve.

love everything that you've just said. You've always been creative and I think that really stands out because you need to be creative and find where your boundaries are, what you do like, what you don't like, and that is for every individual person to do for themselves. There is no one right answer. So I think that's really important.

And I think that it's the way I consume social media. I'll see stuff that people posted two weeks ago, but to me that's new. So I think that people think that they need to post every day an algorithm, but I found that the algorithm, don't even, I don't understand it because I'll put something out that's really well done. And I think, ah, it's a really good video. Then I put something out that I spent two seconds on and it will get 2000 views. And it's kind of like actually finding that balance of putting enough time into it that looks good.

But knowing that it's going to pick up if it's just going to pick up. And I have understood that actually, if you have a good cover photo, people are click on it. If it's a bit like you take a quote out of it and put it as the front, people will click on it. Not click bait, but so that people know what it's about. Also, I've basically used a strategy to grow my audience through networking, getting out there, being absolutely shattered at the end of the weekend. Cause I've done a full nine to five job.

but I've been out Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, and maybe during the week. That's how I've grown my network. Being genuine is not disingenuous at all. I've loved everybody I've met, but it is the hard work. It is so hard to make it in this industry. And you can tell who puts in that hard work. And it is about being in the right place, right time. It is about who you know, but also you've got to get to know those people.

Speaker 1 (09:03.544)
So it's not as easy as, you got on the radio because of that. Actually I put myself out there. I did the grafting.

I'm so glad you mentioned community because you've put the time and effort into developing the relationships. So how else have you gone about focusing on your community or developing a community?

Yes, so for Inside the Music Scene, the biggest community I found was by going to events, inviting them into my little Inside the Music Scene tent, whether it's windy, raining, sunny, whatever, it's shelter for all weathers. I'm going to take Woken and Festival as kind of a case study here. So Woken and Festival, the team are so nice. I covered it with my old radio station, that's how I got in there. And then for last two years I've been there as Inside the Music Scene.

Last year I did one day, this year I did the whole weekend and I interviewed over 30 acts. And for the next week, I was solidly editing every single waking moment I was getting on this six o'clock, editing for two hours and going to work and getting all 30 out within a week. And I tripled my following because they're using the community and the collaborative posts that then got sent to all of their followers.

And the followers who really enjoyed that content then followed me because they liked the content I was posting. And that is the importance of using the community. And it's amazing that every single person at Woken Up Festival, I think it was about 30 people, I interviewed backstage, front stage, in my tent, they all shared it. And that really helped me grow my community. Outside of inside the music scene, I have a lovely community.

Speaker 1 (10:51.446)
at my mic nights and people that I promote and people that I book for and it genuinely is. If you like it, it's cool that you're here. There's no pressure. There is no drama. There's no clickiness. If you will come back, that is awesome. If you don't, that's also fine too. There are so many open mic nights. There are so many gigs. There are so many then news. I understand that gigs clash and I think that's awesome to have that issue.

that there's so much out there for our community. So I'm not a promoter that's like, that started on the same night as mine. That's irritating. It's, that's amazing that there's two nights for our community on the same day. If you come to me, that's awesome. But check out the other one. Like, you know, you can't just stick with one open mic night. So it's just making sure that people know that it's okay to not always be committed to one open mic night or one promoter. You know, you're going to really like.

evolve yourself as a musician. If you do go and try out other open mics, other scenes and inside the music scenes about that, you know, I go through Maidenhead, Windsor, Reading, Wokingham, somebody in Woking want me to go there. I've done also Gloucester, you know, it's about really collaborating as a scene altogether and allowing people to say actually I'm part of more than one scene. I don't have to just be in the Reading scene. For me, that's how I've created a lovely community.

They're not judgy or anything. Not saying that others are, but it's just lovely to see such a supportive network of people that then actually go on and people have got together from it or they've made the bestest friend through my open mic night. And I just sit back and it's just so lovely what I've created.

It's good. You've got people that come to you and like what you do. You want them to be going out and exploring new things because by them going out and making new connections, exploring new things, they'll then put you in touch with other people. So if anything, you want that. You want people to be going out and doing all these different things because that just only increases your network, if anything else.

Speaker 1 (12:57.742)
Yeah, exactly. And at my open white night, I'm always promoting other people's open white nights. Like if you like mine, you're going to love my friends. Like that was on a Friday, that was on a Wednesday, like ones in Slough, ones in Ivor, ones in Reading. Like it's all about that. And they do the same. They say, Oh, go to Tara's open white night. It's really nice though, to have friends that are also promoters and we all do work together. And it's just a really nice music scene. And hopefully if you're inside the music scene and the content I've been putting out, you'll be able to see that.

It's so important to collaborate.

Well, I think this is at the core of what you were saying is value. You have to be out there. You have to be giving others value. think lots of time people unintentionally, I'm not saying it's intentional, but they want to know the first question is what's in it for me. You have to be out there giving value, doing things for others. And I'm a strong believer that it will just come back around at some point.

Yeah, and you know, you can see who's genuine and they're the people that I love to promote. And obviously I think people underestimate how many people get booked because they're lovely. If an act gets booked for a night or they come down a night in any venue, talking on behalf of the stories I've heard from other promoters, and if an act is rude to somebody, they won't get booked again. So it just is so nice to be nice.

And it gets you a lot further in this industry than you think, especially within grassroots. Obviously I'm not at that point within kind of the music industry that I'm working with big acts because I've had a lot of divas going on there. but within grassroots, you know, you don't have to be mean. don't have to like everyone should support each other. That's my experience. Like people are so supportive down a Pebble Turtle, three acts on all the acts that I've seen. They support one another.

Speaker 1 (14:49.484)
No one's a headliner, no one's a support, everyone's there to support and it's just so nice.

was going to ask you about what advice you give for local artists, but I think you've already given advice for local artists and the fact that you were saying how you need to network, put yourself out there and try new things. But if I just asked you the question anyway, in case you've got a summary, what advice would you give for local artists given your promoter background and your experience with the creative industry in developing their own public images or getting out there?

We start off as a promoter. So as a promoter, have an APK, electronic press kit that you can send to a promoter to say, is me, here's some photos, here's some footage, here's my bio, here's everything, all in one place. If I've got to go finding things and it's difficult to find, it's just all easier to have it all in one place. It's easy for me to then send to the venue to say, okay, just second thoughts, are these people going to fit your venue?

And also make sure that on all your social media, you have videos of you performing so that as a promoter, I can go and see what you like live as well. If I haven't seen somebody live, I always make sure I can see what they're like live. Cause I always like to book people that I've already seen so that I know what they're like so that the venues trust me. As a podcaster, just message people, bomba people. Don't feel like you're annoying them. If you see something you want to do,

message them. If you see somebody that you want to interview, message them. I've messaged some of favorite musicians, they'd message me back because they're just like, you know, I got backstage at the hexagon recently because I just fancy messaging someone. Do not think because you are a musician going into it that you shouldn't message an O2 Academy venue, that you shouldn't message Cold Plave to get some advice.

Speaker 1 (16:43.074)
They do actually reply sometimes. So I just think don't limit yourself in the sense of ask for advice. Always learn. Don't limit yourself to one open mic night. Don't limit yourself to one genre of music. Try different things. Listen to advice. Put it out there. Say what you're good at. I am terrible at this. So do as I say, not as I do. Because me as a musician, I'm terrible at promoting myself, but I'm really good at promoting other people.

You need to say what awards you've won. You need to wow people. Where have you performed? You need to look at it from, okay, if you were a promoter, what would you be looking at? As a podcaster, are you enthusiastic? Are you a nice person? Are you good at talking? I think that there are some people who are amazing, but they don't necessarily have the community of skills to promote themselves. So what person in the band is best? It might not be the front man. It might be the drummer.

that's got the best personality to go on a podcast to promote.

You've given so much value and great advice for others. Let's bring it back to you. What are your plans for the future? What would you like to do just to put it out there into the universe?

I can't tell you too much, however, in Brother Music Scene is such a passion project for me. I'm one of these people that I'm a dabbler. I like to dabble. And Inside the Music Scene has been something I've been doing and it's been my baby for so many years. Six or seven years inside the music scene has been going. It's gone through many different phases. Obviously, was a DAB radio show for two years. It's evolved for so long and I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (18:23.99)
about the of it. I am excited about people messaging me. I've got lots of different grassroots venues reaching out to me to go and cover them, to go and give them some kind of support, to go and make content for them. I've got bands, they're friends and they're messaging me to say, can we come on a podcast? Can you come to our show? Can you do this? Can you do that? And I'm going to just work off the back of that. I've just released a chart. So I've got a top 10 chart where bands can

put in the best song that they've got and then I'm going to be doing a chart and it's going to be public vote. It's going to be awesome.

only or is that going to be wider?

No, no, it's going to be wider. So it's not just Berkshire. It's going to be as long as the grassroot band. I'm not limiting it to just Berkshire. I want to grow, you know, as a person. As long as people know that Berkshire grassroots is literally my drive, my focus. It's all right for me to say, actually I'm at a gig in Southampton. I want to go backstage. So for me, the future is growing into the music scene is getting people on my podcast.

grassroot people, my talk show is allowing me to grow as a presenter. And I'm just really excited because I'm at a point now where I can go in lots of different directions. But I think it's worth mentioning that I'm still working a nine to five job as well as running loads of music events and I've mine as in quiz night. So my replies will be a lot slower than some people that are doing this full time. So if I haven't replied in a couple of weeks, that's normal for me.

Speaker 1 (20:02.636)
because I'm juggling so much. So I know that you've messaged. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

think that's great and by promoting yourself and what you do, you're only going to be promoting grassroots and helping everyone else. So sort of like you're taking everyone with you, which is definitely the way to do it. It's the easiest way to do it too. Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to leave our listeners with today?

My advice is never give up. If you've got a passion and you have a drive for something, it's the one thing you think about every morning, do it. I know it's going to make you knackered if you do it with a full-time job, but make sure you go for it because it is so important to follow your passion. I know life is too short and you just got to do it.

That is amazing. I love everything you do. I can't wait to see how you develop going forward. See how this music chart rises, goes onwards and upwards. Yeah. And hopefully I'll be there right by your side. Just enjoying every moment with you as you pull everyone else up. So thank you so much. Oh.

Thank you so much for having me on. Good luck with everything you're doing and your podcast. I love your podcast and it's really inspiring for local businesses and I'd be definitely up for a collaboration at some point if you have me.

Speaker 2 (21:22.623)
absolutely.