Budding musicians have a new path to a career in music through SOLE Music Academy, which opens the doors in February on its new studio in Addington’s historic Woods Mill building. SOLE’s founder, Sacha Vee, will use her experience breaking into the music industry to help her students get ahead and avoid the same pitfalls.
You’ve gained quite a following in Holland after taking part in The Voice of Holland – how was that experience? The Voice was an awesome entrance into Europe but it wasn’t the best part! It was all the collaborations that happened after. My biggest following is actually in Poland due to my multi-platinum collaborations with hip hop artist O.S.T.R. We won Hip Hop Album of the Year in Poland in 2017.
What brought you back to Christchurch? I’m a Christchurch girl! I’m returning home after three years in Wellington studying my Masters in Music Therapy, and six years based in Amsterdam performing and releasing music all over the world. I felt it was time to start my second dream and bring the vision I’ve had for 10 years to life.
What is your inspiration for opening SOLE Music Academy? When I returned from Europe, I wanted to provide a service that I needed when I was starting out. Equipped with a music degree, I had the musical skills but I had no idea about the business side of music and how to navigate that mysterious world. I spent many years and much money figuring it all out and I wish I had something like SOLE to guide and support me.
Tell us what SOLE Music Academy has to offer aspiring talent? At SOLE we offer sessions in singing, songwriting and producing, and this year we will also offer music theory and music business. Advanced students are offered a chance to audition for the artist development programme, which helps them to create a platform for themselves as an artist. We help them to discover their music vision, image, brand, target market, we team them up with the right producers to record and release their music, and we put together a business plan with them and give them the confidence to run their business independently.
You talk about bridging the gap into the music industry, how do you achieve this? The gap is between having the skills and actually turning that into earning money from music. At SOLE we have current industry professionals teaching our students. They learn just how good they need to be, they get insider knowledge and they also are inspired by the music their teachers are releasing.
How important is a guided pathway into the music industry? Our society’s view on music is that it is just a hobby. Parents spend so much money on music lessons and then are surprised when their talented child wants to pursue music. There is a fear, which is totally understandable, but that is because people are not being taught about the business side of music. If you want a career in music you actually need to be an entrepreneur. You are starting a business and therefore you need to have a product that will sell.