Heads Up!

Former VRQ client Samuel Dalton was this week presented with his Level 2 Certificate having recently completed our Music Business Practitioner programme. The up and coming electronic dj and producer from Belfast was awarded a Pass with Merit for his qualification. Samuel spent 26 weeks on placement with one of Ireland's leading music retailers, Head Records in Victoria Square Shopping Centre in Belfast, who subsequently went on to offer him a full-time position as a Retail Assistant.

Sam is pictured here receiving his Certificate from Ronan McGuigan who is the Assistant Manager of the Belfast store.

Access To Music Workshops

As part of Belfast Music Week, Armstrong Learning present two Access to Music industry panel workshops in conjunction with Atom Live, bundled together into an unmissable afternoon session on Tuesday 1st November from 2pm until 5pm at the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast.
Places are limited so book fast!



PART ONE
Do It Right – The Ram’s Pocket Radio Machine

Tuesday 1st November
2pm – 3.30pm
Free Admission – 100 Limited Places
Register by email: atmbelfast@gmail.com

Starting at 2pm, the first session will take emerging Northern Irish artist Ram’s Pocket Radio, alongside some of the key members of his national team (including his management, press and promotion) and have an in-depth look into what makes a perfect set-up for a rock musician- if the artist is the centre forward in a team, who are the key playmakers around him shaping his career? How and when did they slot into place?

How did Peter secure management and how does management co-ordinate & manage an artist's expectations whilst wanting to also bring them to the marketplace & maximise their earning capabilities? At the end of the event there will also be an opportunity for Q&A.

Speakers include;
Peter McCauley (Ram's Pocket Radio)
Phil Nelson (Manager Rams Pocket Radio, Duke Special & Aqualung)
Julian Deane (Manager Ram's Pocket Radio, the X-Cerpts)
Rob Dix (Partisan PR, with clients Rumer, Damien Rice, Biffy Clyro & Bell X1)
Joe Dougan (Belsonic/Shine Productions)

PART TWO
A Positive Education - Dance Music Production

Speakers include;
• The Japanese Popstars • Phil Kieran • Psycatron • Space Dimension Controller • Screendeath

3.30pm - 5pm
Free Admission – 100 Limited Places
Register by email: atmbelfast@gmail.com

Hosted by Paul Hamill from the Across the Line Dance Show on BBC Radio Ulster, the second panel will explore the various production techniques deployed by some of Northern Ireland's most successful international names in electronic music and investigate the adage that it's not what you have, but it's what you do with what you have that counts. To plug-in or not plug-in? Hardware or Software? Is idea more important than execution or vice versa? This is the place to hear from a globally recognised panel of experts who have experience stretching back over the past two decades.

At the end of the event there will also be an opportunity for Q&A and the panel will also provide feedback on a selection of audience demos brought along on the day.

Armstrong Learning Teams Up With Sainsbury's

This month we began a new partnership with Sainsbury's main distribution centre in Northern Ireland who have take a number of our Steps To Work clients on for a 13 week work placement at their main Belfast-based depot. Sainsbury's are huge advocates of Corporate Social Responsibility and currently employ 150'000 people throughout the UK and source over £250million of local produce from Northern Ireland for sale in their stores on an annual basis.

Win A Music Video For A Fiver

As part of their Music Business Practitioner coursework, Armstrong Learning clients have come up with an innovative competition where one Artist can win the opportunity to have a music video made for a song of their choice by one of Belfast's leading media production companies. The competition is being run with the support of Red Cap Productions, Media Zoo and AU Magazine and has already featured on BBC Radio Ulster's Across the Line. It only costs a minimum of £5 to enter and all proceeds from the competition entries will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

For more information and to enter, you can click on the Just Giving page here

Former Armstrong Learning Client Scores Number 1 album

Former Armstrong client Chris McKeown this week scored a number one best selling album on one of the world's largest online digital stores Juno Records. Under the name 2nd Mouse it's his second album in as many years and sits at number one ahead of major established electronic artists such as Matthew Dear and Surgeon. 'Expert Tiger, Mediocre Troll' is out now.



Grab your copy here

VRQ Clients Raise Money For Clic Sargent NI

As the current VRQ Music Business Practitioner programme draws to an end, our clients were this week celebrating successfully pulling off two simultaneous events at different venues in Belfast City which ended up raising £200 for Clic Sargent NI who offer Care & Support for Children with Cancer.
As part of the VRQ programme coursework, our clients create, organise, promote and market a unique one-off music event in the City, one of which of which was a Versus event with two of Belfast's upcoming bands Before Machines and Eatenbybears battling it out face to face, song to song, on the dance-floor right in the middle of the venue, a concept described by the creators as being a bit like 'Jools Holland meets Robot Wars'. Expect to see more of these events popping up round the city in the months to come.

A Plastic Rose Rock Glasgowbury

A Plastic Rose received a glowing review from the BBC Across The Line show for their performance on the Small But Massive Stage at last weekends Glasgowbury Festival. Songwriter for the band Gerry Norman is currently on placement on our VRQ Music Business Practitioner programme and the band featured at Glasgowbury alongside some of Northern Ireland's best bands including Cashier No.9, Mojo Fury and La Faro. Their live tracks also featured on Monday night's Across The Line show on BBC Radio Ulster.

Check out the review here

Futurescope Celebrate Single Launch

Big news at Armstrong Learning in Belfast this month is the release of the debut EP from electronic crossover act Futurescope, which is the alter ego of Niall Hillary who has been a client on our Music Business Practitioner Qualification since February. At only 20 years old, Niall has been performing live as Futurescope all over Ireland and has notched up appearances on RTE and BBC Radio 1 as well as countless appearances at venues up and down the country. Their music is a mixture of chorus driven, euphoric layers of sound with an electronic edge, but performed live with a combination of electronics and live instrumentation and drawing influences from techno, trance and ambient music. Their self-titled EP launched at Love & Death Inc in Belfast on June 21st to a near sell-out crowd and their diary for Summer 2011 is filling up nicely.