Youth work wasn't my first career choice. In my teenage years, I aspired to be a rock goddess. An average singer and useless guitar player, I confidently awaited fame and fortune. As that prospect became increasingly unlikely, I put my art college skills to use and designed promotional T-shirts, quickly moving on to become a resident DJ. Music gave me a focus, a group of friends and a creative outlet that has lasted a lifetime - which is why I am such a big supporter of young people making music.
This week, I helped another hopeful young band to set up: guitars, microphones and amps were all dragged across town after school for their first official practice session. I withdrew to the office muttering about paperwork to give them space. After 10 minutes of silence, however, I wondered if everything was OK; after 15 minutes, I went out to check.
Instruments put aside, the young musicians were enthusiastically debating the merits of setting up a band blog to showcase their first single versus signing up with a download service. The band blog, on MySpace, would advertise to everyone in the online community. After that, they could tour, encouraging their contacts to relay the details by online recommendation and so build up a solid fan base.
Alternatively, by signing up with a download service, unsigned bands can potentially make the UK Top 40 music charts with sales of just 3,000 downloads. I urged the fledgling band to make sure that any download site they used is approved by the Official UK Charts Company, which gives musicians an International Standard Recording Code that tracks their sales.
Either way, I was assured, is a shortcut to fame, fortune and Glastonbury. Unwilling to dampen their enthusiasm, and certain that the digital age has increased opportunities for unsigned bands to get their music out there, I reminded them that it still takes a lot of hard work and talent to hit the big time.
With that in mind, I left them to practice, pondering on a music industry that no longer has Top of the Pops as the ultimate goal. As I closed the office door, the opening bars of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water blasted from the room behind me. Even in the digital age, some things don't change.
Vanessa Rogers is a youth work trainer, consultant and author, vanessa.rogers@haymarket.com.
