Charity, 21, is a singer-songwriter and musician based in Nottingham, navigating the music industry as an independent artist. She received investment from the first round of the Youth Music NextGen Fund and is using it to release and market a new single and music video. She also worked at the Youth Music Awards, creating content for TikTok.
Charity has faced some of the difficulties that come with accessing the music industry. “It shouldn’t be the main thing: who you are, your background and your upbringing. I think the music is the most important thing and that’s what I like about Youth Music. It seems to be people from all backgrounds, people from everywhere.
I like how flexible it is… [Youth Music] don’t expect us to know everything. I think that’s really important.” Charity is learning how to record and engineer her own demos, and has been taking guitar lessons to improve her production skills. “It would be nice to make a better demo to take to the studio. I’ve been learning very slowly on GarageBand.
As a musician, I think it’s really good to be able to do it all yourself if you need to… I am making sure I am doing everything [including] budgeting and keeping all the receipts. It’s definitely a learning curve but it’s more satisfying.”
Like many young people, Charity has experienced dissatisfaction with not being paid for her work and has changed her expectations for future employment: “It’s just people realising that maybe they should pay you for two hours to perform.
It’s been a big step for me and has made the music a lot more professional. I have started to work with people as someone they’re paying, not just someone that they are letting play for fun… This is my job now and you have to respect my time. Once you let people know that’s what you expect, that’s what you get.
“I am constantly finding myself being a lot more confident and I think that’s one of the main things that I get out of music.”
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NextGen Fund Round One recipients
Learn more about the first round of organisations receiving grants from our Incubator Fund, designed to help open up access to sustainable careers in music for people aged 18-25, particularly those who are underrepresented; and to support creative employers to innovate and incubate new and diverse talent.
Funding
Discover funding options available with Youth Music.
