Thwarted hackers and the busyness of doing business

Independent artists' dependency on socials, the rollercoaster of freelance life, and some gig news

After two years of my Fiona Brice - Music Facebook page being hacked I have finally regained control of it thanks to some tech wizards at Bella Union / PIAS.  I know it's 'only social media' but as an independent artist, social profiles allow me to connect directly with people who might actually give a shit about the music I make, the bands I perform with, the orchestras I write for.  Good people of Substack and my mailing list: that especially means you! Thank you for your support. 

My FB page went down just before the release of my last solo record 'And You Know I Care' which meant I was unable to share the release with the 10,000+ people who followed me there. Although I managed to retain control of my Instagram account somehow, Facebook was my favourite way of communicating with music fans. The digital media agency associated with the label at the time couldn’t solve the hacking issues either, but they encouraged me to join TikTok because it was ‘trending for classical music apparently’ so I spent hours over days, weeks, months trying to create a following there. It’s just not for me. I’m a words person. I like long form. My music is slow, whereas TikTok is rapid. I was advised to exploit my ‘behind the scenes’ access to grow my audience, but I’m not comfortable videoing myself backstage with the bands I work with. It violates their privacy, and most likely pisses off my string playing colleagues who don’t need to see my Daily Brag. Yes that’s ‘their problem’, but I am sensitive to the fact that while I’m enjoying catering at a lovely posh gig, someone else is sitting at home on the sofa worrying about their rent. I have been on that sofa many times. We just don’t post those ‘skint and sad on the sofa’ photos because we’re tying to hang on to our professional dignity and no musician wants to appear ‘unbusy’.

TikTok felt like a truly bad fit, like being forced to wear someone else’s mad hat because they were popular and now I had to look like them. After several months of time wasting and feeling a bit tragic about my inability to be trending, the nice people at the digital agency moved on to other jobs and stopped advising me, and I deleted TikTok with joy. Thankfully I was never a Twitter/X adopter, sensing a whiff of the cesspit, and I deleted that app a long while ago.

Digital media advisers tell me the mailing list is crucial to connecting with your fanbase. I know regular interaction and communication online builds audience, I know that I should be spending time on getting more monthly listeners on my Spotify artist page (another platform I am not enamoured with).. and my website desperately needs an overhaul. I do genuinely enjoy sifting through my thoughts and writing these occasional blogs. But do you know what I actually need to spend all my time on? Writing and performing music.

Last year I barely toured at all (see ‘sad on sofa’ above). This year however, my writing projects and my touring projects have all collided spectacularly. Following the amazing success of The BBC Concert Orchestra’s Northern Soul Prom last year (still on iPlayer if you’re in the UK), I reworked all my arrangements for a tour, which sold out. I couldn’t attend any of these gigs because I was out touring with Kelly Jones promoting his beautiful new solo record ‘Inevitable Incredible’. We premiered this record in a live BBC broadcast with a string section from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Because I was doing this I couldn’t fulfil my usual touring dates with elbow for their UK arena tour. I adore touring with elbow and was gutted to have to miss these gigs, but this is typical of freelance life. No tourbus for ages, then three tourbusses arrive at once and you can only board one.

That said, I have been able to re-join the elbow bus for a few summer festivals and am looking forward to playing some European dates with them in September.

(photo: Sarah Field) Backstage at Audley End with elbow

After the Kelly Jones tour I had a luxurious three days at home during which time I mostly did laundry and put it back in my suitcase before joining my string colleagues from Urban Soul Orchestra on the Liam Gallagher ‘Definitely Maybe’ arena tour. These gigs were epic, or ‘biblical’, as Liam would say. Was I out with the band until 5am every night like a true rock’n’roll star? No. I was in my hotel room trying to finish string arrangements to meet a label deadline for the next Reverend & the Makers record. I have never been so absent from a tour party. BUT I met the deadline and you can see my string team recording these arrangements at Salvation Studios Portslade.

Currently I am at home on the sofa. But not sad, mostly because it’s summer. And thankfully not skint (I’ll save that photo for January when the taxman comes). I am starting to reconnect with friends and family after months of being ‘too busy’ to see anyone.

I’m looking forward to re-uniting with my first ever bandmates, Dream City Film Club, for a one-time-only reunion gig at London’s Dublin Castle on 1st September. I may even do a solo violin set. I cut my gig teeth with this band and it will be amazing to be back onstage together.

Check out young me in the 1998 video for ‘Billy Chic’.

It’s time to re-adjust my focus towards my own music. Re-reading old notes and sketches, trying to pick up threads of ideas and gather thoughts, inspiration. I bought some house plants with the intention of keeping them alive (not possible on tour). I want to finish my second String Quartet. I have ideas for some bigger orchestral projects, but they require external funding. I have a couple of instrumental tracks to finish for release later this year. I am trying to prioritise sleep and exercise (I don’t sleep well on a tourbus so after several months on the road on buses and in hundreds of hotels I’m feeling pretty ragged).

I want to get back into the meditative, compassionate space I was in when I wrote ‘And You Know I Care’. This record feels more important to me now that at time of release, as the world seems to become ever more violent and polarised. Somebody wrote to me recently to say that this album gave them solace in the wake of their father’s passing, and that is the biggest compliment I could ever receive. That’s the real work, right there.
 
"And You Know I Care, is a deep listening experience that raises the post-classical bar, eschewing the genre’s default melancholia for wider and richer dimensions of uplifting and exultant bliss" - Martin Aston

Watch the beautiful and mesmerising video created by Rankin for the title track - a collaboration I’m hugely proud of.

Thank you for reading x