With her brilliant new single Clone set for release on May 11, 2018, we caught up with Beth Macari and asked her to write an exclusive blog for Female First, where she gives her best advice to anybody who’s trying to make it in the entertainment industry! Read on to find out what she had to say…
Beth Macari's top tips for breaking into the entertainment industry
MAKE A PLAN AND STICK WITH IT!
The best decision I have made so far in my career is to stick to a plan! It may sound silly or obvious, but it’s true! It is so easy to be pulled in different directions and to be influenced by those around you. Whether it be by family and friends, fellow musicians or maybe those industry professionals we seek approval from so badly.
Yes, ask for feedback, absorb it for a minute, but don’t allow it to influence your decisions to where your plan goes through that many transformations; it’s now totally a different plan. You have to allow yourself to see what comes of YOUR plan; if you keep changing it to cater to other people’s opinions, you will never know what you could have achieved. Believe in yourself!
GO OUT AND GET EXPERIENCE!
I have been singing professionally and making money from it for 10 years now! I have sung to audiences of just five people in a tiny pub where no one cares about music, they just wanna get drunk, and to festivals of 25,000 people staring at me on big screens! I wouldn’t be prepared for the latter if I hadn’t experienced hundreds of gigs where no one gives a waddle about what I am doing! But every stage I have sang on, the endless amount of weddings or corporate gigs I’ve done, and from every single tour, I have learnt something!
Same goes with anything really; performing live on radio, being in the studio, doing interviews and everything else this industry brings us – we get better the more we do it!
NETWORK LIKE CRAZY!
Meet anyone and everyone you can! The more people that know your name, the better. Here is an example of how networking has provided me with some pretty great opportunities.
When I was around 19/20, I got offered my first music industry job. I got it through word of mouth – a family friend who knew someone, that knew someone, recommended me. I was a backing vocalist for celebrity singer and former Loose Women panellist Jane McDonald. We toured the UK, I got to do backing vocals on her album – we even got to perform on Loose Women! At every show I would go out and talk with any of her lovely and super committed fans that wanted to talk to me. I took every opportunity to meet someone new and hopefully leave a good impression.
This happened in a big way, which I am eternally grateful for and still can’t quite believe it happened, when I met the producer of Jane’s album, Mr. Nigel Wright; a truly lovely man, and he is a pretty big deal! He was amazing to work with; I didn’t expect to ever hear from Nigel again but a couple of years later he contacted me regarding an opportunity to front the live house band on a Sky1 show called Bring The Noise. I got the job, a truly amazing job where I got to work with Nicole Scherzinger, I sang Happy Birthday to Tinie Tempah and took selfies with Ricky Wilson on set regularly, and of course I got to work with Nigel again! You never know what one conversation can lead to.
DO YOUR RESEARCH AND LEARN FROM OTHERS!
Go and research artists that you love. Listen to their journey, how they started out, see if there is anything you can take from it and try it yourself. Watch and listen to those that inspire you. I recently got to support Rae Morris; I watched her perform in awe, her voice, the way she addressed the audience and her overall performance just left me buzzing. I went home that night and wrote a brand new song; a song that I am now releasing later this year!
BE GRATEFUL AND DON’T FORGET WHY!
Why do you want to be in the entertainment industry? My answer? Because I love it! Singing is one of my greatest joys in life! The adrenaline of being on a new stage, the creativity of writing music and collaborating with other likeminded people, the excitement and inspiration that music brings to me every day!
It can be easy to lose sight of it all, to get wrapped up in the outcome, or to dwell on the failures! It’s not easy, there will be many disappointments. You will more than likely always want to do ‘more’ or do ‘better’, but you need to remember why you are doing it in the first place. Don’t put so much pressure on your creativity. Enjoy every wonderful opportunity it brings and learn from the rubbish experiences that come with it.
It’s your passion, right? Then go for it, give it all you’ve got, but more than anything, enjoy it!