‘You don’t need to ask permission from the music industry. There aren’t many factories like that.’

As a musician turned entrepreneur, Vanessa Bosåen is uniquely positioned to serve the independent artists and businesses she works with as President of UMG’s Virgin Music UK.

She spent the first 15 years of her career performing and touring the UK and Europe as an artist under the name Vanessa Knight, with a one-man band consisting of piano, loop pedal, drum machine and MIDI keyboard.

In between, frustration with his colleagues and the desire to control his career led him to establish his own label, publisher and live company.

Today, Bosåen works with a number of artists and business owners who have tread the same path, including British rap duo D-Block Europe, St. Vincent, singer-songwriter Jamie Webster, and 1975’s Dirty Hit label, Nigeria’s Mavin Records, which had a hit last year with Rema Calm downBritish hip hop star EGA Distro, and many more besides.

In Virgin, where Bosåen has lived for three years, he says he has found his home. “He is very focused on business transactions in the private sector,” he said. “I’ve always really enjoyed the challenge of that and this crossroads I’m at now, where I’m part of Universal but working with the private sector, feels right where I need to be. The facilities we have around the world are top-notch.”

Alongside his acting and business career, Bosåen spent six years as an independent label representative on the board of the UK record industry body, BPI, where he was also director of the BPI Innovation Hub. That position led him to become a consultant at Abbey Road Red, where he now sits on the board.

Although his full-time recording and acting career is behind him, Bosåen hopes to revive it in retirement. “When I’m 70, I’m going to have really long gray hair, have a Patti Smith channel and release a hard rock album.”

Here, we chat with him about lessons learned throughout his career, the power of the private sector today, the evolution of label services, and much more besides…

You used to be a singer, you’re an independent label owner and now you’re heading to Virgin Music UK. What lessons have you learned from those different roles?

I think we often believe that there are doors closed to us and I quickly realized that no one is guarding the doors. You just go to the door and push it down yourself. You can pass by and no one notices. That’s a lesson that was true as an artist, as an indie label and still is. You have to keep pushing through those doors because no one can stop you if you do well.

How does your history as a musician inform what you do today?

It goes through it completely. You understand what it means to make a living as a musician because you’ve done it, you understand all the different pressures.

When we work on the recording side in particular, we have to remember that artists have a lot of different things going on outside of that. At the same time, when you meet a musician, if you can relate to his music, the way he plays, how he interprets his songs or his writing, that gives you a real understanding of who he is and why he makes music the way he does. Then we can talk about business. It really appreciates all those conversations, conversations and relationships. It’s the key to it.

It is said that it has become very difficult to make a living as a musician these days. What is your opinion on that?

It definitely changed a lot. It has changed in a positive way that it is easier than ever to make music. Gone are the cost barriers of kit, musical instruments or education. Anyone who has music on their mind, heart and mind can make and record music at a high level and that’s great.

A great opportunity has opened up for many artists and musicians to make a living. Yes, it is difficult, but it is definitely possible. I think I’m right when I say that there are more musicians making a living from music than before. But there are also many people I’m trying making a living from music than ever before.

What advice would you give to a musician trying to make a living in music today?

Don’t quit – because almost everyone does. It gives you a quick profit if you continue. If you find that people are not responding to your music, if you only reach friends and family, and this is the hard truth, sometimes you need to look at your music. You are not expected to be the best player to be a musician right from the start.

“We see that with the most successful artists. They will tell you how they kicked the door, they kept going, they always believed in themselves and they never stopped.

Keep writing, keep making more music because if you really believe in yourself, that will start to resonate with people outside of your inner circle. Keep looking for opportunities, because they are there but you have to be strong minded to keep going. We see that story with the most successful artists out there. They will tell you how they just kicked the door in, kept going, believed in themselves and never stopped.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

A long time ago, when I wanted to start my own independent record label, I didn’t know how to do it and thought there was some kind of big gatekeeper in the way.

I was complaining to my friend about this and he just wrote on a piece of paper, ‘You have a record label now’ and gave it to me. It was like ok, you got it, now go check out the following: find music, find deals, get ready.

Since then, I just did it and it was very important for me to see that you don’t need to go out and ask for permission from the music industry. There are not many factories like this, most factories have many waiting areas. In music, you can book gigs, find artists to work with, start putting music together and make music. That’s the fun we can get to.

He has been with Virgin for three years now. How do you see the label services sector developing in the future?

For one thing, I’m not sure if it’s going to be labeled services. Global CEO at Virgin, Nat [Pastor] and JT [Myers], we talked a lot that we are not just distribution and don’t call us distribution. It’s not just the language but the way we work as partners, the way we work with labels and artists, it’s always evolving.

We want to provide a global strategic service to the private sector. That’s coming up quickly and in a really interesting way. It’s almost invisible from the last 10 years and it’s a really electrifying part of the industry to be a part of.

It’s not just about resources, it’s about us working with top-notch entrepreneurs and making sure they have everything they need, but that they grow at the same time. What service can we do for you? it’s a very big part, but also, How can we help you grow your business?

How would you describe the life of the independent music industry today? Are there any changes you’d like to see that would better support it?

I think it is very healthy, possibly healthier than before. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, there are always things we can improve. But I think the music industry, the quality of music and the musicians coming into the private sector is very exciting.

What would I like to change? Another area under pressure is small live music venues around the world. When I first started as an artist, there were many places in the UK and Europe and I could tour for a few months at a time. The regulations regarding traveling and working in different countries were very simple at that time.

Now it is difficult for artists who visit places that are not famous to cut through the red tape and get the kind of visas that enable them to work across borders. This is especially important in broadcasting, where an artist from anywhere in the world can have a song in a completely different place far from home. I hope more can be done to encourage cultural exchange and allow artists to visit borders.

As music fans, it’s straightforward. We can support local venues just by going and supporting live music. Come out and see some shows!

What is the most exciting development happening in the music business today?

It doesn’t matter where you are from in the world, your music can be heard all over the world. We saw that with an artist like Rema, who we were working with Calm down.

It’s very exciting that if your music connects, and you work with a global partner, you can reach the whole world. It doesn’t matter what language it is and it doesn’t matter if we combine languages, the sense of music is connected. It’s challenging in terms of time zones, it makes all our jobs longer, but it’s worth it.

More grassroots support aside, is there anything else you’d like to change about the music industry and why?

I would ban cell phones from any meetings we have. We have to be there, we have to talk to each other, we have to really know each other. Ditch WhatsApp, ditch cell phones in any face-to-face meeting. We could understand each other very quickly if we finished throwing away the phones.

If you could go back to the beginning of your career and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?

You can go back to a lot of small moments like, ‘Oh, I didn’t spend enough time on production and I wish I had because I would have gotten better as an artist faster’. Or I wish I could have made this decision here or made that decision there, but I’m actually very happy where I am right now.

I feel very grateful for the experiences I had to get to this point. So I would tell my kid that it’s going to be crazy, you never know where you’re going, but just keep going because it’s going really well.

What about future plans and ambitions, especially at Virgin?

At Virgin, we want to work with the world’s leading private sector and we’re positioning ourselves in the most exciting way to do so. I don’t see the desire we have for the artists and labels we work with growing. It’s a global effort with Virgin and that’s what’s so exciting.

Virgin Music Group is the independent global music division of Universal Music Group, which includes UMG’s labels and artist services businesses including Virgin and Ingrooves.

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