My placement allowed me to collaborate with the world’s most viewed independent band

The videos I helped edit have got over 30 million views


With over 3 billion views on YouTube, Boyce Avenue are the most viewed independent band in the world…and as the result of my placement year I had the chance to collaborate with them.

When I got to Newcastle I was pretty set on working in the music industry so decided to build some work experience by setting up my own production company. The uni, especially Rise-Up, gave me loads of advice. It was during this time, with help from Newcastle Business School, that I built a relationship with the guys from Boyce Avenue.

From day one, my professors pushed for all of us to do a placement. I can’t express how reluctant I was. Eventually, once seeing that the rest of my friends were landing jobs, I decided to look around and ended being offered a role in Florida with a design studio called These Quiet Sounds. Conveniently the studio was owned by Fabian Manzano, Boyce Avenue’s lead guitarist.

During my time in the U.S., I was able to collaborate on a number of music videos for the band and I’ve now been lucky enough to film/edit several of their latest videos, amassing over 30 million views on YouTube. I’ve been able to use the software that I learnt in loads of projects in my final year at Newcastle.

I’ve also been lucky enough to travel to some amazing places with the band, having toured the U.S. and Australia in the previous 6 months as a videographer and photographer, each of which are skills I learnt during my placement. Not only did the experience add to my logistics skills, I decided to base my dissertation on independent musicians and the majority of participants in my research have been contacts that I made while on the road.

Los Angeles – 15.09.16

Unsurprisingly, I’m now the first to tell other students to consider doing a placement and to take full advantage of any of the opportunities that their university offers.