We had a chat with Keane songwriter and UCL alumnus Tim Rice-Oxley

Tim Rice-Oxley, songwriter and keyboard player from the band Keane came back to UCL this week to talk to current students and musicians about life in the music industry, including us. He spoke about being in a band, getting slagged off by One Direction’s band manager and for anyone who missed the talk, here’s some of his best advice for the next generation of “musos”.

“Keep yourself offline for as long as possible”

Tim came from the era immediately before the rise of Facebook, SoundCloud, Spotify etc. and benefited from the fact that the need to produce online content was minimal. He believes that this is where a lot of bands go wrong today, focusing on Facebook content before even actually producing anything worth shouting (or singing) about. Stick to songwriting first, write, record, gig and then produce the online stuff when you’ve got something to share.

Stop asking me about Chris Martin

Save yourself for “the one”

Shows that aim to share new bands- such as the BBC Introducing team always try and listen to everything that gets sent in, after all they never know if they could be responsible for signing up the next Coldplay. However bands often send in too much material too often in the hope of being picked up. Tim suggested waiting until you have written that hit song before sending it in – you only get one shot, so make it count.

Write a song every month for a year, then make the album

Citing the writing duo Oh Wonder , Tim recommended writing a song every month for 12 months and then releasing an album. He believes this is one of the best ways of getting your music spread on Spotify. It gives you 12 great opportunities to pitch your music to the streaming service and to get yourself featured on different playlists. The end result is that you’ve got 12 singles written rather than an album which may only have 3 or 4 singles on it.

Giving away your music for free doesn’t necessarily mean losing money

Prior to the the internet, 1,000 listeners would have spelt the end for commercial success. However, thanks to Spotify, 1,000 listeners in the UK might also mean 1,000 listeners in Brazil, and Italy and Canada, and all of a sudden, although having a niche market, you can tap into every niche market around the world.

Adam – Keane’s manager – also added that you should see music distribution as part of the overall marketing of your band- more people listening means more tickets and t-shirts sold (bands have started selling their own craft beers at gigs as a revenue stream to compensate for diminishing music sales).

Reassuringly, Tim said he couldn’t remember a single thing from his degree but was still able to sell 10 millions records. I can’t remember what I’m currently studying and the only person who bought my last CD was my Mum so I’m more or less halfway there.

Until I sell another 9,999,999, I’m off to practice my guitar.