As a local musician, I have a huge passion for the artistic community around Berkshire. I used to feel like an outsider, a real bedroom artist, not having a particularly mainstream interest in music. I preferred my own, niche taste, in folk, indie and acoustic singer songwriters.
I never saw myself as confident enough to make money from music, let alone a living, but here we are, in 2024, having finally made the leap into going full time and taking control of my time.
Let me introduce myself properly – my name is Stu, otherwise known by my musical alias, One Eyed Man. I’ve been making money from music professionally for the past 7 years, but have always been cautious to throw myself into it fully.
But, at the beginning on 2024, I took the leap and play music full time!
Making money from music was always a daunting thing, however, after travelling to Australia in 2016 I found myself busking on the streets of Melbourne to make rent.
They say that you only make a change once circumstances become so unbearable that you need to make a change. I was working three different roles at the time, working 60+ hours a week and barely covering my costs. So I made the decision to try and make money from music.
From there, I was scouted for live shows and the Melbourne scene is buzzing, so it wasn’t long before I no longer had to busk for work at all, and had regular shows around the area.
Fast forward 3 years and I’d returned to the UK. I’d been away for 10+ years at the time and found that there was barely any live music scene. However, after attending the open mic night in The Butler (listed on the events page), I’d found a small community of artists who were trying to recharge the scene after what had been the pandemic.
In the past 3 years I’ve gradually built up my reputation with various agencies, promoters and venues, and while there has been some progress, I’ve still found there to be a littered community of musicians and creators hidden away in different areas of Berkshire.
So we developed the idea of the Berkshire Artistree, an incentive to both inform people of local events and to celebrate our fantastic community for their selfless efforts to foster a music scene.
There’s so much local talent out here and from my experience, the best musicians and creators tend to be shy and introverted.
So we’re looking to invite you all along and help each other grow into a real prowess on the UK stage. With the right tips and advice, anyone with a passion for their art can have the confidence to show it to the world!
The country is crying out for live music and we’re here for it! So we invite you all to sign up to the newsletter, where we’ll give you news of events and other treasures around and make an impact this summer!
Now we’ve planted the seed, grow with us and join the Berkshire Artistree!
