Friday June 12 Adam Ficek joined Dorset Music Forum for an open floor question and answer session, invited to impart his already extensive experience of the music industry to an audience of local band members, promoters, event organisers and local businesses.

A solo artist in his own right with project Roses Kings Castles, Adam is best known for also being the drummer in Babyshambles. If there is one recent British band whose experience of the music industry could be classed as ‘unique’, then the Pete Doherty fronted Babyshambles might well be it, and Adam, a clued-up, passionate and straight-talking musician with a direct approach to industry insight, proved a valuable and captivating speaker.

Talking openly and at times bluntly on the shifting of balance in the music industry, Adam declared the ‘old model’ of long-term contracts and million-pound advances with major labels dead. "Those who want to take a route to fame, money and glory via music", said Adam, "are looking in the wrong place. The big record labels now see signing bands as short, yearlong projects with a view to making decent revenue and then moving on to a next big thing. Those acts that don’t produce turnover", warns Adam, "are simply chucked. Don’t buy into the dream!"

Adam was refreshingly pragmatic, saying how it is to the attentive audience in the room. Sitting with Suzy Wheeler and sipping a mug of tea, Adam outlined what, in his experience, seemed to have worked for artists in his experience, "hard graft, essentially. A band needs the resources and support to pay rent and keep making albums, and that comes from like-minded indie labels and finding a core audience. The money from a major is great, but almost always fleeting, and the fans that come to a band on the back of the hype machine disappear when that hype vanishes. The responsibility of bands is the dedication to hard work, getting their music out there, getting fan-bases together. It isn’t easy, and won’t happen overnight, but if you love what you’re doing and have the will to make it happen, there are ways to do so. With the ubiquity of the Internet, the hard work isn’t making people like the music your band makes, but finding the people who already like it, because they do exist.

Targeting the right audience", then said the Babyshambles sticks man, "is vital. Start locally, slowly, focus on developing a core fan-base and build from there."

Adam also drove home the necessity of networking, and social networking at that. "Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and music blogs are all essential ports of call for artists nowadays, and places where having a presence not only captures new fans, but creates and builds hype and profile. As online becomes the number one source for audiences accessing music, having your name in the right place and keeping your online presence fresh and updated is of paramount importance." Adam’s firm belief in making opportunities happen with hard work and determination burned through as he answered questions, and gave his unique insight into the workings of the music industry to the eclectic Dorset audience. Suzy Wheeler, Chief Executive at Dorset Music Forum, said “It was a pleasure to welcome Adam Ficek to the Dorset Music Forum tonight. It is so valuable and interesting to hear views like his on the changes in the music industry, brought to the local music community.”

Dorset Music Forum is committed to bringing exciting and valuable insight events like these to the local music and business community. Register at www.dorsetmusic.com for further information, news, opportunities, contacts and more great events like these. Next DMF Insights: Mon 27th July at 6.30pm - hosted by the Music Publishers Association - go to the website to book your ticket - everyone welcome.