Image Text:

INSPIRING: Nile Rodgers

AWARD-WINNING musician and producer Nile Rodgers took a room full of songwriters and music industry professionals by surprise when he emerged unannounced as the keynote speaker for the latest Songwriting Studies Research Network (SSRN) event held at The Ivors Academy in London, UK.

The SSRN is a two-year project which unites scholars, industry workers and practitioners in a forum to exchange ideas about songwriting and offer new insights.

The US producer held an hour-long discussion with Canadian-American music manager and entrepreneur Merck Mercuriadis covering the future of music publishing and the secrets of songwriting success, followed by questions from the audience.

Research project leader, Dr Simon Barber from the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research at Birmingham City University, said:

“Getting these kinds of rarefied insights from people who have ascended the upper echelons of the music industries is priceless. We can’t thank Nile and Merck enough for spending time answering our questions and sharing their expertise with the network. It was a hell of a day, and the live event at Meltdown that evening was the cherry on top.”

Following the event, Rodgers and former Beyonce manager Mercuriadis joined Dr Barber and his colleague Brian O’Connor for a live recording of songwriting podcast Sodajerker. The episode will be released in the coming months.

Since its emergence in 2011, Sodajerker on Songwriting has created 140+ episodes based on in-depth interviews with songwriters, including Sir Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Alicia Keys and KT Tunstall. The podcast entered the charts in 60 countries worldwide, has been downloaded over 2 million times.

The Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR) was established in 2009 to develop excellent research as a core activity within the Birmingham School of Media at Birmingham City University.