We recently connected with Matt Black and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I think there’s a number of factors that need to be addressed to make a living at anything you love, 1st and foremost get used to living on a tight budget. There will be times where there’s not a lot of cash, so limit your lifestyle and overheads to keep going.

Secondly look for diverse ways of earning within your chosen path … with us our main income is gigs, but a close second income is the recording studio. Both are very different, but we love doing them equally. It really helped through lockdown too!

A third idea is to nail the Laws Of Attraction – The key thing is to be grateful for what you have achieved and remember those things every morning, then, you are programmed to notice more things that deliver that gratefulness more and more.
Using that means that you can be creative, and not worry about the financial aspect because if you get it right – what you need will land in your lap.

It really is a matter of thoughts become things.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started off with a shed load of ‘O’ Levels (remember them?). To this day I’m convinced that I’ve go someone else’s qualifications!

I didn’t have a plan, but started to work for the MOD on the scientific side, but quickly realised that the environment wound me up too much, so I left that, much to my parents annoyance, and started to get gigs with the basic ‘Play By Ear’ piano skills I had.

Slowly and surely I got more fluent at playing piano and keyboards, and started to make a name for myself locally.

It wasn’t long before I introduced the odd joke and one liner in between the songs I was playing, which really elevated my stage persona up to a level that was entertaining the audience, interacting with them. It was a natural step for me really.

While this was going on, I built up a small bedroom recording setup and started to learn about that side of things, and this went in parallel with the gigs.

Both streams developed as time went by, and now, I’m picking and choosing my gigs, and enjoying recording new artists almost every day.
In the studio I work hard to make the environment very easy to be in, No egos, not drama, just a spot where we can work together to make the record that everybody is happy with – Some people say it’s hard to create that sort of atmosphere, the truth is that it’s a lot more work to do the opposite.

When my wife started to work for me as a PA is when things really started to grow. She gave me the time to concentrate on the creative side of things, while she organised my diary – that was a game changer!
We’ve progressed further now into promoting our own concerts for bands we think have what it takes, which is a lot of work, but massively rewarding emotionally.

When I look back at our little company now, and where I started as a piano playing in the corner of local pubs, I find the journey quite staggering

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The live music industry can easily be looked upon as a ‘Non Essential’ area, but I urge people to remind themselves of how much they missed it during the Lockdown.

It’s easy to forget the fear we all had about having nowhere to go to see things happening outside our own four walls – and now, while the industry rebuilds, it’s important to make time to enjoy all that we missed during those scary times.

More importantly – if it’s an event the requires tickets – BUY THEM AS SOON AS YOU CAN!
You have no idea how many events get cancelled because of low ticket sales a month before the performance.
We’ve had to pull a small number of events for precisely that reason, and it annoys me SO MUCH when we get emails and text form people saying ‘Oh I was Going to go to that!’
It’s true that on rare occasions events have to get cancelled, but unless you’re EXTREMELY Unlucky you’ll get a refund.

If you’re going to go – buy the ticket and let the organisers know! (read that again!)

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

We’re HUGE fans of the blockchain tech, and there are companies out there right now that are gearing tickets, streaming, record sales and a host of other income streams that will benefit the artists in the way they should be.

EntX from Australia being the biggest we know about.

NFTs are a brilliant way to retain ownership of any art form, and the artists being paid properly for its success.
For too long the middle management for music and the arts has been scalping the artists, it’s time to take them out of the equation, and bring it home.
I believe that music is now firmly in the realm of the Resistance. Most large music companies give not-a-jot about looking after you as an artist – they’re only interested in what’s in it for them. There are good companies out there as I’ve mentioned, but the underground is where the real music is at the moment. Big labels haven’t ruined the industry, but they have taken it down the wrong road – it’s up to us to jump ship.

When you release a track – if it’s not through NFT, release it only through Bandcamp, and Vinyl.
Only after 2 or 3 months of promoting those areas go to streaming.
Your real fans will buy your music, but they won’t if it’s free from the start.

Record companies have had their day, it’s possible to work with any number of local studios to you and achieve the same, if not better, results independently.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hangoverhill.co.uk
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Matt.Black.Pianoman/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hangoverhillltd6570
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hangover-hill-studios