Blast:Beat gives students the chance to set up and run their own record companies. Just don't expect to live the high life just yet, writes Gráinne Faller.
Athenry is generally more famous for its fields than for its rappers. Mean streets and feuding gangs aren't really what spring to mind when you think of the Co Galway town - and, well, it's not exactly urban, is it?
In the film 8 Mile, Eminem and his mates had as their inspiration not only the grey alleys of Detroit but also a seemingly endless supply of disused warehouses to showcase their rapping talent in. Still, the lack of such facilities in Athenry doesn't appear to have deterred the budding 50 Cents and Missy Elliotts of the west.
"Out of six bands for our battle of the bands, two were rap outfits," says Caomhán O'Connell, who was in transition year at Coláiste Iognáid - otherwise known as the Jes - in Galway when he became chief executive of Revolution MMC, a fully functioning record company, as part of the Blast:Beat scheme. Members of White Spirit, a rap group from the town, had a rare platform to show off their talents in a concert organised by the company.
That, however, is only part of the story. The glitz, glamour and graft of the music industry beckon transition-year classes this year, as 23 groups from 23 schools will each set up a record company. They will search for talent, organise events, record music and sell tickets and CDs, as well as dealing with journalists, PR, IT and video-making.
It's a rare opportunity for those involved. Like the film industry and the media in general, the music business is notoriously difficult to break in to. You need experience to get a job, but if you can't secure your first break, how are you supposed to get any? It partially explains the huge number of people willing to throw themselves at the mercy of the likes of Simon Cowell on shows such as The X Factor and You're a Star. Blast:Beat leaves its participants less open to humiliation and more likely to come out with useful experience.
On the other hand, setting up a record company in your transition year can mean that illusions are shattered at a very young age. If any of the 23 companies think the music industry is all about going to parties, schmoozing celebs and looking moody in a recording studio, they are in for a shock.
That glamorous view of the record industry has caused some confusion for Blast:Beat's organisers in the past. "In the beginning, it was written off as a music project," says Rory Griffin, the scheme's marketing director. "Now people are realising that it's actually a business project. The students are selling CDs and tickets rather than apples and oranges, but it is the same idea"
Blast:Beat is the brainchild of Robert Stephenson, a music-industry veteran who saw a gap for something like this. "Music is the hook," he says, "but there are 20 different jobs within the companies, so there is something for everyone. It's all about running a successful business."
Teachers who are blanching at the idea of such a project can relax. Stephenson's team runs the programme (which is free). Their only requirement is that a teacher chairs one company meeting a week. Otherwise, Blast:Beat takes care of assigning and assessing tasks.
At the moment the transition-year companies are drawing up their business plans, a process that generally takes a month, according to Stephenson. "There is a bit of to and fro, because, inevitably, we'll have suggestions to make about the plans that are sent to us. The business plan is crucial. If that is done properly, the rest will follow."
The workload surprised the students who were running Revolution MMC. There were problems initially, when people realised it wasn't going to be a simple matter of going to gigs and choosing bands. The relative drudgery of writing reports and promoting bands meant the tasks weren't getting done, and the company soon began to fail.
That meant it started to slip down the Blast:Beat rankings, as companies are awarded points for each task they complete. When Caomhán saw his company falling down the table he decided it was time for action. "When we started planning our battle of the bands, the whole thing took off, and people started pulling together," he says.
For the battle of the bands, the students have to scout local groups, choosing six to perform. They also have to find a venue, sort out public-address systems and promote the gig in the local press and the area generally. The winners of that battle go on to a regional final and, if they are lucky, the national final, at the Helix in Dublin.
The national final is two-pronged. On the one hand, the bands are competing for a record contract; on the other, their labels are also competing. Each makes a presentation, detailing its work. Revolution MMC's hard graft paid off, as it ended up in second place.
That success has helped to inspire this year's Coláiste Iognáid chief executive, Darragh O'Connor, who is facing different challenges from those that Caomhán had to deal with. Where Caomhán had a small team to work with, says Darragh: "We had 40 people at our first meeting. You're only supposed to have 20 or 25, so it was manic." They have selected people for most of the posts in the company, and each student has bought shares in it, giving them a bit of capital to work with. So far things are going well.
Their first task will be to get to know their market, which they do by promoting and selling CDs that they get from Blast:Beat. Then they can start to think about organising their concert. Darragh has big plans, however. He intends to wait until things aren't too busy in Galway, then set up a preliminary gig.
He acknowledges that he has a lot of support from a school that might have been a bit sceptical when the programme was introduced. Caomhán says: "There was a lot of support once people realised that it was actually worthwhile, but I don't think that people believed we were actually working as hard as we were until our transition year was over."
"I think the best thing about it is just the range of stuff you can do," says Darragh. "Some people have no interest in music, but they love journalism or photography. Some want to join the security team. There's just a lot there."
It is a great opportunity to gain an insight into the workings of business in general as well as giving great experience of how the music industry works. Like many transition-year programmes, Blast:Beat works or fails according to the effort put in by its participants. If it sounds too much like hard work, however, keep in mind that there's always Simon Cowell and The X Factor.
See www.blast beat.org
ARE YOU A BUDDING TARANTINO?
Comórtas Fiseáin, TG4's scriptwriting and film-making competition for transition-year students, is under way again. Students write a script, then TG4 helps turn the best ones into films. The best result will be entered in the 2006 Ciak Junior Film Festival, in Italy. You don't have to have a script for a while, but you do have to register by Friday, November 4th.
• You can do so by e-mailing comortasfiseain@tg4.ie.
Before Halloween Form and incorporate company. Allocate jobs. Set up company website.
November to January Vote on tracks for first CD. Research market. Price, distribute, display, promote and sell CDs. Select local groups for battle of the bands. Organise date and venue for concert.
December to January Promote the concert through advertising and a media campaign. Organise and prepare venue, from lighting and stage to sound, film and security. Stage concert. Regional final follows.
February to May Second CD produced and sold. Company assessed. Wind up company and decide what to do with profits.National finals staged.
It that's too much:
If the full-year programme is too time-consuming, how about Blast:Beat Module II? Transition-year students can do the 10-week project, which involves researching, marketing and selling Blast:Beat CDs, at any time in the school year.
The same sort of resources and supports are available from the Blast:Beat team. It might be a good taster, to see whether the longer programme would suit your school in years to come.
