We were told that we should chat to this girl and they described her as ‘influential on the music scene’ so we did just that.

Charlotte Elizabeth is manager to UK country artist Stuart Landon and is taking the music world by storm – not just the country scene either.

Not content with managing an artist full time, she also regularly provides talks about the music industry and motivational life coaching at universities and women in business networking events.

We interviewed Charlotte to find out more:

Q: When did you get into the music industry?

I’ve been in county music for around 6 years now but it is only in the last 3 years that i have really learnt how to get the best results. It all happened accidentally really. Music management wasn’t something that I had considered doing but when the opportunity arose, I ran with it. I do like a challenge!

Q: You speak at music conferences. What type of subjects do you talk about?

This all depends on the brief I have been given and who the audience is. I’ve spoken about music management, I’ve given advice to women who have wanted to get into the music industry but don’t know where to start. I’ve given business talks on strategy content and marketing for business growth and I’ve even discussed how to run successful music events. I am an event professional by trade so that is always my favourite talk but I love the motivational ones as well where you can talk about overcoming challenges and not letting anyone or anything stop you from doing what you want.

Q: You manage Stuart Landon. Can you tell us about him and how you met?

Stuart is a country singer, songwriter and musician from Nottingham. He is the frontman of country group Angels With Dirty Faces and one of the hardest working people I know.

I met Stuart back in 2016 when he was playing a gig at Fort San Antone in Preston. He was supporting a band that I worked with at the time which is why I was there. I had never seen him play before and didn’t know his music but safe to say, I was impressed! We didn’t say much, just a quick hello and that was all.

The musicianship of the band blew me away that night. I think once you have seen talent and skill at that level, you start to question what you are doing and you want to surround yourself with those people.

Q: Did he have a manager then?

No. He had only recently formed Angels With Dirty Faces and was getting back into the country scene.

To be fair, he came back onto the scene with a bang. He was confirmed for festivals and radio shows throughout the year and pretty much hit the ground running but he has always been a musician and had been on the country scene years prior, so he was certainly no amateur coming back into it.

Q: How did you end up managing him?

After that gig, I had put on Facebook that I was looking for another artist to collaborate with for my EP. As a songwriter, I wanted to release an EP of tracks that were to all be co-written but performed by different artists on the UK country scene. Stuart messaged me and I sent him lyrics over to what would become ‘Shatter Like Glass’. This was the first single for Angels With Dirty Faces.

He sent me a demo back of the song that night and I loved it. From the start, we had a good rapport going and we did the whole promotional tour for the single together and built up a good friendship. I think that was the base for going on to work together. It was a natural progression more than anything.

I could see how amazing the band were, how amazing Stuart’s vocal was and songwriting was and I knew I wanted to work with him. I think I may have slightly bugged him for the job!

Q: What do you think he would say about you?

Ha ha! I dread to think! I’ll leave that up to him!!

Q: There are 2 versions of Shatter Like Glass in existence now isn’t there?

Yes! The original band version is available on iTunes etc and then when we started focusing on Stuart as a solo artist, he recorded an acoustic version which he put onto his EP ‘Outmanned, Never Outgunned’

The song took on a life of its own to be honest and is still being played everywhere today!

Q: What is the best advice you have been given as a music manager?

I was in Los Angeles last year at a music conference and met Colin Lester who is the manager to Craig David. We spent some time talking and he told me “as a manager, you have to believe in your artist. As an artist, they have to trust you completely and that’s how you will end up with a long term career”

Colin was a key speaker at the conference and he really inspired me. I want to be like him.

He recently said in an interview that even if he fell out of love with the music industry, he would still manage Craig – how amazing is that! To have a bond through music that can’t be broken.

Q: What are your plans with Stuart for the next year?

We are really busy! Stuart is currently working on a new album ready for release around summer and we will put a new single out before that.

He has a really busy summer gigging. June to the end of August is pretty much fully booked.

We are heading to New York in September where he is playing Rockwood Music Hall and Texas in October.

I am also very conscious about us moving forward into the mainstream. I think it is important to put yourself in front of a new audience which is why not everything we do is country music related.

I think you can pigeon hole yourself too quickly and get stuck which isn’t productive. I am lucky in the sense that Stuart will play where I ask him to and trust me with those decisions.

We have some big support tours we are in negotiations with at the moment as well so the next 18 months – 2 years are going to be quite manic but exciting.

Q: How do you ensure you keep your artist happy to avoid them looking for alternative management?

I don’t think it is about keeping him happy as such. The music industry is hard and you are always going to have days where you don’t get on or you disagree on certain things but that’s why you need the solid friendship and trust before anything else.

A lot of business fails because you don’t have communication, loyalty or trust.

We are lucky as we are really great friends and talk almost every day. We iron out the good and the bad, we socialise as friends and I get on his nerves and bug him when I need to! It just works!

Q: As a songwriter, you released an EP called Survive. Are you planning on doing another EP or Album?

No, I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, that was a project that I am so incredibly proud of and so glad that I achieved it but I don’t feel the need to do another one.

I would like to co-write with Stuart again and have another single out that we have both worked on because we did so well with Shatter and we work so well together. It’s also special when you get your song cut onto an artists EP but as far as doing my own project again, I think I’ve done that now and just want to concentrate on management.

Q: What would be your ultimate goal be and your success story look like as a manager?

I would like to secure Stuart a huge support slot which would take him to the next level. I want to be able to see him play the huge arena tours and see an audience captivated by his music.

To secure a record deal, publishing deal and then his own headline tour would be fab.

And the thing is, I’m stubborn enough to believe it will happen – he just has to put up with me hounding him every day and make sure he doesn’t sack me before we get there!!!!

We hope you enjoyed this interview. Please visit our previous posts and if there is anyone you want us to talk to or any music you want us to review, email us!

Our next post will be a review on C2C and will be posted up on Thursday!

Love, Terri

Email us: lostinmusicblog@outlook.com