Today’s interview takes us into the business world of music, through a very honest and open conversation with the highly respected and equally mysterious Nigel van Ommeren, co-founder of the artist development company based in Amsterdam - Headfirst Music.

Nigel started in artist development roughly 10 years ago. The first success was Amsterdam art collective called “Vage Gasten” . This collective evolved from street art painters into a pioneering group of designers, dj’s and event organizers. Four years and over 100 national and international gigs later Nigel decided to focus on the music side of the entertainment business.

Nowadays his roster includes Sevdaliza (who went on to become one of the most anticipated fully independent artists in today’s entertainment business), FS Green, Full Crate and Mariposa. Together with business partner Lijne Kreupeling, Nigel is specialized in paving the way for artists to build independent business structures and strong artist stories. Over the last 10 years Headfirst Music developed artist careers, produced events and worked on numerous brand consultancy projects.

Headfirst Music is not only focused on artist management, but on capturing a cultural movement and amplifying this to a bigger audience.

In this episode, I talk to Nigel about what it actually means to be an artist manager, when should an artist consider getting one, how he discovered this path (without having a clear plan initially) or how an artist manager makes a living. Nigel also tells us why he wants to keep Headfirst Music focused on a small and carefully curated number of artists instead of expanding. We then touch on the evolution of the music industry throughout the years, the cultural differences in music business across different countries, the advice he would give to his son if he were to enter the music business and much more, including behind-the-scenes stories about how Sevdaliza got to work with Madonna or Full Crate with Jungle.

Please enjoy and let me know what you found most interesting from Nigel’s advice and stories. You can always reach out with your feedback via Instagram @addtoqueue_

Also check out Headfirst Music’s artists:

https://www.instagram.com/fsgreen/

https://www.instagram.com/fullcrate/

https://www.instagram.com/sevdaliza_/

https://www.instagram.com/dondestamariposa/

For more on Headfirst Music: https://headfirst.am/