At the Rawffest Festival in Newport, I went along on the Friday to see some of the events and workshops taking place. One of the eventing happening was a masterclass hosted by the young talented blogger and music presenter Louise Schofield. Louise started off her work with her successful blog called Unique Lullaby, which documents and shares new musical talent like artists and bands across the UK and internationally.
Louise is also working voluntarily for Radio Cardiff and BBC Radio Wales, where she hopes the work experience will lead towards a sustainable career in music and presenting. I had the opportunity to interview her and ask her questions about the challenges of becoming a blogger and presenter, and why social media is vital in the world of marketing and advertising.
(Photo Credit: Louise Schofield)
The Interview
- So Louise is this your first time here at the Rawffest Festival in Newport?
Yes this is my first time. I can’t believe there is so stuff going on here! I really want to see all the other stuff happening, like the workshops, the bands and the theatre shows you name it.
- So far are you having a good time here?
Yeah I’m having a great time. I got to admit, I was a bit nervous before the workshop, but I was happy the session went very well. The young people were very engaged and switched on. Again I really want to see the other stuff going on here. There is so much to see.
- Your masterclass is to inspire young people towards blogging, vlogging and presenting about music. What do you hope they will take away and learn from your session today?
I hope they will become more confident, inspired to create their own ideas on making blogs, vlogs and whatever they are passionate about related to social media and presenting. There are so many opportunities out there with the internet and social media is just platform that supports that. Young audiences are drawn to it and they get all their information from there.
- Your blog is called Unique Lullaby and it has been around now for 3 years and has grown successful with lots of people following you. Can you tell me a bit about the blog and what it is about?
Unique Lullaby is a music blog. It is a platform to introduce new music talent across Wales and the UK. When I started off the blog, I am originally from Nottingham, but I now work in Cardiff so I covered new music from those two areas. But now it has grown within the three years, with more followers reading the blog across the UK. I sometimes get bands and musicians from London who come down to Cardiff to promote their work and I present their music on the blog. It is really great fun, and I am learning so much more about music than I did before. It was only recently that when I went on holiday to Croatia, I meet a Dutch music producer called Ruben a.k.a ETSUKO. He writes his own material, but he is not that well known in his country so I decided to check out his music and promote it on Unique Lullaby. So the blog is starting to get an international following, especially in the USA, where I had a band who wanted to promote their music on my blog and came to Cardiff.
- Going into music/radio presenting and blogging is a tough profession in terms of making a living out of it. How do you keep yourself motivated?
Well I suppose that I am passionate about my work so that keeps me going. But you are right it is quite difficult especially when you are starting out. I started as volunteer and doing loads of work experiences with the BBC without earning any income. It is tough to begin with, but the end result is very rewarding. During the beginning stages of Unique Lullaby, I was at the time inexperienced, I wasn’t getting anywhere with it, I received a lot negative feedback on my work and people weren’t interested which did affect my morale but it also made me even more determined. Even after 3 years, I eventually managed to get bands who want to get in touch with me and promote their work and that was I real boost for me. And now it is doing very well and it is still growing. So yes if you are passionate about your work, that well keep you motivated and it has definitely worked for me.
- Social media has become a very powerful tool for young people and it is used across all businesses now. You use it for your work and I want to ask you if you think social media is now a big part of our lives?
Absolutely. Social Media is the way forward, thanks to the internet. Anyone can get anything from it and there are unbelievable amounts of opportunities with it. Like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and etc. are great now for advertising yourself for whatever profession you want to do. Especially young people rely upon it to get their news again from Facebook or Twitter and it is how they get connected to what’s happening everywhere. Lots of marketing and business companies use it to promote their products and work and I identify my blog as a business.
- What advice would you give to a young developing blogger/presenter who wants to pursue a career in this field?
I would say to them go out and see as many bands as possible. Listen to lots of music and get yourself out there. It will take some time for people to treat you seriously, but if you keep it up it will be very rewarding in the end.
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