It is a well known fact that Ireland is a hive of talented musicians, songwriters, DJs and artists, many of whom never get the opportunity to develop their talents and make the breakthrough required for the world to take notice. Songwriting and production duo, Joe McNally and Elvin (David) Cochrane, have experienced firsthand the difficulties encountered by artists trying to make their voices heard, and in 2010, frustrated at the lack of opportunities for talented artists, they decided to do something about it – UAC Music was born.
UAC Music is a fresh, exciting music production , songwriting and development company from Northern Ireland that specialises in various areas within the music industry. As well as writing, producing and remixing for some of the music industry’s biggest artists under various aliases, the duo have also embarked on a mission to assist up and coming artists in the development of all aspects of their careers, whether that be helping with the final touches of their songwriting, getting songs to a stage where they sound professionally mixed and mastered or even advice on the correct equipment to achieve the best results.
Producer/Writer & DJ Elvin David explains: “The music industry is vast and it became apparent to us in the early stages of our development just how important it is to make the right connections with the right people in the industry and that this was as important if not more, than having total dedication, talent, drive and self belief. Ireland has so much talent going unnoticed and we want to help rectify that.”
Elvin’s partner, songwriter and former Musical Director at Emerald Music Ireland, Joe McNally, adds “Most artists don’t think of themselves as a ‘business’ and therefore they can be missing out on many opportunities to create revenue by operating like a business to maximise their earning potential. There is sometimes a wide gap of knowledge between the musician and the marketing representative who will have the direction, business knowledge and of course the correct contacts within the industry to propel the artist’s songs into the world market. With the advent of the internet, you are only a few clicks away from gaining basic knowledge and fundamentals you may require to move forward, but from there the direction from a professional who has the experience within the industry can only improve your chances of getting heard – providing, of course, the material is indeed strong enough.”
In the past year, UAC Music has formed a working partnership with Northern Ireland independent record label, Yogen Records, where Elvin is also the Sub-Labels Manager. They have also collaborated with Ivan Clarke from Glide and Swerve / Bobcat Publishing on a remix of Boy George’s “Pentonville Blues” and Jason Francis at Premier Productions on the Alex Higgins tribute song, “Alex Was the Man”. With Yogen Music, they are helping to bring local talent to radio and television, and develop artists from the initial recording process to worldwide release and publishing. The most recent project for Elvin is the Se7en Sessions production of Hollyoaks songstress, Abi Phillips, song “Summer Sunshine”, set to be a summer hit.
For artists trying to gain a foothold in the music industry, and who may be on a tight budget, Joe advises that artists invest in their future development through UAC or a similar service. “The services we offer would have been invaluable to us when we were starting out. Firstly, we would have saved ourselves a lot of money by eliminating the need to constantly buy and sell equipment to find out what was right for us and we also could have saved countless years and months of time spent trying to figure out how to use this equipment to its full potential.”
Joe, an IMRO member since 2001, is also keen to emphasise the importance of attending the various IMRO seminars and workshops, which helped both Joe and Elvin develop their craft, not only as writers and producers, but also helped them to gain a better sense of direction and enhance their self-belief.
So what next for UAC Music? Top of the duo’s list is to become the most successful song-writing, development and production company for new and existing talent from Northern Ireland and further afield, and to increase opportunities for artists to have a higher success rate within the music industry. As well as keeping the hits flowing, above all UAC Music want to keep enjoying what they do and helping to provide a platform for up and coming talent artists who may not be getting the attention they deserve.
For more information on the various services that UAC Music provide, see www.uacmusic.com.
