The Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) was pleased to have Paul Sayer of British rock band The Temperance Movement in as part of their annual Freshers’ Week in September. Delivering an insightful and very conversational class, Paul broke the ice with a flawless solo guitar performance before encouraging the students to get involved with questions.

Revealing that he also studied music at University, Paul spoke about his life as a session player before joining the blues-rock band The Temperance Movement. Having performed alongside the likes of Adele, Leona Lewis and James Morrison, to name just a few, Paul shared that he got his first break into the session world when working with renowned producer Trevor Horn.

Paul urged the students to have a good think about the genres that they would like to pursue as musicians, and that they shouldn’t be afraid to turn down opportunities that aren’t right for them so long as they take up the ones that are, saying “be known for your niche”.

When asked about how he promotes The Temperance Movement, Paul shared that one of the best promotional tools they used as a band was a live YouTube video. The video really took off and propelled the band to the next level where they could make the group their main focus career-wise.

Paul told the students how empowering social media is for young artists and how great it is for them to be able to get their music out there without waiting for a record contract. Encouraging the students to get in the studio at ACM and to “really utilize your time here”, he urged them not to get stuck being a perfectionist and to release music, get gigs and build a fanbase whilst they are still studying at the Academy. When asked how to get gigs, Paul said to get an EP recorded and send links to YouTube when emailing promoters as they prefer this to downloading attachments.

Paul went on to speak about the different avenues artists can go down to make money from a career in music. Sharing that merchandise sales are key and signing CDs after a show can really increase sales. He even revealed that the band make the same amount from their merchandise sales as the tour itself, and Paul encouraged the students to remember this when planning their own shows in the future.

Wrapping up the thoroughly engaging class, Paul told the students that if their music is good and they put it out in the world, something will happen.

The students left the class having learned a great deal about both the session world and life in an originals band. Paul was very pleased to have imparted his knowledge on the next generation, saying "In my masterclass today at ACM I wanted to keep things quite informal - I really wanted to hear from the students about the things that they need answers to. I suppose if there was a running theme through my masterclass it was how to balance your creativity as an artist or musician, songwriter - whatever you want to be with actually forging a career in the music business and turning it into something that you can do for as long as you need to and make a living out of it."

If you want to learn your craft direct from industry professionals, sign up to an ACM Open Day here.