Claire Moon from Tileyard-based Music Immersive, talks Atmos, Paul Weller, and the challenges she has faced in her career.
Tell us about your background, your upbringing, and your introduction to the world of music.
I was born and raised in Kent and studied Media Studies at University, as by that point, I knew I wanted to work in the music industry on some level. I was never an obsessive gig go-er but the bands I loved, I’d go out of my way to see them live whenever possible. As soon as I got my first internship, I completely fell in love with the industry as a whole, and even now, some 25 years later, I am not jaded by it.
How did you get into the music industry?
After university, I wanted to be a radio producer. Like many people, I didn’t know anyone in the industry but happened to blag an internship at a local radio station. Whilst there, I met a plugger from Virgin Records who offered me another stint of working for free. At the time. I didn’t know really what a record label even did, or much about the different departments but as soon as I started, I knew it was for me. I went on to get an entry level job at an independent label and basically worked my way up through a few indies and majors as a senior marketing manager. After about 10 years or so, I realised that artist management was where my heart was. At that time, I worked closely with Paul Weller at a label, and he eventually asked me to manage him, which I still do now. Through Paul, I met Stan Kybert who was producing and mixing for him, and we became friends. About 18 months ago, Stan mentioned that he was setting up Music Immersive (Stan is a brilliant Atmos mixer) and his own Atmos room at TY and so we joined forces and I am the studio manager there.
What were some of the barriers you experienced, or still do experience, as a woman in the music industry, if any?
Um….good question! The barriers I’ve experienced have been both subtle and not subtle. The less obvious ones are things like constantly being spoken over or interrupted during meetings. That used to drive me mad. Linked with that, there’s been many times in meetings whereby, if I don’t agree with something, I’m challenged about whether I’ve “understood” whatever it was being discussed or not. Of course I understood it, I just didn’t agree! I wonder if that would have been suggested to a male manager?
The gender pay gap though is massive one. I know that I was paid way less than my male counterparts in probably every one of the labels I worked at. We all know that even now, at key record labels, the gender pay gap is a huge problem and it’s something that I literally can’t get my head around. Surely in the year 2023, men and women should get paid the same for doing the same job?
One of the many brilliant things about running Music Immersive with Stan is that I know that he’s also passionate about equal rights, and we always aim to support women in the very male dominated world of studio engineering however possible.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self about being a woman in music… what to expect, the difficulties, the excitements?
That’s such a hard question! I would probably say to expect that there are additional challenges to being female in the music industry, and it not right. However, if you do a job you love, keep persevering with it and fight to be heard. The highs outweigh the lows and some of the things I’ve experienced, or places I’ve been to have been incredible, and I wish I’d soaked in all of those experiences fully at the time. We deserve to go wherever we want to in our careers and the music industry is still one of the most exciting places to be.
What other exciting things have you been working on lately, either work or personally?
It’s so exciting working with Stan and the team at Music Immersive. It’s been extra special as I was there from almost the very start of the company, so a lot of our internal processes and plans for how we see the company growing, have been developed by Stan and I together. Spatial audio is incredible and for anyone that hasn’t heard a good Atmos mix, come over and have a listen as you get a really instant reaction to hearing one of Stan’s mixes. He’s so talented and such a pleasure to work with. Other than running Music Immersive, Paul Weller has just finished shooting a film directed by Steve McQueen so that’s been both fascinating and inspirational. Personally, always the most important thing I work on is my children who are the best humans I know…..sorry, thats a predictable answer!
What can we look forward to from Music Immersive in the upcoming year?
More brilliant Atmos mixes! We are one of the go-to Atmos teams in the UK. We want to see the awareness of the format grow and cross over more into music fans’ everyday lives. We always try to cater for indies / artist management teams and self-releasers, as much as we do the major label work and that’s something we are very proud of. We want Atmos to be as inclusive as possible as we believe in it as a long term-format.
