Interview | Geraldine Zanaska

Our BA in Music Marketing Programme Leader Geraldine Zanaska has enjoyed more than ten years in the music industry. 

Her experiences in Paris, then London have led her to work across various areas of the sector from award-winning record label Bella Union to live music promoters Bird On The Wire, and the Royal Albert Hall.

She went on to launch her own Compass Music, an international music consulting agency based in Paris and London. Since moving to Folkestone, Geraldine has also started promoting gigs as Riot Gulll and is soon to host her own festival under the Compass Music brand on Friday 16th August and Saturday 17th August.

Ahead of the event, Geraldine shared her music industry journey, her ambitions for the course and why creating communities is so key to music marketing in 2024.

Where did your music industry aspirations come from? 

I originally wanted to be a journalist. I grew up in France and had always been interested in the music industry. I started studying music business at university in 2009 as I'd always been fascinated by artists and new talent, the way they are discovered. 

I moved to London and discovered everything that the music capital of the world had to offer. I was attending plenty of gigs in Paris but when I went to London, there was so much more to see, I'd be at gigs every night. 

How did you start working in the industry?

I got into the live music industry through marketing. At the time, one of the most important ways of promoting events was through flyering. As a student, I found a great way of getting into gigs for free would be to hand out flyers for promoters. 

I started to network through flyering as there would be other promoters outside marketing their own events. So I started meeting people outside the doors of live gigs."

I collected flyers, found the names of other promoters, then started reaching out to them too. I started doing the door, guest list, artist liaison, worked for an indie promoter called Bird on the Wire, did event production and marketing - that was my way in. 

Alongside teaching at ICMP, what other projects have been keeping you busy? 

I'm an indie promoter based out of Folkstone on the coast and launching this new music festival this summer. A lot of what I do, I try to bring into the classroom too. I really inform my teaching through real-life experiences, whether it be my own projects or those with my clients. 

I was a music business consultant on the B2B side for five years - this was with Compass Music that I started in 2019.  

I wanted to build something for myself, my own company, and had a number of PR and marketing clients. I'd co-ordinate campaigns for labels from around the world as well as events in the B2B space and B2C space. 

What is Riot Gulll all about?

Two years ago I decided to move to the coast and when I moved there, there wasn't much live music. I decided to try and change that. I listen to a lot of rock, indie, punk and post-punk, indie rock is my main thing and wanted to bring that sound to the town. I wanted to build a brand so I could book whoever I'm into, then people come for the night because they trust my curation skills. 

I've always been a supporter of women in the industry, I've been a mentor and a supporter of Keychange, the initiative to gender imbalance. I wanted to do a female focused night - it was something new and exciting - and has been a success from the get go."

How have you grown Riot Gulll?

I've been doing Riot Gull for a year and a half and it's getting a reputation in Kent, people are coming from all round the county to see bands from Manchester and France in this small town which is cool. 

The festival is an extension of the night. One of the things that underpinned Riot Gull was about the community and supporting emerging talent. I've managed to book bands that have 30 followers on Spotify, then give them an audience of a couple of hundred people. 

What is the appeal for attendees?

People need a sense of connection. When I did the first event, I had some people messaging saying they wanted to come but didn't know anyone - I invited them along as I was happy to speak to them about music and bands. 

At the start of every Riot Gulll, we do a social meet up for solo gig goers. There are a lot of people new to the town so it works on several levels.

People get connected, they make friends at the night, and they become almost like brand ambassadors. They will tell others about Riot Gulll and spread news of events via word of mouth."

There's a great music community along the coast with Margate, Brighton and Hastings and I believe Folkstone can be part of this.

However, there is very little infrastructure and grassroots music venues are in crisis. There's more money being made in arena shows, yet we are losing small venues. When you lose a grassroots venue, you lose a community space and a generation of music lovers too. We need to realise that we need to nurture artists at the start of their careers if we are to create the headliners of tomorrow. 

I truly believe in these communities and creating sustainable music scenes. I want the event to put Folkestone on the map for artists and promoters and give locals a great opportunity to see amazing new talent. 

Is community a key thing you talk about on the course? 

Absolutely, yes it's key for songwriters, performers and future music marketers. The world is now very digital and social media is omnipresent in our lives - but there is a distance between artists and their fans.

The reason is that artists don't have ownership of the data and they need this to create a personal link with their audience. 

We get lots of guests on our degree and were having a discussion with an A&R from Sony Music Publishing who told us how they look at social media figures but also the amount of data artists can access. If you have a mailing list of 1,000 subscribers, a WhatsApp community or very active Discord channel, these can be really powerful. 

These fans will be your advocates, and you can see how fans can influence everything. The community that will serve you the best is one with longevity. We often move between social media platforms but we never change our email address. 

If you have this data, you can establish a close bond with your audience and there is strength in it that goes beyond just posting on social media.

Connect with Compass Music. 

Get tickets to the festival and listen to the festival playlist: