Interview | LUNI

As an artist, music industry professional, now leader of her own musical retreat, LUNI is a multi-skilled alumna of our BA Creative Musicianship programme. 

Her own music has been inspired by the likes of NAO and Billie Eilish while she has worked in music sync at Universal. Music education and promoting gender equality in the industry have been an integral part of her journey, now manifesting themselves in her own Elevate You musical retreat. 

This latest endeavour sees LUNI invite musicians, artists and creatives to join her in Bali for six nights to focus on their practice, reflect on their musical expression and develop their skills. 

In our interview, we hear more from LUNI on her music industry adventures and launching her own musical projects in her adopted home of Bali.

What first led you to ICMP? 

I wanted to move to London to study, I’m from Copenhagen in Denmark and my friend was going to another music university. 

ICMP seemed diverse with a broad range of people. I had good vibes from ICMP which is why I applied and I was accepted. 

How did you find learning in London?

It was all very quick, I visited in June, went for my audition in July and moved in September. It all happened very quickly. I was 20 and excited for life. 

I loved my time at ICMP, I studied BA Creative Musicianship and loved it, the teachers were amazing, it was such a great combination of learning opportunities. 

Creative musicianship was a mixture of everything for me - production, songwriting, performance and business - which is exactly what I wanted."

How did you orientate yourself in the industry after your studies? 

I always knew I wanted to continue with music but staying in London as an indie artist doesn't necessarily guarantee you’ll be able to pay your bills. I was aware that I needed to earn money to fund my career and I managed to land a job at Universal.

I worked there for four years in licensing and production music. I helped work on music for sync, repertoire and A&R type work. I really enjoyed the job but it wasn't very creative. I wanted to write my own songs and teach. 

How did you set up the retreat?

I moved to Bali as my partner had already lived here before and we made the transition during the lockdown summer when we were working from home.

We came out here and it freed up so much time and space. It felt really good. I discovered this beautiful music studio and thought I wanted to do some stuff there. So I went to record there for a while. 

They have residencies so the retreat kind of happened by chance. I loved the space, I spoke with the manager and they were keen to do more - and personal growth and mindset is very important to me. 

In my industry experiences, I always felt like it was skewed towards men rather than women in terms of work offers. I wanted to be part of the change and try and get more opportunities for women with their music. That's how it came about - it felt very aligned to what I was passionate about. 

How has it been relocating to Bali? 

The biggest change has been going from being employed to self-employment, I'm running my own show, no one is telling me what to do. The freedom is great though. I wanted to be present for my daughter but still be creative and do music. I didn't want to have an 80 hour work week and not see her. I think being self-employed and having your own business offers a great balance as does being in Bali. Childcare is inexpensive here. 

Has the coaching impacted how you write your own music?

For sure, when you work with people in the creative industry, what they are doing inspires you. It makes me want to do better, the artists I work with have a zest for life and it makes my own projects feels purposeful and gives me energy. I’ve done a lot of jobs over the years, the only way I could live in London was to do work part-time. I’ve done so many. I’m not scared of hard work, I just enjoy doing something that brings value both to me and my clients too. 

Do you have any advice for students/emerging musicians/songwriters? 

I think the biggest thing is to commit to the journey - which sounds like a cliche but is really true.

Being an artist, creative, musician, you have to find the love in it - if you know why you are doing it, then this will help sustain you no matter what happens."

If you’re clear about why you make music and it’s important to you, then that will help you maintain, it will help people come to you too. 

You need to work out what your story is and what your music represents - it’s so much deeper than just the music. Ask yourself what your mission is with your music and what you are here to do. 

Visit beatsbyluni.com for more. You can connect with LUNI on social media below: 

Instagram