{"id":6335,"date":"2024-01-10T11:59:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T11:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/?p=6335"},"modified":"2024-01-10T11:59:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T11:59:50","slug":"in-the-spotlight-sammy-stein-talks-to-kym-vincenti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/2024\/01\/10\/in-the-spotlight-sammy-stein-talks-to-kym-vincenti\/","title":{"rendered":"In The Spotlight: Sammy Stein Talks to&#8230; Kym Vincenti"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/KVPR-1-90x60.jpg 90w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/artist\/5vBRPOaRAgwhHc7eGlmeTn?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n<p><b>Kym Vincenti on music and life<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Kym Vincenti is a songwriter and vocalist who has featured in major publications and on BBC Radio. Her music draws on life experiences and the world as she sees it. Her songs are evocative and emotionally charged with lyrics that explore themes including love, loss, and self-discovery. A trail-blazing artist who is rapidly gaining wide recognition, we thought it was time to feature her and Kym graciously agreed to be the first interviewee for Platinum Mind\u2019s new column focussing on people we feel you should learn more about.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>SS- Sammy Stein<\/p>\n<p>KV \u2013 Kym Vincenti<\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: Tell us briefly about your journey in music.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: I&#8217;ve always loved writing, and when I started learning guitar in lockdown, I was writing songs along with the chords. My first songs were very simple music-wise, as I only knew a few chords at the time. If you listen to \u2018River\u2019 you may notice that. Sharing these on social media got them noticed by an acquaintance who owns a record label, and he invited me for a meeting. He believed in what I was doing and before I knew it, my first single came out just before my sixtieth birthday, in August 2021. This musical journey is still pretty new to me, but I&#8217;m excited to see where it takes me.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: You have released some great singles. Will you be following these up with an album?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: I want to release an album, as I have so many unreleased songs I\u2019d love to air. I\u2019m just not sure how to go about it yet. I\u2019m also looking for a studio closer to home as it\u2019s a three-hour journey to the one the label owns. Consequently, I\u2019ve not released anything new since last year.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: How is it promoting your music? Do you find you have positives and negatives?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: I come from a generation that wasn&#8217;t big on self-promotion, so it feels a bit uncomfortable for me. However, I&#8217;ve learned that treating it as a job I&#8217;m doing for someone else works best. I create a lot of content, like memes and quotes, but I know once I start gigging properly and get some video footage, I can up my self-promotion game. I think having a showreel will be far more powerful and I\u2019ll feel like a proper musician.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, I\u2019m both a social media manager and a musician. My right and left brain seem to be in competition, and I am juggling somewhere between them. It\u2019s a bit of a vicious circle.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: Do you feel there is any prejudice or expectations of women that male performers do not have or do you feel the field is even now?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><br \/>KV: I&#8217;m relatively new to this, but my gut tells me that it might be easier for male performers to land gigs. Locally, I notice more male performers than females, though that could just be the numbers. Surprisingly, I haven&#8217;t sensed any age bias, which I thought might be a factor.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: If you were to advise a young performer just starting out, are there any lessons you might pass on?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: Absolutely. Listen to advice from industry pros, but don&#8217;t let them stifle your creativity. Your unique sound comes from your individuality, and that&#8217;s a big part of your talent. If you draw outside of the lines, don\u2019t let them use an eraser to tidy you up.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: Looking ahead &#8211; what would you like to have achieved in five- or ten years, music-wise?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: I\u2019d like to have a couple of albums out that would stand the test of time. My dream performance goals include playing at Jools Holland&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s Hogmanay (Hootenanny), Ronnie Scott&#8217;s, and the &#8216;Ain&#8217;t Nothing but The Blues&#8217; bar (Marylebone, London). Performing at a big festival is on the list and I\u2019m sure it would blow my mind. I think, ultimately, I\u2019d also love to be writing songs for others too.<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, there\u2019s a film I love called \u2018Paris Blues\u2019 with Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman and where they play gives me all the feels. Just once, I\u2019d like to somehow stumble back in time to a bar like that and take to the stage in a slinky dress, with that kind of band behind me. Maybe, the closest I\u2019ll get is filming a video like that. That would be possible.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: Is it difficult to fit music in with other aspects of your life?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: It hasn\u2019t been but, becoming a grandma has changed things a little. I\u2019d been hitting the studio in Rugby to record tracks and then using social media to promote. Now I\u2019m looking for a studio closer to home and when live gigs pick up though, things might change again. Being self-employed gives me a fair bit of flexibility though and that\u2019s helpful.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: How have you found supportive critics, editors, and people who appreciate your music? Have you targeted audiences or put music out and hoped for the best?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: The label and its music distribution company handled playlist submissions and airplay. I managed my BBC Introducing submissions and received fantastic support. Twitter has been a great platform to connect, and I&#8217;ve used Spotify&#8217;s backend info to plan targeted marketing. While I am working on a social media plan, up till now it\u2019s mostly been going out on a wing and a prayer.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>SS: How do you find people to work with &#8211; producing, playing alongside, etc?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>KV: Vampr is my \u2018go-to\u2019 app. It&#8217;s where I found my guitarist and connected with a French musician and producer who gives me tips and guidance. Locally, I actively support the Southend Jazz Festival, a fantastic community that occasionally offers opportunities for jam sessions and meet-ups. Word of mouth has been a great ally, and I got approached by a DJ in Ibiza recently, to record vocals on his tracks.<\/p>\n<p><em>On the music industry, Kym offers the following. \u201cBack in my day, if you had talent, being an artist could take you places. Nowadays, things are more crowded. While talent still matters, technology can enhance anyone, and computers can play instruments convincingly. Standing out is crucial; otherwise, you might end up with just a passion project. Social media skills are a must, and building an online community can be a path to making a living. However, having your songs on streaming platforms won&#8217;t fill your pockets unless you can grow a substantial fanbase. With something like 2p per stream from Spotify etc., you&#8217;d need around 20,000 streams weekly just to meet minimum wage, and that&#8217;s before sharing with a label if you have one.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We live in a digital age, so if we can approach it like a business and market it accordingly, it is possible to make a very comfortable living doing so. The problem is, creatives just want to dream and create, and rightly so. I guess the answer is to get the right support around you so that you can just keep pursuing your dream and not have to worry about all the adulting.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>You can find out more about Kym and her music by going to her website here: <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kymvincentimusic.co.uk\/\">KYM VINCENTI MUSIC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to her music and find out more about her projects by using any of the following links.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/gb\/album\/to-the-moon-single\/1691480256\">\u200eTo the Moon &#8211; Single &#8211; Album by Kym Vincenti &#8211; Apple Music<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/5vBRPOaRAgwhHc7eGlmeTn?si=OljRn__WSGO5KyMWYQqbZA&amp;utm_medium=share&amp;utm_source=linktree&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=86250c2c808440d8\">Kym Vincenti | Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We recommend you keep an eye on this emerging musician \u2013 she is definitely one to watch.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kym Vincenti on music and life Kym Vincenti is a songwriter and vocalist who has featured in major publications and on BBC Radio. Her music draws on life experiences and the world as she sees it. Her songs are evocative and emotionally charged with lyrics that explore themes including love, loss, and self-discovery. A trail-blazing &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191,181,229,174,247,139,31,143,132,30,142,227,73,150,175,162,126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative","category-blues","category-composer","category-electronica","category-interview","category-jazz","category-keyboards","category-london","category-lyricist","category-music","category-producer","category-sammy-stein","category-singer-songwriter","category-songwriter","category-soul","category-uk","category-vocals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6337,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6335\/revisions\/6337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}