Creative and entrepreneur Andy Kettle struggled with mental health through lockdown, but used the time to launch a new music platform.

Kettle, who also runs his own PR business, tells ABLE2UK how he spent those long months being stuck indoors.

‘I’ve been working in the music industry for just short of 20 years now. My journey has taken me to various places over time, and I’ve worked in a few sectors, but since 2013 my home has been running my own business Steaming Kettle PR.

I've had the honour of helping promote a whole variety of releases (albums, EPs, or singles) working with clients all around the world, plus National and International tours. Things were exciting, inspiring, and always rewarding.

However, when Covid-19 hit and lockdown began- the live music sector pretty much closed down ‘overnight’, ripping out a massive hole from below everyone’s feet…

I saw people I cared about having to cancel their tours, jump through a ton of hoops to try claw some of the money they’d invested back, and then work out how to survive after this.

This paired alongside schools closing down, and society in general!

For me, seeing things fall apart around me paired with the feeling of isolation having to work at home 24/7 seemed to open a trap door of anxiety and trauma I never knew existed. It was even more bizarre being a silent enemy we kept hearing about, but were just sat in our gardens sunbathing.

Enjoyable to an extent, but it took a very long time afterwards to feel ‘normal’ again.

There were still some great music releases I worked on over this period, and kept things ticking over. Enough to feel busy but hitting that mid afternoon period every day going into the evening was endlessly tough. Days turned into weeks, and into months…

Once we hit January 2021 I’d had enough of this, (hopefully!) temporary lifestyle, I felt the New Year epiphany ‘vibe’, and started to research what else I could do to keep my mind occupied. Having spent a few hours researching on You Tube looking at various ideas, I landed upon the concept of creating Online Courses.

Having lectured in the past and had some teaching experience, it made a lot of sense to me.

And thus, I began to embark on my new journey and started to create the whole concept of my new idea, namely ‘Drop That Record’ (after meticulously researching for the best brand name available first of course!)

Occupying my mind in this way gave me a new venture to fill my hours, (trust me...video and book editing takes HOURS!)- paired with feeling like I could make a difference to help others.

I’ve found from working the music biz so far, time is what I’ve not had enough of. Trying to find hours to sit down with artists and give them solid advice and help. I’ve seen so many people make endless mistakes, and my intention all along has been to help them avoid this happening. Being available and able to give them simple advice on what on earth to do next, once they’ve written that first song in their bedroom!

All of this inspired me to create ‘Drop That Record’, which in summary is a hub and community sharing tips and advice for aspiring artists, singers, songwriters, bands, producers, rappers, musicians, composers, and music professionals.

Since its creation, we have two online courses which are now live, two books now out via Amazon with the same guidance as the courses in written format, plus a You Tube channel offering extra tips, help, and guidance.

After doing a lot of research I found that other courses aimed at artists were incredibly long. In my experience not so many musical/creative people are going to sit through an 8 hour course, or study an overwhelmingly long book...so my aim was to create something shorter, simple to understand, and straight to the point whilst also being informative and inspiring.

As mentioned before, I see so many artists make endless mistakes time and time again, so my intention behind all of this was to offer a lifeline, so that they can approach a new project or release with the right knowledge, and not make them!

I took it back to basics and created two courses:

Artist Action Plan Mini Course

Artist Development Toolkit Course

My ethos behind the courses is being bite size, digestible, and easy to understand.

They are relevant to anyone involved in music wanting to learn, be it on the business or artist side.

The free Artist Action Plan Mini Course is 30 mins of video lessons, and goes over the mindset an artist needs in order to release their music in the best way possible, and each step they need to take to prepare themselves for it to be most effective

My Artist Development Toolkit Course is like the big brother (2 hours of video lessons), and is the concept of an artist having written a song in their bedroom with no clue what to do next. It takes them through every step right up to having a final product, and being ready to release their music. With endless tips on how to go about everything correctly, and when.

In line with the courses, we have also released book versions which are live now!

Via Amazon there are ebook, and print versions available to purchase.

In summary, whether you’re either an aspiring artist, music professional, or striving for any other career and struggling with mental health. Immersing yourself, and keeping your mind busy with a goal to move forwards is the best advice I can give- it helped me immensely.

For more information visit the Drop The Record website.