For every singer that’s looking for their big break, here’s a hidden gem to check out: Cruise ships. Performing on cruise ships has allowed Aidan Moore to travel all around the world while building his audience and reputation, and sell his own music! In this episode, he shares the unexpected things he’s learned on his journey of being a live performer. Though this industry can be quite competitive if you can play an instrument, or know how to dance, you’re already ahead of the game. And if you don’t do those things, listen in to hear for tips on how to grow your audience as a musician!
Mentioned in the show:
Amora Brown:
Hello everyone. And welcome back to another episode of Corpartainment I am your host, Amora Brown. And today we have a musician on the line and he has been doing music for a long time. In addition, he's also a sales manager for a company that makes instruments for surgeons. So that's a really cool tip. Well not cool overlap. Welcome, Aiden Moore its glad to have you on. It's great to have you on.
Aidan Moore:
Hey! Thank you very much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Amora Brown:
I want to do that introduction again because I don't like how it sounded.
Aidan Moore:
Just so you know, I, I'm not a sales manager anymore. So I actually stopped doing that about seven years ago before I, before I went full-time as a musician, that's when I gave up. Cause that was back when I lived back in the UK. So I've actually worked here- I've been working full time as a musician and singer for the last, until COVID hit really? So probably six years?
I'm sorry about that.
Aidan Moore:
I don't know if that makes any difference or if we'll cover it anyway.
Amora Brown:
I must have missed that email. I'm sorry. Cause I'm looking at my notes and I didn't update that.
Aidan Moore:
Ah, no worries, its okay.
Amora Brown:
I'm still curious to know that side though. So were you doing music when you used to be a sales manager or did you kind of focus more so-
Aidan Moore:
Yes.
Amora Brown:
Okay. So what was that like being a musician? Were you a secret musician and no one knew? Or was this something that you kind of talked about amongst your coworkers as well?
Aidan Moore:
Well, it's funny. It started off originally. I won some competitions locally. I've been playing- I mean, I'm 30- what I'm 38 now. And I've been playing guitar since I was 10. So we're getting on for almost 30 years. I did various different things with music. Uh, I was, I played guitar. I played drums at school as well. I also DJ and produce dance music for a few years. And then I kind of got back into picking my guitar back up. And when I was in my mid-twenties and entered some competitions locally. Fortunately, I won and they offered me my first ever paid gig. I'd never, ever been paid to do music before. And from that one gig became another one. And then over the next kind of five or six years, I built my repertoire and my customer base in the UK to be doing bars, hubs, restaurants, corporate entertainment, weddings, and alongside that, I was doing some freelance photography. But I was working full-time at the same time.
Aidan Moore:
And it just became untenable eventually for, for me to hold down a family, a wife, a full-time stressful job, and also try and make some kind of career out of music as well. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, my ex-wife and I split because of the, the pressure. Within a few weeks afterwards, I was offered a full-time contract as a musician and singer onboard a cruise ship working for a European cruise company. And that basically became my opportunity to have a contracted musician job for, well, six months initially, but it went on to become six years. And I'm still doing it now, or I would be if it wasn't for COVID. It's been an incredible last kind of decade and a half. And I'm very fortunate to have been able to travel the world, to see some incredible countries, to meet fantastic people and to play some of the most incredible gigs and sets, all over the planet.
Amora Brown:
It's so great that you're giving this perspective because when I think of being a singer, I don't think of singing on a cruise ship. I don't even realize that that's an option, honestly. I think of: Okay I have to go to a studio and make an album. It's really interesting. So what was it like, did you audition for this or did someone notice your music that you may have had out already? Or how did the opportunity present itself to you?
Aidan Moore:
Kind of. I was gigging performing at least twice a week, every week, some weeks more than that. If I was doing weddings, corporate events over holiday weekends or day weekend, I could be doing as many as five or six shows in a weekend. I had some friends and family that used to go on cruise ships and they've mentioned, I should give it a try. I should see what happens. So I had no idea what to expect. I had some content on my YouTube channel already. And so I sent some of those videos to a few different agencies in the UK that I knew hired entertainment for cruise ships, with the expectation at that time that I could maybe go for a week or two, I'd take my then-wife and daughter with me for a working holiday. Basically, they took them, I would say nearly six months to come back to me to find out what their opinion was, which is not unusual as I've found out.
Aidan Moore:
So yeah, they came back to me just after I've split with my wife and they said, "look, sorry, it's taken us so long, but we really like the stuff that you've sent to us. We have an opening on a ship that leaves in two weeks, we're looking to fill that position. We like what you do. We'd like to offer you a six-month contract rather than a one or two-week gig". I talked with my boss at the company I was working for. He said, look, it's a fantastic opportunity. Don't let it pass. So I, I decided to go for it. I thought there's not many times when you're in your early thirties, that you get an opportunity to turn your life around and to do something as amazing as that. So I was like, okay, let's give it a try. What's the worst that could happen.
Aidan Moore:
It went on to become the forerunner for, for the whole of the rest of my life. Since I was fortunate enough to be well-reviewed by the guests that were on board. Then my second contract, I did six months in the middle east. And then from then went to Asia. I then changed companies to working with a luxury brand, a six-star luxury brand. They offered me my choice of where I wanted to go. And my dream has always been to travel to Antarctica. I was very lucky. I got to spend two winters in Antarctica, touring the south pole and singing to the guests on that ship. That's where I met my current wife set the whole path for what's become or what is about to become the rest of my life from here on in. Hence why I'm talking to you, I've met you because I've ended up in the states!
Amora Brown:
And you know, it's funny because just being open to different opportunities and trying something new and you know, when your options pros and cons and then going for something different. I would have never thought that I would be learning about the opportunity to sing on a cruise ship. So now I'm thinking to myself, maybe that is a route that I could take if I want to be a singer. Yeah. So what are some unexpected things that you've learned along your journey?
Aidan Moore:
So this is so I get often asked by people when I'm working. It's, it's not uncommon for, for example, for a parent to come to me and say, "my son or my daughter enjoys her music. They're a great singer. What advice would you give them if they wanted to do what you do?" And I always say there's two main pieces of advice I give. The first one is learn to play an instrument or to dance. You could be part of the show team on a ship, which means, you know, you're dancing and singing. But if you want to sing, ideally you have to play an instrument or at least be in a duo or a, or a band with someone else that plays. There are a million million people in this world that can sing to an exceptional standard, but you really have to be able to offer something above just singing to backing tracks, because there are so many fantastic singers in the world, but unfortunately there's only a certain number of jobs.
Aidan Moore:
And what you offer in, in my line of work is a live performance, not just singing to backing tracks. You don't have to be a great guitarist. You don't have to be a great pianist. I know people that sing and play the saxophone alongside a backing track, but you just have to have some kind of element of live performance. If you want to, to pursue that route. Uh, the second piece of advice is never, ever believe anybody. When they tell you they'll call you back, make sure you harassed them to make sure you're at the top of their pile of people. They've spoken to opportunities, come up all the time. People get fired, they leave on medical grounds. They decide they don't want to do it anymore. That's how I ended up in Antarctica for the first time was I was due to go to the following year, the person who was on the ship who had started decided they hated it. But only because I made sure that I stay in contact with the people that I've spoken to. And so when an opportunity comes up, I like to be the last person they spoke to. So I'm the first one they think of to fill, fill that gap. So those two best advice for an instrument always make your callbacks.
Amora Brown:
Okay. That's smart advice. Do you recommend that people present their own original work as well too? Or do you think it's a better idea that they don't present their original work because do they lose rights to it or do you stand out if you make your own original pieces?
Aidan Moore:
Generally for, for bar work to be entertaining, people want to be able to sing along and dance to things that they know. So one of the things that I do, because I'm a solo act, I make my own arrangements of existing songs and in terms of intros and things like that. And also because I don't have a band or another guitarist to play solo. And so I started looping. I made it my own, but they were songs that everybody wanted to sing along to. And that's really key, but it doesn't hurt to throw some of your material in it. And often I get asked if I can play some of my own songs. So what I do on the ships is to sell CDs and on when I sell the CDs, it's a mixture of my songs and covers as well.
Amora Brown:
That's, that's really cool for someone who is new to getting their feet wet into this industry. Like, and I, and it is a different direction of the industry. What advice would you give them into it? Like, do you, would you say, like, to be competitive, you need a certain amount of experience or to be competitive, you need a certain amount of training or what exactly, or is it really just like being the first person on someone's mind when an opportunity comes up?
Aidan Moore:
The first thing is clearly you need to be at a level where you can entertain. So it's not just a case of, you know, there's, there's lots of people that can play guitar really well, or they can sing really well. You don't have to be able to do either to an exceptionally high standard, but you have to be entertaining in front of people. So when you're dealing with lunchtime shows on the pool deck, you could have 1000, 2000+ people listening to you. And so you have to be able to present something that is that they want to listen to and be able to, to bounce it and talk with the audience, to be able to take requests and things like that. It's funny that you say, get your feet wet. Cause that's actually the last thing you want to do on a cruise ship.
Aidan Moore:
But certainly, if you're feet away, there's definitely a problem. But, um, but certainly getting in the door what's more important is to have, you know, good quality showreel footage. So some of my earliest showreels were not that great. Um, and I was given some advice by one of the agencies I worked with. So I went back and I went, I borrowed a friend's studio and a better camera. And I edited the video. And instead of just kind of, you know, sending them one or two songs fully, I learned how to edit video a little bit with just using YouTube tutorials, but enough that I could create some showreel footage of 5-7 minutes of approximately a minute per song, showcasing different styles, you know, some pop, maybe a cover of a rock song, something maybe that original, whatever it is, but it just has to be good quality footage and good same quality. I have a home studio here. I use a Focusrite Scarlet package, and it's a relatively cheap system which gives really good audio results. Um, and the same with a camera, you know, inexpensive.
Amora Brown:
Social media accounts could work too can't they?.
Aidan Moore:
They can, but they don't necessarily count for much when you're working in that industry because they're not necessarily looking for people who can bring, um, if you worked with, for example, say if I to a bar or a restaurant here, or, um, you know, a venue here and said, I want to do some gigs, they would probably look at my social media because they would want to know that if I'm playing, I have at least some kind of fan base or following that will bring people through the door, but on a cruise, it's a captive market. The people that go onto hotel resorts and cruises, cause I don't just do cruises as I do hotels and resorts internationally as well. But those people are going on their vacation, whether I'm there or not. So they don't need to actually book me on the strength of how, how many fans or how many followers I have.
Aidan Moore:
So that's one key thing. If I stopped maintaining a website after a while because there was no financial benefit to me paying for a website and web space when I didn't need to. What I needed to do was make sure that my show material was good. Um, so I used in, I stopped my website, I stopped my business cards and I put that money towards investing in some home studio equipment that that meant I could record high quality footage. So that's more important in the industry that I'm in. If you're a local band and you're trying to make it and you want to sell shows and do things in your hometown, absolutely social media presence is a must. And being able to demonstrate, you know, certainly if you want to be booked for festivals, I've did some festivals back in the UK and back then I had a good fan base in the UK. So I was able to say, I interact with all of these people, you know, and they want to come along to a show. So when they're selling tickets, the promoters will make some money, but they don't need to make any money from me. The, in the venues that I play out. So it's a slightly different kind of way of, of, of making a career from music.
Amora Brown:
Oh, wow. Okay. So you're positioning yourself completely different. And that's really interesting to know is that this is how you position yourself. If you're going to be singing on a cruise ship, if you don't necessarily need to have a social media account, it's more about being a good performer and people enjoy watching you perform as opposed to bringing people in the door because the tickets are already sold.
Aidan Moore:
Exactly. I use my social media accounts for, for two purposes. First of all, is keeping in touch with friends and family back home when I'm traveling, because I'm often away. My contracts are normally anywhere between five and seven months at a time. So it's a good way to kind of keep in touch with people when I'm away. But the other good thing is I have, so I have my own personal account, but then I also have an acoustic musician page. And that's useful for guests that come to the hotels or come on the ships to be able to have a way to interact with you. They can leave feedback for you. They can say I've really enjoyed that show or thank you for learning that song that I requested, et cetera. So it's a way for you to interact with people that you've already met, as opposed to, you know, trying to gain new followers, you know, for, for, for a band that is playing original material and wants to get a foot up a ladder to bigger and better venues, they have to be able to demonstrate that they've got a big fan base, but I don't need that.
Aidan Moore:
Mine is more to communicate with people that are either on the ship or guests that have left. You know quite often guests will come back. I've had, I've made some good friends over the years from people that have been out- onto into the resorts or ships and I've come back because they've enjoyed the entertainment, not just me, but the show teams and the dance has and everybody else, but they rebook their vacation based on how much they enjoy the entertainment. And I- if you're a part of that process, which I have been, you know, it's nice for them to be able to leave a feedback and comments. And also that helps because you can send that feedback to promoters and agents for booking and say, "I want to be paid this much, not this much. And the reason I'm worth this much is because I have all of this feedback from, from these guests to say how much they enjoyed it".
Amora Brown:
Wow. Yeah. That's a good way to show your worth.
Aidan Moore:
Yeah. And at the beginning, you know, like, like every other job, when you start out, you take a job at the salary that you're offered and then gradually you begin to meet other musicians or the performers, and you begin to get a better idea of what you're worth in the industry based on what you provide. I worked hard to put together three or four headline shows that I performed in the main theater stages, as well as being a bar musician on the ships. And so for those reasons, I get a better salary, but that took a long time. I mean, I've been in the industry for over a decade and a half. And so the things that I am able to do now and can ask for, I certainly wasn't able to do that when I started. In fact, my first ever contract, they said to me, "you need at least a hundred songs".
Aidan Moore:
And I said, "Of course, I've got a hundred songs". When I came to all the songs that were in my repertoire at that time, I was like, oh, I've only got like 45. I thought I had loads more than what I did. So I sort of lied a little bit and blagged my way and said, "oh, of course I've got them". And I wrote out a list of songs that I didn't yet know, but I was able to learn them, adding them to my repertoire, making sure I could remember how to play them, how the lyrics, when, and I have an iPad with, um, with the lyrics on. So I don't need to worry about remembering words.
Amora Brown:
Well, I have a question for you from the previous interviewee. Her name is Cynthia D. Hilaire and she is an actress and a writer and she wrote a book of monologues. And her question for you is "what is your purpose and what is your why?".
Aidan Moore:
Oh, that's a really good question. I, I'd like to think my purpose is to bring a smile to people's faces. Um, there's nothing that makes me happier than when people have enjoyed a performance. And it sounds like it comes from a place of vanity or arrogance, but it is, it's truly about making somebody happy. And quite often, I- over the years, I've built an extensive repertoire of songs. Currently my song repertoire is somewhere between 6 and 700 songs. And so in amongst that there are some really unusual songs. Songs you might not expect somebody to cover on an acoustic guitar. I'll give you a good example. I was working in Crete, in a hotel at and I met a family. A young girl came up to me. She was nine years old. And she said to me, "Do you know any ACDC?". And this is a nine year old girl.
Aidan Moore:
And I looked at her parents and I said, "Is this a request from your mommy and daddy by any chance?". And her mum came over to me, her mum overheard, but her mum came to me and said, "Actually, she's a really big fan". And I said, "Well, I don't have any ACDC. It doesn't really necessarily go very well with acoustic guitar, but I'll tell you what I'll do tomorrow. I have nothing to do. I'll go away and I'll spend some time and I'll learn- I learned something by them". So I learned was it no, not "back in black", it was "highway to hell". I'm not a song you would expect an acoustic guitarist to be covering. And I didn't tell the girl, but when I started playing it the next night, all of a sudden she turned around and her little eyes lit up and she was like, "That's my song! That's my song!" And so for me, that's my purpose. It's to use music in a way that makes people come to life and to, to put a spark back in to their day. I think that's probably about the best way I could put it.
Amora Brown:
Thank you for that answer. That's a wonderful answer.
Amora Brown:
Now for you. What is a question that you think I should ask the next interviewee? And it could be anything in the world, but I want it to be from you and I want it to be creative.
Aidan Moore:
Okay. I, I'm very lucky that I have my one of my dream jobs. And I would imagine that it's the same for most of the people that you interview or talk to they either have, or aspiring to, to their dream job. But if they weren't doing what it was that they are currently doing or want to do, what would be their alternative choice of dream career?
Amora Brown:
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Aiden, for coming on the show today.
Aidan Moore:
My absolute pleasure. Thank you very much for having me. I've enjoyed it.
Amora Brown:
How can we support you in your future work?
Aidan Moore:
Well at the moment, that question is open-ended because it very much depends on the pandemic situation, but what would be great is as soon as bars and venues begin to open back up for live music, it'd be lovely to have some support from you guys. If you want to put a note to say that I'm playing a show somewhere, then it'd be nice to have some of the guys that are listening, come along and say, "Hi!" And if they listen to the podcast to come and say "Hi" and let me know what they thought it was nice to meet people over here. I've been in the states for a year, but with the pandemic, I haven't got to meet too many people yet. So I'm really looking forward to some of those doors reopening and starting to hopefully make some traction with a music career here in the states. So that would be fantastic.
Amora Brown:
That's going to be super dope. We can't wait to hear more from you and see, where did you go after COVID what happens and how we can just see the growth. So we're looking forward to that.
Aidan Moore:
As the song says from here, the only way is up. So we shall see what happens. So thank you very much for having me.
Amora Brown:
Thank you so much, Aidan.
Aidan Moore:
No worries. Take care guys. Thank you.
Amora Brown:
Absolutely.
Aidan Moore:
Byebye
Amora Brown (Outro):
If you find the Corpartainment podcast valuable, there are a few ways you can help support us. You can leave a review with your podcast app, subscribe to the channel, or share our podcast on social media with your friends. My goal is to eventually use this podcasts as a launch pad to creating movies and music. It will be so cool to have you along during that journey. If you like our content and want to help it grow professionally, please consider becoming a regular supporter on Patreon at patreon.com/corpartainment. Your financial donations will help to make this dream possible. On our Patreon page, we offer early episodes lists, your name on our YouTube episodes and more to all of you who have shared left a comment and subscribe to our Patreon. Thank you so much. And to all of you listening now, thank you for joining and we'll see you all on the next episode.