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This week we have a catch-up with Jessica Mitchell at GC Partners. Since 2003, GC Partners have been supporting clients within the music industry, by maximising the international royalty earnings and over sea’s revenue from Affiliate societies and distributing to the members & publishers around the world, reducing both cost and time via its portfolio of specialist foreign currency services.

FIRSTLY PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO AT GC PARTNERS AND HOW YOU WORK WITH MUSIC MANAGERS AND OTHER COMPANIES WITHIN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.

Hi I’m Jess and I manage the Music sector at GC Partners, an international currency & payment provider. We help our clients maximise their international income, support societies on their monthly distributions to their members, manage currency risk due to market fluctuations & avoid unnecessary bank fees. Music societies, artists, publishers, managers, producers etc can all benefit from our service and utilise our market leading exchange rates and our payments platform which can deliver payments in any currency to over 125 countries. Last year alone we exchanged over $7bn in currency & achieved one of the highest ratings on Trustpilot (4.9 out of 5)!

WHAT NEW MUSIC RELEASES ARE YOU ENJOYING CURRENTLY?

My lockdown playlists changes daily & music has certainly made the last year more enjoyable. POPSMOKE & Roddy Rich have released some great songs in the last year & I’m also really enjoying DIPLO, who I first saw performing at Ultra Music Festival in 2014 and it’s amazing to see his continued success.

WHAT WAS THE LAST REAL LIFE GIG YOU WENT TO?

New year’s eve 2019, Las Vegas watching one of my favourite DJ’s Calvin Harris. Little did I know it was my last holiday and concert for a while!!

OUTSIDE OF TOURING – HOW DOES GC PARTNERS HELP ARTISTS/MANAGERS BE MORE EFFICIENT WITH THEIR MONEY ON THE DISTRIBUTION SIDE OF THINGS?

If you’re receiving or making payments internationally then GC Partners can help you save money and time. Whether it’s a one off payment or regular payments you want to be avoiding using your bank as their currency rates and fees can really eat into your profit. We assist the music sector with an easy platform to distribute to their members under the tight deadlines and provide extremely competitive rates to ensure the artist and business receives more for their hard earned royalties and income (instead of the bank) .
If you’re a business, we also provide multi-currency bank accounts which can receive up to 24 currencies in one place so you have complete control over your money. If your planning on making regular payments in a certain foreign currency and want to protect yourself in case the currency rate moves adversely then we have solutions to help here too.

HOW HAS BUSINESS BEEN FOR YOU SINCE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HIT?  ANY SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES?  HOW ARE YOU ARE ADAPTING YOUR SERVICES?

2020 was a challenging year for all but as a business we were quick to set up our operation so employees could work from home and still deliver an exceptional service to our clients. We’re also fortunate to have a built up over the past 17 years a diverse client base across many sectors globally, so we were able to weather the storm quite well. We’ve also seen a strong uptake in the use of our online solutions so we’re investing heavily now and in the future to make this even better. On a team level we’ve all missed the team banter, drinks and events so fingers crossed these will return soon!

DO YOU THINK THERE ARE ANY POSITIVE OPPORTUNITIES OR CHANGES IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY YOU BELIEVE WE WILL SEE HAPPEN “ONCE WE’RE THOUGH THE OTHER SIDE OF ALL THIS” (COVID)?

Virtual concerts, streaming & music through social media platforms have been extremely popular during the pandemic and I believe these platforms have boosted artists profiles and songs, old and new. TikTok in particular (& all the dance routines and challenges) seem to be having a huge impact. Personally I think this will continue post Covid, however nothing can beat the atmosphere and adrenaline of the live music experience which people will never take for granted again.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY TO MANAGERS WHO ARE CONSIDERING WORKING WITH YOU AT GC PARTNERS OR FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU DO IN 2021?

GC Partners sole aim is to save you money and time by offering an alternative solution to your bank.  We can show you a comparison against your historical currency transactions so you can see the types of savings you can achieve by working with us. Best of all we don’t charge commission or retainer fees………..surely that’s a deal you can’t pass up!

Thank you Jessica and GC Partners for supporting the MMF and our membership through our Associate’s programme. You can email Jessica at jessica.mitchell@gcpartners.co or call GC Partners 020 3763 9870.