BIMM London alumna starts Gurushack
At BIMM Institute, we’re incredibly proud of what our alumni go on to achieve. Our alumni find success in all areas of the music industry. Just look at Nikki Camilleri and the launch of her own online industry connection platform, Gurushack.
Nikki Camilleri is a BIMM Institute London graduate, and now a music industry professional, with experience across marketing, the live sector, distribution and A&R. Soon after graduating from our BA (Hons) Music Business course, Nikki landed herself a job at Believe Digital in A&R, since then, she has created a music business of her own alongside co-founders Kwame Kwaten and Jonny Taylor.
Gurushack is a platform that connects artists with industry folk, taking into consideration the budget and needs of each individual artist. Nikki has some great industry involvement and backing too, especially during a time when staying independent seems more important than ever before.
Nikki served as MD to an award-winning events and arts management company in her home country of Malta before moving to London to continue her work in the music industry. Nikki’s work spans across live music festivals such as Glastonbury and The Great Escape, record labels, and music distributors, seeing her sign a number of growing international, independent artists including James Vickery, Ayelle, Eugy, Feng Suave and Alfa Mist, to name a few.
So, how does Gurushack work?
First, you browse the gurus and see who you think might be the right fit for you. Then, you drop Gurushack an inquiry so they can guide you on budget and recommend the best person for your needs. They will then get you personally connected to book in and begin work. At the moment, you can also sign up for a free 20-minute workshop to meet some of the gurus and the team.
We caught up with Nikki to find out more about her latest success.
What gave you the idea to start the Gurushack platform?
One problem I kept on hearing about was that artists struggled to find proper help; paying large sums for promotion, which never came through; having bad experiences with music business professionals, or finding themselves in bad deals. Chatting about this one afternoon – and hearing more about the consultancy work Kwame and Jonny were doing (and always found themselves booked out for) – we thought: why not create a new startup that helps artists do just that?
We’ve seen more and more artists go down this route: working with freelance teams for a project or even long-term. It allows them to keep their rights and control whilst working with the best people for each project, who they can have direct contact with.
What’s the criteria for becoming a guru?
We handpick every guru, ensuring that they are champions of independent artists. We also make sure that they are individuals who we have previously worked with, so we can vouch for their work first-hand. Any new gurus who are interested in joining Gurushack go through a thorough vetting process where we test their service, so you don’t have to!
How many people have you successfully paired together?
Last week, we hit a milestone of 50 bookings in four months, which we are ecstatic about! That’s over 100 people paired up. It’s also fantastic to see that a lot of these artists and independent managers are already returning to book further sessions – the best testament to being a happy customer!
How did your time at BIMM help with Gurushack’s inception?
I really enjoyed my time at BIMM! I think that the flexibility and practicality of the course – which had us physically set up a small label and run events – allowed me to go out and do my own work in the industry. This – and my preference for learning by doing – definitely added to my entrepreneurial spirit.
What do you hope the future holds?
We’re really excited for everything Gurushack has in store as the go-to source for independent artists. We’ve only just started pushing out aspects of it, which have been getting a great response, and we have so many other ideas in the works. We hope to help many more artists on their journey. After all, that’s the main passion and driving force behind why we created Gurushack.
Discover more of our student success stories here – and more about Gurushack via their website or Instagram page. They have just started offering FREE workshops to help guide independent artists during these challenging times. You can sign up here.