Fife composer on building businesses to fuel his musical ambitions

The Courier

2 days ago

Newburgh composer and entrepreneur Matthew Rooke has been in the creative arts for more than 40 years.
He has worked on various international and national theatre productions and was an orchestrator for big budget Netflix film Outlaw King.
He founded Matthew Rooke Music & Generals Yard in 1997 to promote his music and theatre work.
Since then he has founded and contributed to several companies and start-ups to sustain his creative pursuits.
He was the first music fellow for Perth Concert Hall in 2010 and has been an honorary professor of music and theatre at St Andrews University since 2017.
Matthew answered our questions on his biggest struggles, achievements and more.
The arts world is driven by passion but to sustain a career in the creative industries You have to become an entrepreneur and administrator to survive.
My early career advice is to work on as many projects as possible, no matter how lowly they might seem. That is how people get to know you. You never really know what is coming next and so much comes down to chance.
As a composer and orchestrator my work has been performed by leading orchestras here and in the US. I've worked on major Hollywood films such as Outlaw King and When Fish Begin To Crawl.
My parents were truly supportive and encouraged me to do things and go to places that they wouldn't have dreamed of for themselves. There have been a number of inspirational and supportive people who have guided me.
Self-help is crucial. I've always run other businesses alongside my musical career to provide financial stability.
The very best advice I received was from FSB when I was running a million-pound turnover theatre business.
A specialist tax adviser helped me make the case for altering the VAT structure that I had inherited, resulting in reclaiming almost 100% of the VAT that we incurred instead of only 50%.
Back in 2000 I set up a company which was going to record guided tours for heritage sites for mobile phones. We were told that the files would be too big to download and so we had to give up.
Meanwhile there was a company which was using the same model as we proposed but for video. That company was Netflix.
The moral is don't automatically assume someone else knows your business better than you do just because you are starting out.
I've built a succession of successful start-up businesses that have enabled me to keep working in the arts and leisure sector for over 40 years and raise a family.
You have to shop around for the very best deals possible and drive out unnecessary costs, while keeping a focus on quality.
I want to develop high quality holiday provision especially for people and families where there are people with physical disabilities.
The offer is still too limited and there is unmet demand from people.
The government is making it very difficult for holiday lets and the business which benefit from it.
They have singled out this sector for a more onerous tax regime.
A level playing field will help spur further investment and growth.