THE MOST INFLUENTIAL AND SUCCESSFUL WOMEN ACROSS THE MUSIC AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES SHARE THEIR TOP 5 CAREER LESSONS…
JASMINE DOTIWALA OBE
(MULTI-MEDIA BROADCASTER, TV EXECUTIVE & INCLUSION LEADER)
With over 25 years of media experience, Jasmine Dotiwala has held roles including head of department, manager, broadcaster, producer, director and columnist at a range of companies including Netflix, Media Trust, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky News, MTV and more. She began her career presenting Channel 4’s The Word, hosting the likes of Snoop Dogg, Aaliyah and Mary J Blige, before moving to MTV where she interviewed stars including Jay-Z, Mariah Carey plus Eminem, and headed up MTV Base and MTV Dance. Dotiwala has also hosted radio shows on ChoiceFM and BBC Radio London, and wrote a column in The Voice for 14 years. She went on to work for Channel 4 News, while today she curates talent training programmes for platforms such as Netflix, Media Trust and The King’s Trust, and works with music companies on artist media training. She is also part of the board of directors at ILuvLive and is a member of the BPI Equity & Justice Advisory Group, plus the MOBO and BET International voting academies. Here, she shares some of her wisdom...
1. Building your brand is critical “In 2025, without a digital brand you are lost. People want to know who you
are, what you’ve done, who you’ve worked with, what you sound like and what impact you’ve had. Artists cut through by having a personal brand, using their voice, talking regularly and demonstrating value. That is something I teach my trainees all the time. As a brown woman, I’d always thought, ‘I’m doing so well, my boss tells me I get the number one rated shows every time I compete against my peers, and record labels tell me my interviews are the top rating ones that they have for their artists.’ I also thought I would be spotted, but no one gets spotted. You have to do your own PR all the time to keep demonstrating value. What do you believe in? What are your values? I’ve seen amazing artists never make it because they couldn’t balance their integrity, values, business acumen and their brand with their actual talent.”
2. Virality is nothing if you can’t back it up “It’s difficult, because you can go viral so quickly and be everywhere, but then
you’re never heard of again. It’s about playing the long game. If an artist has gone viral accidentally, then there’s no plan and they may not have a strategy. The internet is this massive monster with tentacles, it wants to know more. The minute young people know about you, your TikTok blows up and you get millions of followers. But what happens next? With every artist I’ve ever worked with, unless they’ve got the live experience, it doesn’t connect. I have seen the best musicians hone their skills by playing live to balance that with going viral, and then they manage to rubber stamp it. Real success rarely happens overnight: every ‘new’ artist you see has likely spent years grafting, writing, recording, performing small gigs and showing up relentlessly online.”
3. Stand for something
“Don’t be afraid to use your platform to speak about what matters to you. Integrity builds deeper fan loyalty than image ever could. The most powerful artists today stand for something real. When I started in this industry, women were often told to look good and sexy on red carpets for the press
and stay quiet, while men got to speak their minds and had a voice. That’s changed, thankfully. Today’s female and non-binary artists are rewriting the rules by being bold, vocal and unapologetically themselves. The new generation is fearless in using their voice. So stay true to your values, understand your why, and use your platform with purpose.”
4. Treat music like a craft and a business “Learn how the business works, your publishing, rights, royalties and
audience data. Be the artist who understands strategy, not just creativity. The ones who last combine art with acumen. They deliver consistently, collaborate widely, and treat every release or performance as part of a long-term plan. In today’s age, an artist cannot just focus on their music. I always say to people, ‘Are you doing this because you want to be famous, and to get in the charts? And if you do, then you have to own that, because that’s the forward North Star ambition you’re looking for. Or could you still do the thing that you love, which is writing music and making a lot more money, [but] not being known or seen?’ A lot of my musician friends make music and vocals for TV, film, theatre and radio; they earn a bomb doing that. You can make money in music in various different ways and I think that’s where, often, people don’t really own what their ambition is.”
5. Media training is important
“Talent will open the door, but professionalism keeps it open. Turn up on time, treat crews and journalists with respect, and understand that media is part of the ecosystem that can help you grow. Work with the media and be 100% committed to understanding it. The media training that I do, whether it’s for content creators or label heads, they all need guidance on how to shape their thoughts and talk on behalf of themselves and their business. Everywhere you go, everyone’s got a camera. The minute you act out, people are going to film it and you’re going to be viral for the wrong reasons and, as we’ve seen, you can be cancelled in a minute. You can play by your own rules, but first, understand the game you’re in.”
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74 | Music Week
musicweek.com
CURATED BY GIR’s
CARLA MARIE WILLIAMS MBE
INTERVIEW: Colleen Harris PHOTO: Paul James Stephenson
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