Tuned On - Behind the music industry Dapz on the Map, Matchstick, #PA$$IONPA¥$ @ Aston Manor Academy

Tuned On – Behind the Scenes

This instalment of Tuned On brings a line-up of four talented individuals that went from having an interest in the music industry to having successful careers. Explore the different avenues and occupations vital for the smooth running of big tours, performances and programming that you never knew existed!

An opportunity to go behind the scenes and find out about the stars behind the star on stage. Learn about the vast amount of occupations that encompass the music industry, and learn exactly how they turned their passion into a full time career.

Deci4 (Compere) – The Chakra Man
Auden Allen, commonly known as ‘Deci4Life’ is a creative practitioner of the arts, music producer/songwriter, a community leader, spoken word artist across the spectrum of music, activist of positive change and health specialist.
In addition to this he works at BPM Studio’s where he specialises in DJ, sound engineering, music production and recording tuition/service. Possessing a wide range of skills and an abundance of positive energy any collaborative team work with him is guaranteed to be a pleasurable experience.
Deci4’ also works with the Capital XTRA Music Potential Programme as songwriting and performance tutor and was selected to represent the whole of Birmingham at the BBC 1 XTRA LIVE Show in 2014 with a spoken word piece entitled ‘I am Birmingham.’
Deci4Life uses his words to challenge young people’s identities and perceptions of how they are valued today. He works with a lot of young people in the local community through workshops, creative projects and also works in schools. This year is the beginning of his new enterprise Allen’s Chakra Juice.
Mark Wilberforce- #PA$$IONPA¥$

Mark Wilberforce joined the BBC after successfully completing a BBC Mentoring Scheme Project. As part of the very first line of production staff at 1Xtra, Mark played an integral role in with the network’s talent recruitment.
Mark’s first role in his broadcasting career was acting as 1Xtra’s assistant music manager (compiling the station’s playlist, scheduling music for daytime programming and coordinating playlist meetings). After a short stint in 1Xtra’s music team, Mark crossed over to programme production as a broadcast assistant.
The role involved setting up interviews (recording and editing them), creating show features, compiling specialist music charts and studio producing live programmes. Mark also enjoyed a brief spell in 1Xtra’s documentary team where he produced a project as part of 1Xtra’s build up the 2012 Olympics called “A Champion’s Playlist” (a documentary exploring the role music plays in the lives of professional sport personalities).
Mark currently works as an independent programme developer and freelance journalist for The BBC World Service. His roles involve creating pitching/suggesting ideas for programming whilst reporting and editing pre-recorded sports and entertainment stories for BBC Africa.


Dapz on the Map- Music Performer
Dapz is one of Birmingham’s foremost performers, Dapz On The Map is an integral part of the next generation of great Grime MCs/singers. He grew up listening to everything from Dancehall, Jungle & Garage to the new sounds of underground Grime & Rap. He combines all of these influences into his own neo-soulful sound, which he developed in his Wolverhampton studio with the guidance of mentor/producer DJ Apostle. Dapz has recently come off the Made in the Manor tour with Kano.

Matchstick- Concrete Music
Matchstick is one of the UK’s leading music industry professionals and club DJs. After seven years working with Warner Music UK, he now runs a thriving Club and Radio promotions company - Concrete Music. Through Concrete Music, he has worked alongside both established and breaking artists such as A$AP Rocky, Angel Haze, Miguel, Ciara, Wiley, and Cleo Sol, to name a few.

As a DJ, Matchstick has represented US artists such as Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Pitbull & J. Cole on promotional club tours across the UK, as well as producing mixtapes for Fat Joe, Missy Elliott and Flo Rida.

Stephen- Playmaker Group
In the year 1999, Stephen started working as a runner for BBC London. Stephen was one of the original members of the 1Xtra team back when it first launched in 2002. Stephen got into producing overnight shows and was also one of the voices of 1Xtra. In the year 2003, Stephen was an A&R scout /club and radio promoter for Atlantic Records. Stephen ran his own studio and also was a manager for Crystal Notes. Stephen is now a studio manager for the company The Playmaker Group since 2010 until present where he works closely alongside the CEO.