Suomeksi
Posts
Marcus Tikkanen works as a songwriter at a Dutch company called Roseville Publishing, which is a joint publishing fund between songwriter Radboud Miedema & Strengholt Music Group. He has a author-publisher agreement with the company and has for example co written the new Lucas & Steve – Up till Dawn (On the Go) song which made it to the Dutch top40 #2 and has sold platinum. Other songs that Tikkanen wanted to mention by Radboud Miedema are Lost Frequencies feat. Janieck Devy – Reality and Alle Farben & Janieck - Little Hollywood that are known worldwide.
Tikkanen started his career back in 1998 with playing the guitar as a hobby. He played in several bands until 2011 when he lost his faith in it and wanted to give up. In 2014, he decided to give music one more chance and applied to TAMK for Music Production study path. After being accepted into the university he gained interest in the business and professional side of music and deciding between focusing on being a producer or a composer/songwriter he chose to go for the latter.
“I wanted to see for one last time if music could offer me a future as a professional.”
The turning point for Tikkanen in his professional career was in 2015 when TAMK offered a chance to travel to the Netherlands to participate in a co-writing session. During this week, he got to know someone who knew Radboud Miedema who after hearing Marcus’ music gained interest in him. It still took a lot of work to convince them but it was still a game of luck. Tikkanen said that he happened to be at the right place at the right time but still it was because of his own hard work that he has gotten this far and landed the contract.
Studying at TAMK has been an eye opening experience for Tikkanen. He emphasized especially the possibility to use the facilities that are available for the students. You have to be active yourself and use everything you have at hand and this school provided the chance to use professional equipment and studios. Tikkanen also praised the teachers and the school in general for being so flexible with balancing his studies and career. He said that without them this would not have been possible.
“If we wouldn’t have these facilities available I would have had to record in a closet.”
Working as a professional in any creative field is challenging and competitive. That is why, especially in the beginning, you should seize every possibility you come across and try to make as many connections as you can. You can never know where it will end up leading to and each chance can make it or break it. Hard work mixed with a bit of luck pays off in the end.
And now once more enjoy this piece that has been co written by Marcus Tikkanen!
