Student Success – Joe Ridgway

"One of our current HNC students, Joe Ridgway has had some significant success on the back of his studies at HLNSC.

Joe has progressed through the course levels after a challenging time in previous education. He's excelled during his time in Music Tech and this hard work (and talent!) has been rewarded during this last year. While many students were unable to make headway due to the lockdown, Joe was fortunate to continue to forge ahead, using his home studio - getting a composing/production deal in Canada. This deal has enabled him to create music at home using the course-related skills and put backing tracks in the hands of some quite impressive artists.

As such, he was very pleased to share with me this photo - recognition from Spotify that a song he'd created for an artist called "Central Cee", has already achieved 100 million streams.

This will have created both a real and passive income for him, as well as increasing his profile in the genre of music he creates. It also further reinforces his business plan in terms of career once he graduates.

Joe now has another few releases with other artists coming out throughout the year, and he is becoming known as a respected producer.

I'm both very pleased for him and really proud of what he's accomplished. He also wants to continue his studies on the HND next year, thus further developing his skills.

Generally, aside from the usual inspiration from the staff, it's great to have a real-world example for the students of what can happen through hard work, a little bit of luck, and application of talent.

There's also an aspect of stardom for him, as some of our younger Music Tech students have recognised him, follow him on social media and talk about him in classes!" – Dan Armstrong, Music Technology Lecturer