About Lee Pritchard

Currently…

I am the founder and project director of Media Music Now.

My business is based about 6 miles outside the city of Manchester, United Kingdom. However, don’t ask me about Manchester United Football Club, you will probably just get a blank look. I know nothing about football despite living down the road from one of the most famous football teams in the world.

By choice, I spend virtually all of my time involved in music and my business activities. With a background as a composer / sound engineer / business owner it was inevitable that I would be highly motivated in the area of music.

I can often be found in my beautiful apartment located on the outskirts of the city. This is the epicenter of my activities with Media Music Now. The business has a technical infrastructure and support network that is purposely designed to allow me to be hands on with the business no matter where I am located in the world.

I have a life long passion for music; composing it, playing it, producing it and being around others who are involved in it.

My Goal

On a personal level, I believe good relationships, trust and integrity are essential for any kind of success and a happy life.
My business objective is to grow an ethical company that provides affordable web-based products but with a personal touch. Access to commissioning bespoke pieces, audio editing / sound design and educating are also part of the big picture.
Being good for the music maker is a core value and the barometer to every decision I make. If the music maker is looked after there will always be quality music available. By providing a personal touch and having a flexible attitude, Media Music Now will avoid becoming just a faceless website.

On a personal note!

On rare days off I can be found on my balcony with family and friends enjoying a cold beer and one of our nations finest dishes. The good old Tikka Massalla!

I find being idol hard work but force myself to take time out by tending to my home grown organic herbs, vegetables and flowering hanging baskets. This proves to be very therapeutic and the ideal antidote to the cut and thrust of running a royalty free music business.

When I get the opportunity, I like to go walking and camping in the UK with the occasional trip to a country that has more sunny days per year than Manchester. Not too difficult given Manchester’s reputation for raining!

Best Regards
Lee Pritchard

Previously…

Born 24 August 1971, Lee exhibited musical aspirations from about the age of 11, when he took up the trombone and joined the Bradbury Boys School Brass Band.

Having developed to a high standard, Lee played in a variety of bands and did work as a session musician. His longest position in a band lasted for 6 years, with the Ashton-on-Mersey show band, under the musical directorship of the late Ernie Waites MBE.

Playing venues all over the UK and abroad, some of his notable gigs included the Free Trade Hall, Manchester; The Ballroom Tower, Blackpool; Aiya Napa Town, Cyprus; Universal Studios and Walt Disney World, Florida.

A Change of Direction

In his late teens, Lee realised that day jobs were extremely counter-productive to being a musician and creative thinker, so he embarked on a succession of mini-enterprises to run alongside his music. These included: garden maintenance, flower sales, building and hiring out PA speakers and developing and leading a team of catalogue distributors with Kleeneze plc. An eclectic mix by anyone’s standards!

Although the adrenalin buzz from performing live to an audience can be addictive to some, Lee was beginning to tire of the limelight and developed an interest in music composition and recording.

By his mid 20’s, he became an obsessive music “tech head” and was looking for ways to make a living from his new knowledge. As a self-taught composer, Lee began to work with professional cabaret acts, providing original show music for introductions and adverts that would invariably end up touring the country as show jingles.

Working with solo acts and tribute bands, Lee became adept at creating backing tracks, which led him into doing live sound engineering and producing lighting for whole shows.

Whist on the road and managing an act, Lee decided it was time to get some formal qualifications and despite high demand for places, he managed to get himself an unconditional place on a Music Technology HND at City College Manchester.

Getting off to a False Start

Lee successfully graduated the two-year course, whilst at the same time managing, producing and sound engineering a touring act. Although still a musician, Lee had now developed the mindset of a young entrepreneur - his sights were set on new and exciting high-risk music ventures.

As his consolidated project for his HND, Lee had devised a plan to develop a mobile recording business. After raising the finance to buy all the professional equipment required, he was off!

Enthusiasm and confidence were sadly not enough and in his naivety he was financed up to the eyeballs with overly-optimistic targets to succeed. It didn’t work but in true entrepreneurial style Lee picked himself up and started to pull himself back from the brink.

Now in his late 20’s, Lee was doing all sorts, from sound engineering to van driving. With his passion for music still intact and his desire to succeed stronger than ever, Lee had been developing an idea of a website for music downloads.

However, the world of websites was pretty unfamiliar, so he secured an investment from the Princes Trust and Trafford Business Venture which helped him to get started.

Zejo.com was born and he soon had a team of people, who later became shareholders. Despite best efforts though, things didn’t go according to plan, so in July 2005, Lee resigned as CEO and with the shareholders, decided to dissolve the company.

Lee sees this as an essential learning curve and is positive about the whole thing, despite the trauma and the minimal financial benefit that came out of the company:

“Being a successful entrepreneur does not always happen overnight. Learning from failures is a key part of the process and you have to take responsibility for your decisions.” explains Lee.

Lee announced that he would start again and as he was in the process of applying for Dragons’ Den, one investor who had great belief in Lee and his conviction, decided to support him.

Lee registered MediaMusicNow.com and in the same time-frame met Duo web design, who expressed an interest in the concept of music for website and media use.

“After a series of meetings, it was clear that Duo were the best company to do the new site. In four years of working with website developers and talking to technical people, I have never come across a company like Duo. They interpret your vision and ideas into a great looking website and provide you with all the tools you need to maintain, expand and develop your site without the need for their intervention. For a website like Media Music Now, developing new content, adding music and making changes quickly is essential for success.”

Media Music Now - A New Era

Learning and developing from previous experience, Lee is now relentlessly driving Media Music Now forward. It was formed in July 05 and launched online in January 06. Sales are coming in and the company is quickly building a reputation for quality professional music without the complications.

The music is provided by independent composers, artists and bands and is set to grow steadily from the 15 who are currently on board. At present, there are 700 tracks available for download. (30/03/06)

Lee has accumulated in-depth knowledge and skills from years of creative and business activity. He has truly developed the mind of an entrepreneur, spending many hours studying the teachings of self-made entrepreneurs.

Lee has made many sacrifices to be able to persist with his music ventures and exploit his huge passion for music but believes that he can make Media Music Now the success it deserves to be. Watch this space, as they say!