Published in the Daily Echo, Friday 16th July.

There are some people who think that Motown is just a style of music rather than the famous record label that came out of Detroit.

Whether the seeds of similar success are being sown in Southampton by Sotown Records has yet to be seen but the cause is a worthy one.

Sotown is based at Oasis Academy Lordshill as part of their personalised learning department.

They run courses about the music business with students gaining qualifications based on composing, performing and marketing their music.

It’s run like a proper label with the music uploaded and sold on iTunes.

They recently released an album called “The View From Here” ranging from Grime to Folk via Hip-Hop and Indie and featuring tracks by Tee MC, Lil Mike, Charlotte Jones, Daisy Wheeller, The Noobs and Youth Culture.

Sotown is aimed students who are in need of an alternative curriculum, Bernard Andrews told me: “The course keeps young people in education by providing a logical reason to stay engaged with society.”

The theory is that by learning to enjoy what they do they find a place in the business at a level they are comfortable with be it management, a technician or a musician.

“It’s up to them to justify their role,” Bernard continued, “you don’t want to fill people with X-Factor fantasies.”

It’s early days for this label but at the grass roots already the sound of learning sounds great. Bernard thinks they’ll be bearing fruit come January.