We caught up with Ian Hogarth, who founded Songkick.com and went on to win the British Council’s UK Young Music Entrepreneur competition 2010. The competition was tight, but Ian’s knowledge of Mandarin, his amazing presentation skills and his innovative business ideas helped him land the coveted title.

For those who can’t view the video, check the transcipt of Ian’s interview, below -

British Council Young Creative Entrepreneur team (YCE) : Just tell us a little bit about your experience with China before you went on the trip.

IH: Sure, I’ve been really passionate about China since I was 18. I went there for the first time in 1998 to study Mandarin and I just got completely infected with how quickly the country was changing – I’d never seen anything like it before. This was prior to China winning the Olympic bid and prior to the level of discussion about what a growing market it was. It really felt like I was seeing something no one else was seeing. I kept going back, in 2003, and then 2005, to study Mandarin. I knew it was somewhere I wanted to be for a significant portion of my life.

YCE: And how did you hear about the award?

IH: I think several people emailed me the application the day it came out because they saw China, music and technology and they knew those were the three things I really liked. It was kind of obvious to send it to me.

YCE: Having already been to China, why did you think it was a good programme for you?

IH: My knowledge of the Chinese music industry was quite organic. I used to DJ in Beijing, playing in hip hop clubs there. I was friends with a bunch of promoters, venues and agents as a result, but I didn’t know the industry from the top down. I thought the British Council’s connections into China would be on a far higher level than the ones that I had and the introductions would give me a more holistic view overall. I was also really excited about spending time with other entrepreneurs who were passionate about changing the music industry.

YCE: When you got there, how did you find it in terms of what you thought it would be and where it actually was?

IH: It felt similar to where it had been, but my sense of the opportunities increased as a result to being introduced to the nuances of what was actually going on there. When I was there before, I was doing a show here and doing a show there, and not that aware of what was going on a higher level. When I went back, I met the biggest festival promoter in China, who the British Council introduced us to, and one of the most successful promoters in Beijing and talked to MySpace in China… I really got a top down view that there is opportunity there and I can go and start doing things. Although we’ll make baby steps in China, [Songkick.com] will launch there as a result of this trip.

YCE: What have you taken from this experience that will help your business in the UK?

IH: The most helpful insights have been through the other delegates on the trip. If you look at all of us, you’ve got Jack Horner, who has an amazing understanding of how brands relate to music – I didn’t know anything about that before the trip, really. Karen Piper spends all of her time trying to think of how to help bands market themselves online. Storme Whitby-Grubb thinks about bands going on tour, it was really fascinating to learn about her side of the industry. Nikhil Shah is an amazing entrepreneur and the way that he thinks about things is very much from the view of radio, again, not something I know all that much about. Really the biggest thing was spending time with the other delegates.

In terms of China, learning market details was great, for instance, two thirds of concert tickets are sold at the doors, rather than in advance. Or learning that there are 5000 rock concerts in China a year, versus the 500,000 in the UK every year, for a population that’s ten times our size.

YCE: Have you kept in touch with the other finalists?

IH: It’s hard not to. We had a slightly unusual circumstance, since we were stranded there [due to the volcano]. All of us spent more time socially and we really hit it off. I suspect that when I look back in ten years, getting to know these four people at this time in my career was the most valuable thing to come out of the award.

Ian Hogarth is the founder of Songkick.com and winner of this year’s British Council Young Music Entrepreneur

To find out more about the Young Creative Entrepreneur programme, visit www.creativeconomy.wordpress.com, follow them on Twitter or join them on Facebook.