Most career advisors will tell you that breaking into the music industry is a bit like breaking into a high security prison: it’s extremely difficult and, given the state of things on the inside, you’d probably have to be mad to try.

But the allure of making a living out of a passion ensures a ready stream of budding Alan McGees, Tony Wilsons and Malcolm McClarens.

Nick Godwyn, the A&R man who discovered and managed Amy Winehouse, insists that a passion for music and an entrepreneurial attitude are the most important assets. His own career is a case in point.

“I was working at British Steele and XTC brought out a single, Making Plans for Nigel, which had the line ‘Nigel works for a British steel…Nigel’s future is as good as sealed.’, and I just thought: ‘That’s me’.

“Punk was happening, everyone was in a band, and I thought I’d better get on the other side of it.”

He quit his job, went on the dole and managed a band, The Second Windows. Haven’t heard of them? That’s because nobody has. They were never signed – the first lesson is that you have to want it enough for the inevitable set-backs and sacrifices.

“Are you prepared to eat baked beans and toast and live in a bedsit for two years? You have to be prepared to not make any money and suffer for your art.”

By the mid-eighties, Godwyn was working for a distribution company.

“I was on the phone to, say, Our Price in Croydon, asking how many Billy Bragg records they wanted”, he recalls.

“I remember when we sold a hundred, Billy and I sat down on a bark bench and had a beer to celebrate!”.

The next lesson is that part-timers need not apply. Even if you are lucky enough to know someone at a record company, you’ll still be expected to slave for free for a while.

“Every night I’m on Myspace, or at the local pub seeing the new bands, or going into record shops – not that we have that many left. You should always be looking to see how you can get involved.

“If the radio station is putting on a gig, can you get a band on it? Are the student union putting on nights?”

The music business is no place for niceties or carefully-written rejection letters. “There’s no business etiquette. People don’t call you back. You have to be very motivated and hear a hundred ‘No’s before you get one yes.”

But, now that every fan downloads music and every band hopes to follow the Arctic Monkeys road to success, is the record industry itself in the midst of a long, slow death?

Apparently not. “There are good bands out there, and someone needs to discover them”, he says.

- Nick Godwyn is an ambassador for O2 Undiscovered 2008. Whether you want to be the next Radiohead, Timbaland or Malcolm McLaren get yourself along to O2 Undiscovered’s Regional Workshops as part of the O2 Wireless Weekenders happening across the UK throughout May. Music experts including management, promoters and musicians will be on hand to pass on tips about making it in the music business. For more information and to book your free place, log onto http://www.o2undiscovered.co.uk

The workshops:

Glasgow Academy 2, May 10

Manchester Academy 2, May 17

Birmingham Academy 2, May 24

Bristol Academy, May 31

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