This year’s Sound City+ Conference will take place in Liverpool on Friday 2nd May with a packed schedule of future-facing discussions, workshops, masterclasses and networking opportunities confirming Sound City’s place at the heart of the music business, championing and supporting new creative and industry talent.
This year sees the Sound City+ Conference team up with the BPI, the representative voice for the UK’s world-leading record companies and labels businesses.
As part of the conference, BPI will bring its In Tune With Tomorrow Summit to Liverpool, extending the reach of this acclaimed event beyond London for the first time.
Forming a core strand of the Sound City+ Conference, BPI’s In Tune With Tomorrow Summit will present a full day of future-facing content on how the music industry can support creative and industry talent and champion human-led creativity.
During In Tune With Tomorrow at Sound City+, BPI CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE will deliver a keynote address setting out the BPI’s goals, focusing on how the industry can foster an environment where education, human artistry, and investment in music can thrive.
In addition, Isabel Garvey, Chief Operating Officer of Warner Music UK will participate in a fireside chat, exploring what success means in today’s music industry.
Vanessa Bosåen, President of Virgin Music UK will also join BPI’s sessions, leading and shaping key conversations during the day.
As part of its In Tune With Tomorrow Summit, BPI will also present a series of panels themed around the artist journey – looking at education and grass roots development; A&R, marketing and PR, and the live industry; and how artists can have their creative talents recognised at a global level.
A range of expert guest speakers from across the industry are already confirmed for the strand, including Emma Stakes (Head of Creative & Community, Tileyard North), Geoff Meall (Agent, Wasserman), Kate Hendry (Head of Label Operations, Absolute Label Services), Jo Hart (Managing Director, Hart Media), Mark Adams (Founder and CEO, Blinding Talent), Sarah Brown (Head of Label Management, Proper Distribution), with more to be announced coming weeks.
Dr Jo Twist OBE, Chief Executive of BPI, says:
“Following its launch last year, the BPI is delighted to bring its ‘In Tune With Tomorrow’ summit to the Sound City+ Conference. The North West and its surrounding regions have a huge wealth of creative and industry talent that fuels the UK’s thriving record industry, so it makes perfect sense that our second edition of ‘In Tune With Tomorrow’ should take place in Liverpool. With our brilliant industry-wide guest speakers, the BPI’s day of content will highlight and explore the breadth of creative pathways into the music industry, and the essential role that record companies play in developing artist careers and supporting human artistry. It remains essential that our industry nurtures diverse talent from all parts of the UK, as we look to play our full part in realising the nation’s creative potential at a global level. We look forward to being in Liverpool to enjoy its vibrant music culture and thriving industry ecosystem, and to meet as many of the delegates as possible.”
The latest edition of the Sound City+ Conference will stand out as the definitive gathering of the music industry in the North West this year, and will be an essential event for everyone involved in the music industry at a local, regional or national level.
In addition to BPI’s participation, BBC Introducing in Merseyside’s Dave Monks will be presenting a panel exploring the ins and outs of the work the platform does to support emerging grassroots artists. ‘The Power of BBC Introducing’ will cover everything from what happens to the music that gets uploaded, to the journey an artist can take – beginning with radio play on your local show, to picking up support on national BBC Radio, through to potentially being booked to play the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury!
Kelly Betts, Editor of BBC Introducing, says:
“BBC Introducing is thrilled to collaborate with Liverpool Sound City. The insightful content at the conference and the on point festival programming is a perfect fit for BBC Introducing and we’re looking forward to being a part of this year’s event through our own conference sessions, and showcase during the festival.”
Alongside BPI’s conference strand and BBC Introducing’s programming, another wave of speakers are confirmed for the main Sound City+ Conference sessions, including Sumit Bothra (Founder, SB3 Management), Gee Davy (Chief Executive, AIM), Ruth Barlow (Director of Live Licensing, Beggars Group), Jenn Morgan (Business Development Director, Push Entertainment), Damien Platt (Founder, Palms Management), Alison Lamb (Founder, Project Allies), Hannah Beasley-Garrigan (Founder, Repercussion Management), Andy Cooper (Co-founder, Draw & Code).
Digital distributor and artist development platform TuneCore will again host TuneCore House as part of Sound City, with a range of talks, workshops and performances.
PPL and PRS for Music will be returning to Sound City+ to continue their long standing partnership with the conference, hosting an artist-facing session exploring career development and how revenue flows through the music business back to artists.
With a total of 30 speakers now confirmed – and more to be announced in coming weeks – the Sound City+ Conference will be hosting a powerful line up of influential and insightful experts, executives and leaders from a variety of sectors across the music business, including representatives from record labels, digital and creative agencies, marketing companies, artist management, the live industry and more.
This year’s conference will cover topics ranging from artist development, industry diversity, navigating global music markets, the superfan opportunity, and sustainability in the live sector, with many more names and topics still to be announced.
Becky Ayres, Managing Director of Sound City says:
“It’s very exciting to have BPI joining us for the Sound City+ Conference reinforcing Liverpool’s important role as a key city at the heart of the UK’s thriving music industry. We’re bringing some of the industry’s heaviest hitters to Sound City, giving us a superb opportunity to showcase the North West to some of the most influential and exciting music companies in the UK. With BBC Introducing and TuneCore joining the line-up, this year’s conference will be a huge opportunity for local and national industry to connect, collaborate and discuss, and will be a brilliant prelude to the festival weekend.”
Names previously announced include:
Ammo Talwar MBE- CEO @ Punch Records and Chair for the UK Music Diversity Taskforce & KOKO Foundation
Ben Hughes – Founder of artist mentoring programme CherryUp
Fiona McAuley – Senior Director of Digital Marketing UK & EU @ BMG
James Gaster – Managing Director @ Mahogany Music
Karen Emanuel – founder and CEO @ Key Production Group and multi-award winning entrepreneur
Kate Hendry – Head of Label Operations @ Absolute Label Services
Marcel Hunziker – Direct-to-fan digital marketing expert and founder @ PlayLiveArtist
Martha Cleary – Founder of management and PR company Glow Artists
Matt Hanner – Founder of independent booking agency Runway
Nina Kehagia – Marketing & Content Manager for the first global music community for women & gender nonconforming people & allies SheSaidSo
Olivia Hobbs – Award winning entrepreneur and founder of marketing agency – Blackstar
Rosanna Connolly – founder of PR consultancy Morena Comms
Stephanie Haughton-Campbell – Chief Operating Officer @ UK Music
The Sound City+ Conference is a highly regarded gathering for industry leaders, artists, entrepreneurs, creatives and industry practitioners at all levels, and sits alongside a packed festival programme taking over Liverpool’s legendary live music venues.
The showcase festival line up, which will see performances across multiple venues in Liverpool on Sat 3 May and Sun 4 May, includes headliners The Royston Club and Dylan John Thomas alongside fan favourites and exciting breaking names including STONE, Nieve Ella, Rianne Downey, Overpass, Panic Shack, Siobhan Winifred, The Cheap Thrills, KEO, Imogen and the Knife, The Guest List, Alex Spencer, IST IST, Keyside, Allie Sherlock, Delights, Maya Delilah, Brogeal, Cliffords, The Heavy North, Basht, TTSSFU, The Clause, Better Joy, The Stingrays, Mandrake Handshake, Mitch Saunders, Aimee Fatale, Arkayla, Big Sleep, deary, Dirty Blonde, Florence Road, Florentenes and many more.
Continuing a long-standing relationship, Sound City is once again the UK’s lead festival for Keychange, a global movement focused on the restructuring of the music industry to achieve gender equality. Leading a vast array of festivals and events across the UK and beyond, the focus remains on achieving a gender balance across all Sound City events and initiatives. An equal representation of women and diverse genders will play across the Sound City weekend with a range of initiatives, panels and more lined up in collaboration with Keychange over the coming months.
Sound City will also welcome back UK Music for the third year as it hosts the annual Outstanding MAP Graduate Awards (OMGs) on Thu 1 May. The OMGs celebrate the best talent nurtured by the Music Academic Partnership network, which is a ground-breaking collaboration between educational institutions and the membership of UK Music
Sound City is working with many leading and innovative partners, sponsors and funders. These include Arts Council England – supporting new artistic and industry talent and organisations from all corners of the sector; CAPLL, Talent Development Partner; SAE, a global higher education provider in creative media industries and Principal Creative Education Partner; PRS/PPL/PRSF, Talent Development Partner; Amplead, the festival’s Apply To Play Partner; and Gigseekr, the official festival app and official discovery partner.
