ACM’s Industry Link Day is all about putting students in touch with the music industry. For one whole day, ACM students were invited to visit The Electric Theatre to network and chat all things music with eight representatives from the UK music and performance scene.
Cary Caldwell – SXSW & The Great Escape
Cary manages all of the conventions and panels at The Great Escape.He is also a key planner at SXSW as well as having a heavy influence over the bookings of the music festival in Texas. He is also Production Manager at Lovebox festival. Cary has managed artists, tour managed bands and will be good for you to speak to about your digital space, biogs and all things live.
“Networking and meeting industry professionals is vital to an artist career development. ACM is one of the few institutions in the UK industry to actively promote and nurture their artists with their networking incentives.”
Cary Caldwell SXSW & The Great Escape
Rob Roar – Phonetic Recordings & Mustard Music Publishing
Rob is the Director of Phonetic Recordings (www.phoneticrecordings.com) one of the top five dance labels in the world today. Rob also held Head of A&R roles at two of the most influential record labels Global Cuts / R&S Records in Belgium and Slip N Slide / Kickin Music. He has written/worked with many big acts including Tom Jones & Boy George as well as managing chart topping group Bodyrox. Rob Roar has an enthusiasm for house music that remains instrumental in the development of the scene. His Phonetic parties at Pacha & McQueen, Shoreditch are receiving rave reviews, He can be found DJ’ing all over the place including on the Ministry of Sound Tour.
Ryan Farley – Warner Chappell Music Publishing
Ryan is an A&R Manager at Warner Chappell, the publishing arm of Warner music. Ryan’s key signing to date have been Starsmith, Clock Opera and Madeon. His current roster also includes Wolf Gang, Cold Specks, Man Without Country, Hannah Yadi and Olivia Sebastianelli.
Ryan is tasked with scouting, developing and signing the publishing of acts. He also runs Knew Knowledge his own London-based club night focused on showcasing quality, upcoming UK urban music & art.
Alex Katter – Twenty-First Artists
Alex started working with Twenty-First Artists after successfully running his own management company AK Artists. Alex took his roster of artists and writers with him when he joined Twenty-First Artists and now represents The Low Suns, Project Alfie, Bad Boy of Opera, Leah Weller, Mushtaq, Nick Atkinson, Ki Fitzgerald & Benedict.
Dave Jordan – Gigz Management
Dave Jordan is head honcho at Gigz Management. Gigz Management was established in 1998 with the aim of supplying the top venues in the French Alps with quality live party bands and DJ’s.
Since then they have gone on to become one of the biggest live music agencies in the UK for corporate, wedding and party events and they also organise tours in Nice (France) and Israel;
Dave is always looking for young, talented, hard working musicians who fancy earning good money playing great tours in the UK, France and Israel.
“This is an invaluable day to get key points and information from industry specialists. The students were very proactive and had insightful questions….a top day!”
Dave Jordan Gigz Management
JP Duncan – ATC Management
JP is an artist manager at ATC management. As part of ATC he works with artists including Keaton Henson, Kyla La Grange and James Lavelle (UNKLE). JP and his band GoodBooks were formerly signed to Columbia Records.
Tristan Lillingston – Search and Destroy Records & Raw Power Management
Tristan started his career as a teaboy at AIR studios, graduated to an A&R assistant role at Sony, until he joined Raw Power Management in 2007. He is now General Manager at RPM and also oversees the new Sony joint venture label Search & Destroy Records.
In his previous incarnation as a recording engineer, he worked with Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer and legendary producer Trevor Horn, and since moving to label and management side of the industry has overseen the careers of Bullet For My Valentine, Fightstar and Charlie Simpson.
Jay Greenwood – Artist Manager & A&R Consultant
Jay Greenwood has worked in both records and publishing for the last 10 years and up until recently was the A&R Manager for Vertigo Records whose roster includes, The Killers, Metallica, The Gaslight Anthem, Noah and the Whale, Pure Love and Karima Francis amongst many others. He is now working in artist management and as an A&R consultant.
ACM would like to say a massive thanks to all our music industry friends for taking the time to meet each and every ACM student who attended the Industry Link Day and hope that it was a useful experience. We look forward to the next one!
