Lancashire Music and Management Forum

Lancashire Music and Management Forum - ME414 4th Floor, Media Factory

An afternoon forum for artists, music makers, students & music industry professionals

The Lancashire Music and Management Forum focuses attention on the essential management functions required to capture economic and cultural value from music-related activities, and to turn creativity into sustainable careers, practices, and local industries.

The forum also functions as a listening and reconnaissance space, gathering insight, experience, and feedback from music makers and practitioners to help inform the ongoing development of Lancashire's music industries. Audience and stakeholder perspectives are vital to developing an inclusive, vibrant, and resilient music sector within the county.

While artists are often positioned as the visible centre of the music industry, sustainable music activity relies on a broader ecology of skills, roles, and practices. This forum explores how creative work is supported, organised, financed, and developed - and how those functions can be taken on by artists themselves, collaborators, students, or dedicated music managers.

The forum also recognises the increasingly dynamic and fast-changing nature of the music sector, where technological change, evolving business models and shifting cultural practices are continually reshaping how music is created, managed and sustained.

A collaboration between Sound City, the Lancashire Music Association and the University of Lancashire, the event connects wider geographical insight with Lancashire's local music scenes, supporting the growth of skills, confidence, opportunity, and evidence-based development within the county.

For music makers and students

Music does not exist in isolation. Releasing, performing, touring, collaborating, composing for media, and sustaining a creative practice all require planning, coordination, communication, and decision-making beyond the act of making music itself.

This forum supports music makers and students to:

• Understand the work that surrounds creative practice
• Develop stronger self-management and DIY skills
• Recognise how music-related activity generates value across different contexts, including media
• Make informed choices about careers that may combine creativity, management, and other roles

Students are particularly encouraged to attend, including those making music for applied contexts such as film, television, games, digital media, etc..., where management, rights, and professional structures are central to long-term sustainability.

Rather than separating "art" and "business", the forum frames management as something creative that enables, supports, and protects creative work across multiple career pathways.

For future music managers

Music management is a creative, strategic, and people-focused role - and one that remains underdeveloped in Lancashire.

At present, the county has relatively few dedicated music managers, meaning artists and music makers are often required to self-manage or seek support outside the region. This forum actively encourages people to consider music management and related organisational roles as legitimate and meaningful career pathways, particularly those already embedded in local scenes or emerging from education.

The forum explores:

• The evolving music industry: challenges and opportunities
• What music managers and organisers actually do in practice
• Different routes into management (formal, informal, DIY, hybrid)
• Working with emerging artists, composers, and grassroots activity
• Building sustainable livelihoods around music-related work

Developing locally based managers is key to ensuring that Lancashire retains more of the cultural and economic value generated by its music activity.

Reflecting the wider music ecology

The music industry is made up of far more than artists alone. Sustainable scenes depend on people working across:

• Management and artist development
• Live music, events, and touring
• Promotion, marketing, and communications
• Administration, coordination, and strategy
• Education, facilitation, and community engagement
• Music for media and applied creative contexts

The Lancashire Music and Management Forum recognises and values this broader ecosystem, encouraging participation from anyone interested in supporting music-making as a practice, a profession, and a cultural industry that can grow from the region.

Audience contribution and shared insight

A key aim of the forum is to listen as well as inform.

Through discussion, group activity, and shared reflection, the event will gather insight from attendees about:

• Barriers and opportunities facing music people in Lancashire
• Gaps in skills, support, and infrastructure
• Emerging practices across live, recorded, and media-based music
• What is needed to better support sustainable music careers locally

This feedback will contribute directly to the Lancashire Music Association's ongoing work to support the development of Lancashire's music people, scenes, and places.

Speakers & contributors

Host

Will Wolstenholme - BBC Introducing Lancashire & Cumbria
Will presents BBC Introducing in Lancashire & Cumbria and produces BBC Introducing in Manchester. He has been at the BBC since 2018 and previously worked as a promoter with Scruff of the Neck and a writer for North West music publications including Bittersweet Symphonies. Will regularly attends grassroots venues across the region in search of new talent and is also a drummer with the band Denim Breakfast.

Keynote - In conversation with...

Megan Burns

Megan began her career in cinema – winning the Venice Film Festival’s Marcello Mastroianni Award for her role in Stephen Frears’ Liam and landing a prominent role in Danny Boyle’s cult classic 28 Days Later. Under the pseudonym Betty Curse, she later pursued a musical career, signing to Island Records and releasing her debut album Hear Lies in 2006. Now firmly on the management side of the business, Megan has nurtured a roster of UK and international artists.

Panellists

Ramin Bostan - COO - Ostereo
A classically trained trumpet player, gigging musician, and music graduate, Ramin is a music industry executive with over a decade of experience across A&R and sync licensing. He is currently COO of Manchester-based label and publisher Ostereo, which sold to Create Music Group in October 2024.

Daniel Jones - Writer Relationship Manager - PRS for Music
Based in Manchester, Daniel works directly with songwriters, composers, and publishers to raise awareness of music rights and value. A frequent speaker at industry events, he also brings experience as a musician and music journalist.

Esme O'Keeffe - Label Manager, Modern Sky

Esme O'Keeffe is the Label Manager at independent Liverpool-based label Modern Sky, where she has led some of the company's most successful campaigns to date. A key force behind key charting albums, including x2 UK No.1 albums from The Lottery Winners and a No.2 with Jamie Webster. Esme oversees campaign strategy and execution, she also manages various developing artists alongside her key role.

Tony Rigg - Music Industry Advisor, Educator & Founder - Lancashire Music Association
Tony founded the University's innovative MA Music Industry Management programme in 2012 and is a Professional Advisor, and practitioner/ music project director. A former Operations Director for Ministry of Sound, he has overseen the management of more than one hundred music venues and delivered thousands of music events. He is Director of Preston Jazz Fest, the city regions best attended annual music festival, and co-author/ editor of multiple Bloomsbury publications on music, law, and culture.

Programme (subject to change)

12:30 - Arrival / Lunch / Networking
13:00 - Welcome
13:10 - Keynote
13:30 - Panel / Round Table / Q&A
Managing music-related activity and capturing cultural and economic value
14:20 - Break
14:30 - Group activity / audience insight / shared reconnaissance
15:20 - Optional networking

A light sandwich lunch and refreshments will be provided free of charge. Please make us aware of any food allergies on arrival.

The Lancashire Music and Management Forum is an inclusive and accessible event.

We welcome participants from all backgrounds and aim to remove barriers to participation wherever possible. Please email trigg@lancashire.ac.uk in advance regarding any access or support requirements.

Under 18s welcome, subject to being accompanied and supervised by a responsible adult.

Supporting music makers - developing managers - shaping Lancashire's music industries, places and scenes