Having worked as a tour manager and van driver, huped equipment about and played in bands, Jon Wood founded Ooosh Tours in Brighton 11 years ago. The company, which now has six full-timae staff, supplies transport, backline and rehearsal studios, along with a host of back-up services, for artistes and…
Read moreAs CEO of the 4,000-capacity Plymouth Pavilions – the south-west’s largest concert hall – since 2018 Sarah Phillips’ responsibilities range from programming to overseeing the venue’s expanding ticketing operation The Ticket Store. Having a career in marketing across Europe and the Far East before joining the Pavilions 16 years ago,…
Read moreAs director of the entertainment and sport division at insurance broker Tysers (formerly known as Integro Entertainment & Sport), Tim Thornhill is responsible for sales and marketing strategy, mergers and acquisitions, as well as building the team. One particular focus in recent years has been adapting cover to cope with…
Read moreAs senior events and sponsorship manager at PRS for Music, Amy Field – winner of the Backstage Star award at this year’s Live Music Business Awards – is responsible for over 200 events and sponsorship activations each year. She organises PRS’s involvement at festivals such as Glastonbury, The Great Escape…
Read moreAs general manager at ASM Global, Dan Harris is responsible for Hull’s Bonus Arena (cap. 3,500), and The Baths Hall (1,800) and The Plowright Theatre (354) in Scunthorpe. With a new multi-functional hybrid design, the Bonus Arena has hosted concerts with The Courteeners, Stereophonics and Catfish & The Bottlemen since…
Read moreHaving toured extensively with artistes such as Guns N’Roses, Oasis, Elbow and The 1975 in earlier years, Ant Forbes srill likes to keep his hand in with the occasioinal touring escapade. That’s alongside running Production Park’s rehearsal studio The Mill in south-west London, where clients include Phil Collins, Royal Blood,…
Read moreCharlotte Harris is a third-generation partner at Harris & Trotter, one of the UK’s leading firms of accountants to the music industry. The firm has been running for almost 80 years and has worked on tours with Two Door Cinema Club, Years & Years and Lewis Capaldi. Harris is personally…
Read moreStarting as a bar manager in 2007, securing a promotion and weathering a couple of ownership changes, Gary Lulham found himself taking over Swansea’s 700-capacity Sin City in 20155 to save it from closure. He is now MD of the city-centre venue, and describes his role “a labour of love”….
Read moreJacqueline Elder is the team manager for live entertainment at Glasgow’s Scottish Event Campus, which includes The SSE Hydro (cap. 13,000), and is responsible for overseeing event delivery operations within the Campus. She has worked on concerts with Beyoncé and Take That, and events such as the MTV Awards. What are…
Read moreDavid Barrow has been running DB Event Services since 2001 and is probably the only promoter who specialises in staging events in forests, but that’s because he has helped Forestry England make wider use of its estate. It started with concerts at four forests and an overall capacity of 40,000,…
Read morePerhaps one of the reasons Wai Mundia won Unsung Hero at last year’s Live Music Business Awards is because she holds down three roles at venue owner, festival organiser and promoter DHP Family. She is PA to DHP owner George Akins, head of concert assistants and works on concerts herself,…
Read moreA freelance music programmer, Andy Shearer has also been the creative director at Horsecross Arts, which runs Perth Concert Hall (cap. 1,650 with standing) and Perth Theatre (485) since 2004. A well-known figure to agents and promoters, he established his own booking agency, Noble Savage, three years ago, representing artistes…
Read moreStaring in the business as a roadie and truck driver 35 years ago, Phil McDaniel soon learned how to mix sound, although he still had to drive the truck, qualifying as an HGV driver. Then he and business partner Richard John founded PA hire and production company ESS (Entertainment Sound…
Read moreFinding accounting in the City far from stimulating, Nancy Skipper set out to fill her life with activity and appears to have succeeded, not least by being a single parent with three kids. She is administrator for the National Arenas Association, general manager of the European Arenas Association, co-director of…
Read moreAs co-founder and head booker for Juicebox Live in St Albans, Luke Hinton’s role covers proramming and promoting shows at grassroots music venues The Horn (cap. 200) in the town, The Half Moon (160) in Bishop’s Stortford and Wilkestock Festival (4,000 in Hertfordshire, which this year featured The Fratellis and…
Read moreAs MD of Liverpool’s Sound City conference and music festival. Rebecca Ayres also has responsibility for Sound City Korea, Manchester’s Off the Record, Sounds of the Xity in China – in partnership with Modern Sky Entertainment – and the Sound City Music Entrepreneur Training programme. But it all started with Suede….
Read moreBack to PRS For Music after four years with AEG at The O2, Barney Hooper is director of marketing and communications at the performance royalty collection body. The ‘90s band Menswear and working on two spectacular concerts can be credited with his interest in the music business and his greatest…
Read moreEvent booking and development manager at The SSE Arena Belfast (cap. 10,800) Sharon McCrea has come a long way from working shop tills to fund her vinyl record collection. She now plays an instrumental role bringing acts including Kylie Minogue, Iron Maiden and U2 to Northern Ireland’s capital. What are…
Read moreThese days he does what he light-heartedly describes as the “boring stuff”, but Steve Galeazzi’s role in his own company, Industrial Strength Media (ISM), and as a director of the Alan Cottam Agency, is what holds it all together – the logistics behind tours, including contracts, equipment, flights, hotels, tour…
Read moreWith more than 40 years in the music industry Alan Jones has experience as a musician, artiste manager, venue owner and independent promoter. He continues to promote shows across Wales and has ambitions to tour the world with his latest project. What are your first live music memories? “Growing…
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