It’s February, and in the independent sector that means only one thing: Indie-Con.
That’s right, one of the indie world’s premier events is back for another one-dayer attracting the great and the good of the sector to London’s Glaziers Hall to pick apart the big issues.
With a packed day’s programming ahead, including subjects such as A&R in the digital age and the vinyl resurgence, and speakers from FAC Artist In Residence Imogen Heap to Nigel Adams MP, Music Week is on hand to cherry pick the sessions you can’t afford to miss.
HEAP IT REAL
Indie-Con 2018’s headline event takes place at midday, when Imogen Heap pulls up a chair alongside AIM CEO Paul Pacifico to discuss her imprint on the music business. It’s a big one, too: from her work as a recording artist, to her position at the FAC and her work with music collective Mycelia. “We are calling for artists to have full transparency throughout the value chain,” Heap told Music Week upon taking up her position at the FAC. This sure to be one of the many issues up for discussion more than a year on.
Keynote: In Conversation with… Imogen Heap, 12pm, downstairs
BREXIT POLL
“We’ve got to make sure the copyright protections that we currently enjoy through the EU will transfer to the UK statute,” said Michael Dugher in the pages of Music Week last month. The UK Music chief will chair Indie-Con’s Brexit panel this afternoon, in the company of Hilary Benn MP, Rosie Millard of the Creative Industries Federation and Nigel Adams MP. Addressing the subject in his cover interview, Dugher also told us: “The ability of artists from the EU to come and play in our increasingly vibrant growing live music scene and the ability for UK artists to play in Europe are massively important. So there’s an opportunity around Brexit as well, and that will slightly raise eyebrows.” This session could well do the same at Indie-Con.
Brexit and Navigating Global Trade in 2018 and Beyond, 4:10pm, upstairs
FAN CLUB
Wouldn’t it just be brilliant if the music industry unearthed a magic formula that could convert passive listeners into active, ticket-buying, merch-ordering fans? Well, this morning session at Indie-Con might just find it. With Jessie Scoullar (Wickstead Works), Krish Thind (Nettwerk), Mike Hemsley (Pledge Music), Gabrielle Nicot-Berenger (Music Glue), Jennifer Metcalf (Because Music) set to lock horns in a discussion chaired by Music Week editor Mark Sutherland, this session will look at the tools labels have at their disposal to get into the heads of their audiences.
Listeners To Fans, Fans To Super Fans, 10am, downstairs
LABEL OF LOVE
Here’s a phrase to chuck out in a building full of indie sector execs: ‘Artists don’t need labels anymore’. Find out their reaction during this panel discussion, which will look to chew over the role of labels in 2018. Do we really need them, and if so, what for? What does streaming mean for the way they function? Assembled to answer those questions and more are Emily Moxon (Brownswood Recordings), Nigel Adams (Full Time Hobby), Abdullah Al-Wali (Warp Records), Kate Hendry (Absolute Label Services), Matthew Rogers (Unified Music Group), Victor Zaraya (Razor & Tie). A2IM’s Richard Burgess is in the chair; this should be a lively one.
What Can A Record Label Do For You in 2018?, downstairs, 2.15pm
FOLLOW 
