The Music Managers Forum (MMF) has announced the results of its board elections following the annual general meeting (AGM) at 21Soho in London.
The MMF currently has 1,557 members, representing artists, songwriters, producers and talent from every genre, as well as 35 associate business members
Craft Management’s Ray Black is newly elected to the board. Black founded his business in 2014 and currently oversees a roster of globally-recognised Scottish acts including Kathryn Joseph, The Twilight Sad and Mogwai. The latter were recognised as Pioneer winners at the 2021 Artist & Manager Awards.
Black has also been actively involved in the MMF’s Dissecting The Digital Dollar project, and helped lead the Scottish Commercial Music Industry Taskforce during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Ellie Giles (Step Music Management), Kerry Harvey-Piper (Red Grape Music), Sumit Bothra (ATC Management) and Vicky Dowdall (VDM Music) were all re-elected to the MMF board, while Steven Braines (The Weird & The Wonderful) has stepped down.
Paul Craig, chair, Music Managers Forum, said: “What Ray has achieved in Scotland with Craft Management is astonishing, as is his enormous contribution to Scottish music. We’re absolutely delighted that his knowledge and expertise will now be heard at the MMF board table, and also that we’ll retain such influential figures as Ellie, Kerry, Sumit and Vicky.
“Incredibly, the MMF’s membership now stands at more than 1,500, and there is a real appetite to support and provide a service to all these entrepreneurs - whatever stage of their career. Finally, a huge thank you to Steven Braines, who has been such a positive advocate for the music management community.”
What Ray has achieved in Scotland with Craft Management is astonishing, as is his enormous contribution to Scottish music
Paul Craig
The full MMF board can be seen here.
Ahead of yesterday’s AGM, more than 130 MMF members joined a special manager summit focused on the current and future applications of artificial intelligence in music and what it means for the businesses of artists, songwriters and producers. The event included panels and presentations from experts at C4DM, Casperaki, Deviate Digital, Legendary GmbH, Redburn Atlantic, Simkins LLP, TikTok and TwoShot.
There was also a keynote interview with VDM Music’s Vicky Dowdall, covering her experiences with AI and technology. The MMF also launched its AI Guide For Music Managers.
Annabella Coldrick, chief executive, MMF, said: “It felt incredibly timely to precede the MMF’s AGM with a day of debate and discussion focused on the implications of AI on the livelihoods of artists, songwriters, producers and other creative talent. Within all the conversations surrounding these exciting technologies, we feel too little time has been spent on the dynamics between music makers and their partners in the recording and publishing sectors. As with other parts of Dissecting The Digital Dollar, we hope this new guide… will help managers navigate some of those conversations and ensure they are asking the relevant questions of all the companies they work with.”
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