Sound City, the music festival and conference that takes place each year in Liverpool, has announced the first batch of speakers confirmed to participate in its music business conference, Sound City+, which takes place on Friday 2 May 2025.
Becky Ayres, Managing Director of Sound City says, “This year’s first speaker announcement confirms the calibre of the Sound City+ conference, and I’m delighted to welcome some of the industry’s most powerful voices to Liverpool to lead the discussion on the ‘here and now’ of the modern music business”.
Speakers announced include: Ammo Talwar, the CEO of Punch Records; Ben Hughes, founder of artist mentoring programme CherryUp; Fiona McAuley, BMG’s Senior Director Of Digital Marketing UK & EU; James Gaster, Managing Director of Mahogany Music; Karen Emanuel, founder and CEO of Key Production; Kate Hendry, Head Of Label Operations at Absolute Label Services; Marcel Hunziker, founder and Managing Director of direct-to-fan and digital marketing agency Playliveartist; Matha Cleary, founder of artist management and PR company Glow Artists; Matt Hanner, founder of independent booking agency Runway; Nina Kehagia, the marketing and content manager for SheSaidSo; Olivia Hobbs, founder of marketing agency Blackstar; Rosanna Connolly, founder of PR consultancy Morena Comms; and Stephanie Haughton-Campbell, Chief Operating Office at UK Music.
“This year’s line up of speakers already shows the incredible talent that exists in the independent music sector, with a wide range of founders and business owners coming to share their experiences at the conference”, continues Ayres. “Sound City demonstrates again and again that it is a key part of the UK’s music ecosystem. With more speakers joining the line-up between now and May, this year’s Sound City+ Conference will be an unmissable date for people at all stages of their industry journey”.
A core focus of Sound City is to reflect the diversity and inclusivity of the music industry. This is reflected in the event’s long-standing and continuing partnership with Keychange, the pioneering international initiative which helps transform the future of music by encouraging festivals and music organisations to achieve at least 50% women and under-represented genders in their programming and staffing.
2025 will be the eighteenth edition of Sound City. The conference, which brings together local, regional and national industry professionals and expert practitioners, has run alongside the festival each year since the event was founded in 2008. This year’s conference will see a full day of discussion, debate, workshops and networking sessions exploring key issues and trends in today’s music industry.
“It’s important that the Sound City+ conference represents both the interests of the brilliant community of local artists and industry professionals that we have in Liverpool and the wider professional music community across the UK”, says Ayres. “There’s a huge wealth of creative talent in Liverpool, and Sound City is a great showcase for that talent, whether as part of the programming in the festival, or through the conference and networking events that we programme”.
“A passionate voice for upcoming talent, we’re proud to have spotlighted thousands of acts over eighteen editions of the festival”, she adds. “By enabling local practitioners to connect directly with peers from music companies across the UK, Sound City+ provides a valuable forum for the exchange of ideas and insight about the here and now of the music business at a local, national and global level, allowing participants to learn, network and connect with each other”.
The Sound City+ Conference will take place on Friday 2 May 2025 at venues across Liverpool.
