As part of our Horizon Future Leaders series of interviews, we are connecting with the music industry’s next generation of leaders to gather candid advice and insights into their career journeys.
This week, we spoke to George Porter, Audience Development Manager at Modern Sky UK and Head Of Marketing for Liverpool’s Sound City Festival.
Starting out as a drummer in a touring band, George bypassed the traditional university route in favour of an apprenticeship in digital marketing; a move that gave him an early hands-on understanding of how artists can harness digital tools to connect with their audiences.
Now, he’s helping to shape the online presence of some of the UK’s most exciting new acts, while leading multi-channel campaigns for one of the country’s longest-running showcase festivals.
His journey is a reminder that you don’t need a music degree or London postcode to build a career in the industry; just curiosity, persistence and the willingness to raise your hand when the opportunity comes.
👇 Read on for George’s reflections on building credibility as a young voice in the room, navigating an ever-changing digital landscape, and the value of showing up with both ideas and initiative.
What’s your current role in the music industry?
I'm the Audience Development Manager at Modern Sky UK, a Liverpool-based record label and management company, home to the most exciting talent primarily from the north of England but also far beyond.
I work closely with our artists - Jamie Webster, The Royston Club, Brooke Combe, The Lottery Winners, Red Rum Club plus many more - and their teams to craft and refine their digital strategy across their social content, paid marketing campaigns, direct-to-fan communications, websites and CRM.
I'm also responsible for the marketing team at Sound City, our multi-venue conference and festival which has for eighteen years been showcasing the most exciting talent from Liverpool and the world.
In this role, I oversee our digital marketing in the run-up and during the big weekend, as well as our press team, physical marketing and sponsor/partner fulfillment.
What does your general day to day look like?
My day-to-day is dictated by which releases we have out on the label, and how far away we are from Sound City.
Generally, I'll be setting up and optimising paid ad campaigns, looking at ways to drive album or ticket sales, meeting with artists and their teams, and advising on social and digital strategies and best practice.
What steps did you take early in your career to gain experience and build skills to get you where you are now?
Like all of us, music has been my entire life since I was young. I’ve been a drummer in a band since I was fifteen, gigging up and down the country and learning the inner workings of local live music scenes.
In 2017, fresh out of sixth-form college, adamant that I couldn’t go to uni and leave the band, I undertook an apprenticeship in digital marketing.
My first role was at a digital-first record label in Manchester, where I truly got to grips with the digital landscape and how artists were using their online platforms to pioneer new ways of building audiences and monetising their music.
What opportunities did you explore early on that were particularly valuable?
I began working in music in a pre-COVID, pre-TikTok world, and so much has changed since then. Staying up-to-date with these developments and the importance of a digital-first music marketing strategy has allowed me to carve out a specialism.
I achieved this through opportunities like the Music:Ally and BPI online training courses, signing up to relevant newsletters, and meeting and speaking to as many artists and their teams as possible.
Has the opportunity landscape changed since then?
It's improved: so much of the online music marketing world has been democratised by the evolution of platforms like TikTok, Reels and direct-to-fan platforms like Openstage.
We’re all working with the same tools, and it’s now just a matter of being the first or the best to do something new and exciting on these platforms.
There’s also never been more networking opportunities across conferences and festivals like Sound City, and I’d definitely recommend checking out Instagram accounts like Young Music Boss and The Route which are specifically geared towards young music professionals.
Are there any specific internships, projects, or initiatives that you would recommend to newcomers looking to pursue a similar role?
If you’re lucky enough to be based up North, the Sound City LAUNCH Training course is hands-down the best way to gain real life experience in the music industry. The ten-week course offers a wide range of industry insights via weekly sessions led by expert mentors.
The course also offers either a work experience placement or a bursary. I’d always recommend taking the placement, getting your face out there, and building your network.
What advice do you have for building and leveraging a professional network in the music industry?
Being the person in the room with their hand up willing to take on a challenge will be the most valuable thing you can do in your career. It’s so important to be proactive, open-minded and constantly hungry to keep learning and take on new projects.
It’s said a lot, but this is a small industry, and people talk. So it’s important to be able to back up schmoozing with hard skills, as well as being - or trying to be - a friendly, open and trustworthy colleague.
How has the evolving digital landscape impacted your role, and where do you focus to stay ahead?
My role is very much dictated by the digital landscape and its constant evolution, so looking ahead is always key. Again, I stay in the loop with not just music newsletters and publications, but also more general social marketing and technology newsletters, podcasts and blogs.
Sometimes, unfortunately, a prerequisite of the role is being chronically online. That means it’s important to be scrolling social media, constantly thinking about how new trends could work for your campaigns, but also digging deeper into platforms to explore all of their features, any beta testing they are doing, and thinking about how new software or hardware could offer opportunities for recorded or live music.
What trends or changes do you see on the horizon for the music industry, and how can early career professionals prepare for them?
The rise of UGC is definitely something I’ve been watching for a while now and am keen to delve further into. When I started working in digital marketing, influencers were all the rage, so it’s refreshing to now see how micro-creators, or even just kids making videos for their friends, can completely supercharge a track or artist.
Like Charli XCX and the Apple dance last year or CMAT with her latest single, a track can take on a whole new life without ever even planning it into your campaign.
So much of the digital landscape is now out of our control as marketers and I would advise early career professionals to prepare by ensuring that the music you are releasing, and the campaign attached, is organic enough to genuinely inspire audiences to create their own content and become ambassadors for the artist.
What’s one piece of advice you wish someone had given you at the start of your career?
Often your perspective as a genuine music fan is the most valuable, even if you’re new to the industry side.
Trends and the day’s most exciting artist changes so often that being close to what’s happening on the ground - what your friends are sharing, what you’re seeing online - can make you a serious asset to teams who are so used to the inner workings and politics of this industry that we often don’t put ourselves in the shoes of fans enough.