Phil Taggart (BBC Radio 1 / Vevo / Hometown Records / Slacker)

Phil Taggart is one of the youngest faces tearing up the night time on BBC Radio 1. His Sunday 10pm show has cult status amongst night time radio listeners taking in some incredible Bedtime Mixes from the likes of Radiohead, Tame Impala, The 1975 etc...

Phil has also been given the keys to the underground of Radio 1 as each week he fronts the Specialist Chart (Mon 9pm) which is a 60 minute digest of the best of all Radio 1 after hours has to offer.

Phil also fronts up all the new music on Vevo from DSCVR to 'Lift' to 'Ones to Watch' to writing and producing his own content for the company in his own show DSCVR New Videos. Along with this Phil has his own show on Channel 4, 'Best Before' which is on it's way back for another series later on in the year.

Phil also runs a Record Label - Hometown Records as well as a hugely successful and usually sold out monthly club night is London called Slacker.

What do Biffy Clyro, Run the Jewels, Charli XCX, and George Ezra all have in common? Well, aside from selling a truckload of records, and defying all the gloomy predictions about the music industry, they’ve all given up their hard earned wisdom to contribute to the one-stop-shop for everything you’ll ever need to break into the frightening world of being a professional musician - Phil Taggart’s The Slacker Guide to the Music Industry. 

With contributions from some of the most successful names in the business, and the behind the scenes label bosses, managers, promoters, and marketers who made it happen, BBC Radio 1 DJ Phil Taggart has shared his considerable expertise within the business to give even the most basic beginner a road map that will hopefully lead to success.

Matt Bowman (The Pigeon Detectives)

Matt Bowman is the frontman of Leeds’ chart-topping indie-rockers The Pigeon Detectives. Over their career the band has had a platinum selling top 3 record (‘Wait for Me’), the Gold Selling follow-up ‘Emergency’ and played a number of huge shows and festivals including two sold out nights at Millennium Square in Leeds.  He’s coming to Live at Leeds 2019 to showcase some new solo material as well as knocking out some Pigeon Detectives classics. 

Yasmin Lajoie (Empire Management)

Yasmin Lajoie is a music manager and freelance consultant based in London. Her career began in the a&r department at EMI, working on artists as diverse as Beirut, Lana Del Rey and Kate Bush; she has since been employed by Sony/ATV and Warner/Chappell. She has worked at Empire for over two years, where she is responsible for the careers of several platinum selling songwriters and producers. She also consults for Giant Artist Management whose roster includes Mount Kimbie, Crystal Fighters and Neneh Cherry. As well as her work in music, Yasmin is a published author and activist. In her spare time she volunteers for Centrepoint and runs a book club called It’s Lit.

Abbie McCarthy (BBC Radio 1 / BBC Music Introducing)

Abbie McCarthy is the go-to-girl for the best new music recommendations. Abbie currently presents BBC Music Introducing in Kent, a radio show that is greatly respected amongst members of the industry and music fans alike for its top music curation. Abbie has discovered and championed a vast array of great acts and is very popular with listeners because of her warm, fun presentational style and infectious sense of humour.

Abbie has been recognised by the Radio Academy as one of the brightest young stars in radio, recently featuring in their esteemed 30 under 30 list. Abbie’s huge contribution to both the radio & music industry was then celebrated further when she was inducted into the Roll of Honour at Music Week’s Women In Music Awards 2018. 

Abbie first took to the radio controls whilst she was studying at Warwick University, presenting and producing three shows every single week. Her hard work and tremendous talent was rewarded at the 2012 Student Radio Awards where she won the accolade of Best Newcomer.

You’ll now hear Abbie regularly covering shows on BBC Radio 1, most recently depping for Huw Stephens in the evenings, Phil Taggart on The Specialist Chart and Matt Edmondson at the weekends. She is also the presenter of the very popular music podcast, Live Lounge Uncovered, which brings listeners behind the scenes of Radio 1’s home of live music.

Abbie has reported from a variety of festivals, bringing all the highlights and excitement to the audience at home. She is a brilliant and entertaining compere, having hosted stages at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Glastonbury and Trafalgar square.

Abbie can also be heard from time to time covering the British Council’s weekly new music show The Selector, which is broadcast across 40 countries to a listenership of around 4 million people.

Abbie is the mastermind behind Good Karma Club, a club night championing the hottest new bands around. Previous alumni include The Amazons, Pale Waves and Tom Grennan. The inaugural Good Karma Club tour was in April 2018 with 7 sold out dates around the UK.

You can also catch Abbie on your TV screens, via 4Music & The Box Network, hosting Boxfresh, a show that shines a spotlight on the biggest new artists on the planet.

Abbie is one of the best and most heralded tastemakers in the UK and is a true force to be reckoned with!

Adele Slater (Coda Agency)

Adele has worked at Coda for the past 3 years (prior to that at WME) and primarily books outside of North America (inc. UK / Europe, Asia, Australia, Japan, South America). Her roster includes Liam Gallagher, Courtney Barnet, Gruff Rhys, Dream Wife, Bill Ryder-Jones, The Pigeon Detectives…. 

Doya Beardmore (Skinny Pelembe / Higher Rhythm)

Skinny Pelembe is a multi-talented wonder, born in Johannesburg and raised in Doncaster, who crafts patchworks of personal and musical touchstones, a distinctive musical style; memories and observations are weaved together, sun-dazzled folk, afro-tipped and psychedelic tangents diced with the murkier corners of the UK dance lineage.

Paul Riddlesworth (Dipped In Gold Recordings)

Paul ran the Too Pure Singles club for 10 years putting out no less than 120 debut/ (early) singles from the likes of, Pulled Apart By Horse, False advertising, the lovely eggs, The Lucid Dream, Drahla, Menace Beach, Fear Of Men and  many more.. he’s recently relocated to Manchester and set up Dipped In Gold Recordings .. and recently put out the Gig Economy single by Mush and the phenomenal USA Nails album.

Emily Pilbeam (BBC Music Introducing)

Emily Pilbeam is a radio presenter, producer, team assistant and DJ. Emily first started working in radio when she volunteered at her local hospital radio station back when she was 15. Fast forward three years, she landed herself a job working as a team assistant for BBC Introducing in West Yorkshire and since then has gone on to work as a team assistant for BBC Introducing in Humberside, BBC Introducing in North Yorkshire and Radio 1.

Last year, she landed her own presenting job on BBC Radio Leeds with the Monday Night Mixtape, has presented shows on across other local radio stations, and has presented shows on BBC Radio 6 Music. She has experience in working in events, putting on her own shows, and has a regular DJ slot at Oporto on Thursday nights, as well as DJ’ing at Belgrave and Headrow House.

Jude McArdle (Association of Independent Music)

Jude is Membership Manager at AIM, the not-for-profit trade body exclusively representing the UK’s independent music sector, which makes up a quarter of the recorded music market. Now in its 20th year, AIM’s members range from the largest, most respected record labels and associated music businesses in the world to self-releasing artists and the next generation of entrepreneurs in music. AIM promotes and supports this exciting and diverse sector globally and provides a range of services, commercial opportunities and practical help to members, enabling them to innovate, grow and break into new markets. 

Before joining AIM she worked at PPL, the licensing body making sure rights holders and performers are paid fairly when their sound recordings are played on the radio, TV or in public. Jude had a blast bookings bands in venues across London at small indie promoter Club Fandango after graduating from uni. 

Caroline Trout (Red Light Management)

Caroline is a music manager at Red Light Management, one of the leading management companies in the world. Joining Red Light in 2015 as an intern Caroline is now currently day-to-day managing artists such as Mercury-nominated Everything Everything, Django Django, Sundara Karma, Nilüfer Yanya, Pumarosa and Free Love.

Marco Giuliani (PPL)

Marco Giuliani is a Performer Relations Manager for PPL, the UK’s collective management organisation (CMO) for over one hundred thousand performers and recording rights holders (record companies).  At PPL, he account manages a number of international artists ensuring that their royalties are accurately paid when their music is broadcast or played in public. Marco has a background in music production having released records on the likes of Sony, Southern Fried Records and Coyote Records and working with artists such as AJ Tracey, Trim, Jam Baxter and D Double E. As a DJ he has toured the UK, Europe, Asia and the United States. 

Nathan Barley Phillips (TuneCore)

Appointed by Believe Music as the UK Manager for TuneCore distribution, A&R specialist Nathan Barley Phillips is responsible for all relationships with self-releasing artists, managers and industry partners working with TuneCore in the UK. 

Prior to this role, Nathan formed Basick Records in 2005 and set about the task of developing a forward-thinking record label for heavy music. Releasing early material from emerging UK bands such as Enter Shikari and Monuments, the Basick label soon became synonymous with the cutting edge of heavy genres, going on to release music from Misery Signals, Bury Tomorrow, SikTh, Skyharbor, Devil Sold His Soul and Napoleon among many others. Now a fully-fledged international record label nominated three times in a row for a Metal Hammer Golden God ‘Best Indie Label’ Award, Basick continues to be one of the forerunners in its field. 

Nathan also recently served 4 years on the board of directors at the Association Of Independent Music (AIM); a trade body organisation based in the UK that represents over 800 music companies, from some of the largest and most respected independent record labels in the world, to small start-ups and individual artists releasing their own music for the very first time. 

Winnifred Sandy (PRS Foundation)

Winnifred joined PRS Foundation in February 2018 and works to co-ordinate the Industry programmes / events and partnerships.

Having worked in the music industry and educational sector as a freelance consultant and researcher, the focus of her work is to develop new models and nurture new ideas within cross arts.

Matt Wanstall (Musicians' Union)

Matt is the MU Regional Organiser for the North of England and takes overall responsibility for advising the region’s members on all manner of industry related issues, copyright, recording and touring, as well as dealing with unpaid fees and employment issues. He previously worked as a keyboard player, programmer, producer and mixer, and is still involved in various writing and production projects. 

Bianca Gerald (Artist)

A singer, writer, visionary and then some Bianca genre hops from Pop, R&B, Soul to Dance. She has toured the world as a backing vocalist for UK music royalty Heather Small, performed at the London Olympics 2012 handpicked by London's prestigious Roundhouse and been play-listed on BBC Radio. Bianca's debut work 'The Butterfly EP' was released in 2014 (which she wrote and recorded the vocals for). Her follow up EP 'Feelings' is already garnering industry support with BBC Introducing's Alan Raw propelling it into the radio stratosphere and naming her as one of BBC Introducing's 2019 ‘Ones To Watch’!

With an impressive 500,000 combined YouTube plays and an ever growing and dedicated following, Bianca is definitely in this for the long haul and with the amazing support of PRS For Music Foundation the only way is up.

SilverFinger Singh (Artist/BBC Radio Leeds)

A Leeds based Artist / Musician & Radio Host, SilverFinger Singh presents the Monday Night MixTape on BBC Radio Leeds.

He released his debut album Education Road EP in 2018 and has shared the stage with artists including Ian Brown (The Stone Roses), The Sugarhill Gang, Panjabi MC and Celt Islam.

Calum Cunneen (Futuresound Events)

Calum is an experienced concert promoter, talent buyer and programmer working with international touring artists in the Yorkshire region with Futuresound Events, having previously worked in a similar role in Scotland. Over this time, he has also been involved with programming several venues and festivals such as Live at Leeds, Gold Sounds, Electric Fields Festival, Stag & Dagger Glasgow, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Celtic Connections and more.

Joe Kenway (Hyde Park Book Club / Brudenell Social Club)

I’m based in Leeds itself, at two venues – The Brudenell Social Club and Hyde Park Book Club. At both places I have a hand in a wide range of aspects of event management, from promoting and marketing, to technical and production. There’s diversity across the two from a programming perspective also – the focus is on music, but both act as home for the wider arts community as a whole, and the variety and cultural cross-contamination is really exciting to be a part of.  

Ben Cleverly (Business & IP Centre Leeds)

Manager of Business and IP Centre Leeds, at Leeds Central Library, for 4 years. Experience in supporting local businesses and dealing with enquiries on all aspects of business information and intellectual property (copyright, trade marks, designs and patents).

Business and IP Centre Leeds, based in Leeds Central Library, is a one-stop source for all your business information and intellectual property (copyright, trade marks, designs and patents) needs. We can help you if you’re taking your first steps in setting up in business or wanting to target new customers or research your market, and we can guide you through the procedures required to help you protect your intellectual property.

Tony Morley (The Leaf Label)

Tony Morley has run The Leaf Label since 1995. The label sprang from his activities as DJ, writer, club promoter and press officer (for 4AD) in the early 90s, and initially began as a hobby, moving to a full time job in 1997, alongside his own No9 promo agency. The label has always operated completely independently, with an efficient DIY ethos and a strong visual aesthetic. In 1999 he established the ahead-of-its-time PostEverything mail order community of labels with Wire’s Colin Newman.Significant artists signed to the label have included Susumu Yokota, Caribou, Asa-Chang & Junray, Murcof, Colleen, A Hawk And A Hacksaw and Efterklang. More recent successes have included Melt Yourself Down, Snapped Ankles and Warmduscher, as well as Mercury Prize nominations for both Polar Bear and The Comet Is Coming. 

Initially based in South London, the label relocated to Yorkshire in 2006. With the metamorphosis of the traditional record company model, Morley has made a logical progression into artist management, production music and publishing (Root & Branch Music), with a new reissue label on the way. He served as a Director on the board of the Association Of Independent Music from 2011 to 2016