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MMF announces new board members and custodians, while revealing membership has increased from 700 to more than 1,200 in two years

AGM concludes with a Transatlantic keynote interview with US manager of John Legend, Ty Stiklorius (Friends At Work) and Lily Crockford (Crockford Management)

THURSDAY JULY 1ST 2021

The Music Managers Forum (MMF), held its online Annual General Meeting this afternoon (July 1st) and revealed that, over the past two years, membership has increased from under 700 in 2019 to over 1,200 today.

MMF CEO, Annabella Coldrick, accounted the dramatic increase to successes in outreach, training and campaigning – including new initiatives such as Unite (the MMF’s forum to discuss race, anti-racism and injustice, run in collaboration with The Zoo XYZ), emergency funding programme ReBuild which has provided nearly £500k of support to managers’ businesses to survive the pandemic, as well as the continued development of Accelerator, the groundbreaking grants and education programme for music managers, run in partnership with YouTube Music, Arts Council England, the Scottish Music Industry Association and Creative Scotland.

Now in its third year, Accelerator has already supported 65 upcoming music managers from around the UK with grants and training, and helped deliver a range of significant successes, including new label and publishing partnerships, a Top Three single, 10 Top 20 albums and several Mercury nominations.

Seven new Associate partnerships were also announced at the AGM with livestream platform Moment House, funding platform beatBread, NFT marketplaces BONDLY and Serenade, revenue share platform SHOUT4, advertising platform Feed and revolutionary royalty fixers CWORKS. These companies join the MMF’s 44 existing Associate members including Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, TikTok and Songtrust.

Finally, Annabella gave an update on the MMF’s advocacy work – including #LetTheMusicMove, the campaign to end post-Brexit restrictions around European touring which now has the backing of more than 1,000 artists.

The culmination of all this activity, she added, has been not only an expansion but also a diversification of the MMF’s membership – with 38% of current MMF members being either Female or Non Binary / Gender Non Conforming, and 29% from Black, Asian or other ethnic backgrounds.

Annabella Coldrick, CEO, MMF:

“It’s been a ludicrously tough 12 months and throughout the MMF has rallied to support the management community with initiatives like ReBuild, Unite and Accelerator, extensive virtual learning sessions, and tireless campaigning and advocacy work. I’ve no doubt it’s why we’ve seen such a huge and rapid increase in our membership. Music management can be an isolating and highly pressurised way of making a living, and I’m proud of the way the MMF continues to be an organisation where knowledge is shared and everyone is welcome.”

As part of the AGM’s formal business, four new members were elected to the MMF board, while current Vice-Chair Kwame Kwaten (Ferocious Talent) was re-elected as a board member.

The new 2021 board members who will serve a fixed three-year term are:  

• Adenike Durosaro – Big Drum Entertainment (Shakka, Komenz)
• Ross Patel – Whole Entertainment Group (Elder Island, Billy Lockett, Tomi Saario)
• Sandy Dworniak – This Much Talent / Twisted Talent (Jim Abbiss, Stella Attar, Barny Barnicott, Pascal Gabriel)
• Karl Nielson (William Orbit, Maeve)

Biographies can be accessed here. They replace the following board members who are stepping down at the end of their terms:

• Adam Tudhope, Everybody’s Management
• Lisa Ward, Red Light Management
• Ric Salmon, ATC Management
• Rachael Bee, iluvlive

The following managers have also joined the MMF’s Custodian Council: 

• Alex Weston, Riverman Management
• Leigh Johnson, LJM
• Paul Burger, Soho Artists
• Paul Crockford, Crockford Management 
• Trenton Harrison-Lewis
• Zita McHugh, Z Management

The AGM concluded with a keynote interview between leading US manager Ty Stiklorius, founder of Friends At Work, who oversees the careers of artists including John Legend, Raphael Saadiq and Charlie Puth, and Crockford Management’s Lily Crockford (Astrid S, Ruth, Anne Cunningham, Fiona Bevan, Rationale, and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.).

Moderated by journalist and author Rhian Jones, the 45-minute discussion explored areas such as Ty and Lily’s experiences as female managers, the impacts of the pandemic, social justice and the joint venture announced between Friends At Work and Crockford Management in 2020.

Paul Craig, Chair, MMF:

“As board members, the contribution made by Adam Tudhope, Lisa Ward, Ric Salmon and Rachael Bee has been immense, and I’d like to thank them sincerely for their generosity and input over many years of service. Alongside my redoubtable Vice Chair, Kwame Kwaten, I would also like to welcome our four new board members Nike, Ross, Sandy and Karl. Their expertise and experience will be vital as we strive to ensure the MMF makes ongoing progress to represent all in our community.

“Finally, I would also like to thank Ty Stiklorius and Lily Crockford for taking the time to speak to MMF members this afternoon. These are two entrepreneurial and inspirational managers and it’s a real honour to hear them speak candidly about their experiences in the business and their views about its future.”