Accelerator Programme for Music Managers

The ground-breaking Music Managers Accelerator, supported by YouTube Music, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland and Scottish Music Industry is the world’s first independent funding and professional development program designed solely for artists, songwriters and producer managers. It aims to increase the number of sustainable full-time management businesses operating in the UK, empowering them to work with a greater range of creative talent. Accelerator is aimed at UK based managers of all genres who are in full or part-time employment, looking to make the leap into full-time music management with their own company and provides support, training, and finance.

In 2019 24 managers were competitively selected from 134 applications.
They represent over 54 artists, songwriters, producers and DJ’s.
They received £300,000 direct investment from YouTube Music
Collectively they were offered training 1,920 hours of training and learning supported by £57,000 of public investment.
Individuals have spent up to 80 hours on attending professional development days.

Managers selected for the program in so far include representatives for acts such as Jonas Arden, Jordan MacKampha, IDER, Puma Blue, Moses Boyd, Stardom, Nafe Smallz, Joy Crookes, Joesef, Vessel, KEYHA/BLU and Dry Cleaning. The full list can be found 2019 here 2020 here and on this YouTubeMusic Playlist here

Successes of the Accelerator Managers in 2019 include:

Artists represented have performed to approximately 343,500 live audiences in the first 9 months of 2019.
Artists represented collectively surpassing 161,692,000 Streams across all platforms
Accelerator has networked the managers with new contacts; building over 243 new industry relationships for the cohort.
Guest speakers at events have included Lyor Cohen (YouTube Music), Tom Windish (Paradigm Agency), Claire Mera-Nelson (Arts Council England), Rachel Davis (BBC Music) and manager gfrsh (Yxng Bane).
Three artists Shakka, Jonas Arden and TENDER gathering over £100K subscribers on YouTube.

Aims of The Accelerator Programme for Music Managers

GROWTH To strengthen and stimulate UK based music management enterprises and support this growing sector, driving activity, artistic development, and investment.
DIVERSITY To enable a diverse talent pool of next-generation music managers in expanding their economic and cultural footprint within the UK and around the world.
SUPPORT To address investment gaps at key phases of managers’ company and industry development cycles.
SKILLS To develop key skill sets in the management community, through training and mentoring.
RESILIENCE To springboard self-sustainable businesses that can go on to develop multiple artist careers.

Applications for Accelerator are currently closed but we hope to announce details of a third year in summer 2020.
For any further information or queries, please email accelerator@themmf.net