The award-winning Brighton Music Conference (BMC), the UK’s leading electronic music and networking event reveals the first panel topics up for its 11th edition and the full A&R Sessions programme.

Taking place at the prestigious Brighton i360 complex and various venues around the city from 22nd to 24th May 2024, BMC will once again bring together Industry-leading professionals and present a programme of insightful talks, workshops and networking events including Keynote interviews with internationally renowned artists Erol Alkan, A Guy Called Gerald and Danielle Moore and Chris Todd from Crazy P.

Other sessions include two DJ Q&As featuring a host of top artists including DJ Paulette, Danny Byrd, Heidi, Justin Robertson, Mr. C, Matt Jam Lamont, Syreeta and Smokin Jo and two all-star Producer Q&As with A Guy Called Gerald, Funk D’Void, Just Her, Particle, Saytek, Seb Zito, Shadow Child, Steve Mac and Sally Rodgers from A Man Called Adam, plus a Label Q&A with Hospital Records and 20 years of Shogun.

The Association for Electronic Music will present two sessions on The DJ Touring Landscape and AI & Your Audience, Harm Reduction: Health, Hearing & Wellbeing will be discussed with ACS, Beatport will present their Annual Report, Cavendish will host a conversation with Commercial Artists Writing For Sync, Data Transmission’s Grahame Farmer will deep dive into all things Social Media, Inflyte will explore the question ‘Is the Algorithm Truly Listening?’, the Label Radar session will share key strategies to make your demos resonate in What Labels Are Actually Looking For?, shesaid.so and NOWIE will tackle the topic of Working in Live, Point Blank will present a Track Breakdown of Frankie Knuckles ‘Your Love’ with Ski Oakenfull and AlphaTheta (Pioneer DJ) will be showcasing the OMNIS-DUO all-in-one DJ system and the WAVE-EIGHT DJ speaker.

If that wasn’t enough other topics being featured in this year’s jam-packed programme include; A&R, DIY and Self Release, Management, Marketing, Neurodivergence, Podcasts, Radio’s role in the electronic music landscape, Resident DJs, Ticketing, Vocals and much more. AIM, FUGA, Listen Up Therapy, NTIA, PRS, PPL, Skiddle and Steinberg will also be hosting sessions which will be announced soon. BMC also supports the charity Last Night A DJ Saved My Life who present an update on their latest projects and how they use the power of music to change lives and save lives. View the BMC 2024 programme here

BMC are also excited to present the new and improved ‘A&R Sessions’ headed up by the prolific DJ and music producer Steve Mac will feature more labels than ever before giving more opportunities for immediate feedback with leading A&Rs in the electronic music industry. Taking place at The Tempest Inn on Brighton’s beachfront, just a short walk from the main BMC Hub the ‘A&R Sessions’ will provide a relaxed, friendly environment, where up and coming producers will have the opportunity to book one-to-one sessions with the labels of their choice. Sessions will be booked on a first come first served basis. Limited spaces available, book your tickets now here.

Says Steve Mac: “I am delighted to be involved with the new BMC A&R Sessions. I think this is a great opportunity for artists to get their music heard by the industry experts and potentially getting music signed. As a label owner myself and also now running an artists management company, we are always looking for the next generation of up and coming artists. We want to help and make their dreams come true.”

Hosted by AIM confirmed labels for A&R Sessions include; Axtone, Armada Music, Another Rhythm, Audio Rehab, Critical Music, Constant Circles, Cubism, CruCast, Data Transmission, Defected Records, FatCat Records, Freakin909, Helix Records, Hospital Records, Inflyte, Jalapeno Records, Jack Said What, Krafted, Mesh Records, Recovery Collective, Red Giant Recordings, Republica Records, RHYTHM CULT, R&S Records, Shogun Audio, Sleazy Deep, Sunflower Records, Toolroom Records, Trusted Rhythm Records.

The talent always exceeds expectations and past editions have seen tracks signed to labels including Armada, Axtone, Krafted and New State Music.

Axtone’s Edd Thomas said: ‘‘It was great to connect with aspiring producers. One of the most encouraging things was to see a much more diverse group of aspiring producers coming through, surely the fruits of some brilliant initiatives like shesaid.so.”

Pod parties and networking events will be announced soon.

BMC – Where Beats Means Business.
More info on BMC brightonmusicconference.co.uk

BMC Tickets.
BMC Golden tickets – sold out
BMC Early Bird tickets limited availability – £135 + b/f from the BMC website: brightonmusicconference.co.uk

H/T N.M.