Ever wanted to know how to make money from music? Here’s your chance. IOM GuitarFest 2014 launches this year with a talk from leading UK music industry experts at Kensington Road Youth Arts Centre on Thursday 2nd October 2014 at 7pm.
PRS for Music, the UK's leading royalty collecting society, has kindly offered to host the opening event entitled: “Rights and Royalties: How songwriters can make a living from their music”. The talk will include an open and informal Q&A session with the audience and brief performances by guest musicians.
The industry panel includes two senior representatives from PRS for Music. Stuart Fleming is senior manager for membership development in Scotland & Northern Ireland and manages PRS for Music’s ongoing education programme across both countries. Stuart will be joined by John Hywel Morris who is senior manager for membership development at PRS for Music in Wales. John has worked at PRS for Music for nineteen years, serving Welsh PRS and MCPS members. He has had to deal with all sorts of member and licensing issues in his career and is well placed to offer the best kind of advice to composers, publishing companies and musicians alike.
Local singer and musician Ruth Keggin will join the panel to offer her perspective on writing, publishing, recording and touring music since starting out on her solo career in 2012. Also speaking is Kirsty Geoghegan from Airstate, an independent UK music publishing company that specialises in maximising performing rights royalties for music used within broadcast media. Kirsty also represents UK music publisher Valentine Music, which licenses and publishes a diverse range of artists from musical genres including jazz and orchestral music.
Jonno Gollow, creator and promoter of IOM GuitarFest said:
“I’m thrilled to welcome the PRS for Music team and other industry guests for this opening GuitarFest event. Music rights and royalties are a hugely important part of the music industry. For many musicians, whose focus is predominantly on their art, I know that area must be quite daunting. Songwriters and composers have to recognise the “business” end of “showbusiness” so that the music they create can really work for them.”
Ruth Keggin said:
“Working with PRS has been invaluable for me. I’ve learnt so much from them in the process of making a career in music. Rights, royalties, publishing, licensing; these things are essential for musicians to know about, whether you use the information now or later in your career.”
The evening will take the shape of an informal discussion on songwriting, different income streams for musicians and an informal Q&A with the audience to answer their questions.
The event is supported by PRS for Music, GuitarFest, Arts Council, and Island of Culture.
The talk begins at 7pm and is free of charge. This will be followed by an informal networking opportunity at the Prospect pub, hosted by PRS for Music, from 9pm onwards. For further information about the event contact Jonno Gollow by email at info@jonnopromotions.com.
