Pet Shop Boys light up Artist & Manager Awards

Pet Shop Boys and their manager Angela Becker were honoured alongside a host of industry figures at the 2024 Artist & Manager Awards (AMAs).

The pop icons and Becker jointly picked up the Artist Manager Partnership Award at last night’s ceremony, held at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top, in recognition of their 16-year collaboration.

Describing her experience as a “rarified education”, Becker reflected on the duo’s “intelligence, passion and curiosity”, before offering words of advice to future generations of managers.

“Learning the language of your client’s hopes and fears will open doors to profound impact, ensuring your work echoes in the hearts of audiences long after,” she said. “I am continually elevated and inspired by the pursuit of new ways to communicate Pet Shop Boy’s vision. As Hans Christian Andersen says, ‘Where words fail, music speaks.’”

Organised by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Music Managers Forum (MMF) the AMAs were hosted by BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz.

Other winners included Chase & Status and their manager, Frame Artists co-founder Sophie Kennard, who received the Team of the Year award from their agent, UTA’s Obi Asika, and Sarah Wilson from TuneCore. The award followed a memorable year for the electronic music act, who headlined Creamfields, Boardmasters, TRNSMT and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, as well as staging their own one-day show at Milton Keynes Bowl.

In addition, the Icon Award was presented to singer Paloma Faith by her long-time manager Innis Ferguson at Lateral Management.

“Sometimes it’s worth remembering that managers need support too”

Riverman Management founders Alex Weston and Dave McLean took the Managers’ Manager honour in tribute to their 35 years working in music. Originally making its name as a promoter, bringing US acts including Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden to the UK, Riverman switched to artist management and has represented Placebo since 1995.

Reflecting on the company’s successes and on the increased demands being placed on managers, Weston called for greater recognition and support of the role.

She said: “What other job on this planet requires us to have so much wide-ranging knowledge and so many skills and so much responsibility? And the most extraordinary thing of all is that, very often, certainly when we work with new artists, we don’t get paid anything at all to do this for years on end.

“But we do it because we are 100% committed and passionate about each of the artists we take on and truly believe, against all the odds, we can break them and their music! They are the future of our industry and put their faith and trust in us to help them achieve those ambitions. But, a note to our major labels, sometimes it’s worth remembering that managers need support too.”

There were also wins for Barry Can’t Swim (Breakthrough Artist), Hope James at Atlas Artists (Secret Weapon) and Victoria de Juniac of VictoriaBDJ Management (Breakthrough Manager).

Elsewhere, Sam Kelly and Ray Simpson from Cymande were presented with the Originator award, the 2024 Pioneer was awarded posthumously to producer and artist SOPHIE and the Fan Champion Award went to Yungblud, Tommas Arnby, Adam Wood and the wider team at Special Projects Music.

Finally, the awards for Writer/Producer Manager and Team Achievement recognised the work of Ant Hippsley and Croydon-based Finesse Foreva.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.