Young execs place bets on 2024’s breaking acts
Young and emerging executives shared their predictions for 2024’s breaking acts, during last week’s Futures Forum.
Gurj Summan (Live Nation, UK), Kerem Turgut (All Things Live, UAE), Niklas Magedanz (Goodlive Artists, DE) and Caitlin-Finn Ballard (ATC Live, UK) swapped artist tips during the increasingly popular session, Now That’s What I Call 2024.
The panel, moderated by Midnight Mango’s Louise McGovern, shared three tracks each with the audience, as well as information on the artists’ journey, live careers and more. See a full breakdown below.
Double Back – Coco Jones
Gurj Summan, Live Nation, said: “I loved her voice. She came up through Disney and signed to Def Jam in 2022. This year she got nominated for five Grammy Awards and won Best R&B Performance over the likes of SZA and Victoria Monet, so she’s having a great year. We promoted a show for her at KOKO in Camden last year and it sold out.”
Poolside – Gia Ford
Caitlin-Finn Ballard, ATC Live, said: “I started working with Gia this year and she signed to Chrysalis a few months ago. That song is an allegorical story about a pool boy working in the Hollywood Hills and building up resentment against the people he works for… She’s taken a very cinematic direction, it’s very dark and broody. She’s an amazing live vocalist and is about to go on tour supporting Marika Hackman.”
Ainda Bern – Marisa Monte
Kerem Turgut, All Things Live, said: “In the UAE, we have over 200 nationalities and the Brazilian population is around 10,000. So we decided to book [Brazilian singer and composed] Marisa Monte. She’s going to play in Dubai at the end of November for two days because we are very confident she could sell over 2,000 tickets.”
www she hot – UCHE YARA
Niklas Magedanz, Goodlive Artists, said: “She is 20 years old, we started working with her when she was 19. She’s a talent that I have rarely seen… such an aura on stage and a unique sound. I describe her sound as Little Simz meets King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. We’re doing the Germany shows for her first headline tour, this spring all across Europe. The best is yet to come.”
N.L.S (Nach Le Soniye) – Raf Saperra
Gurj Summan, Live Nation, said: “He is UK-born, from Lewisham. British-Asian and represents the culture. He has had an enormous trajectory in the last year. We had a sold-out tour and he recently got signed to Mass Appeal which is Nas’s imprint. Releasing a new album next week. He’s a mixture of two worlds, hip hop and Bhangra. In the Asian scene, he’s one of the most exciting acts to come out of the UK, selling out shows pretty much everywhere; America, Canada and Australia.”
Candyman – Loverman
Caitlin-Finn Ballard, ATC Live, said: “This is one of my newest signings, an Anglo-Belgium artist. I got a tip from Live Nation Belgium, they told me he was selling out his first tour after releasing his debut album. He had two sold-out ABs in Brussels and they invited me along to one of them. I completely forgot I was there for work, I had hairs standing up on the back of my arms… he’s got one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.”
The City Holds My Heart – Ghostly Kisses
Kerem Turgut, All Things Live, said: “She’s from Canada and I had a chance to work with her in 2019 before Covid in Istanbul. She sold almost 1,000 tickets in Turkey and 2,000 tickets in Egypt. In 2022, we brought her to Dubai Opera House and sold over 1,300 tickets which is an amazing number for this kind of emerging act. The following year, she visited Bahrain and Kuwait and did very well. In 2024, she’ll come back to the region again.”
Follow Don’t Follow – orbit
Niklas Magedanz, Goodlive Artists, said: “We are all very excited about him in our office. He’s a special and introverted artist who makes music with his childhood friends. All that started to develop well during the pandemic, he gained millions of streams on his first singles and did a DIY tour in people’s backyards all over Europe. We have him on 1,000-capacity level in Germany. His debut album hasn’t even been released yet. He has a very active and strong fanbase and makes electronic music for indie kids and vice verse. He currently doesn’t have an international agent in place!”
Normal – Skrapz
Gurj Summan, Live Nation, said: “Skrapz has been around for a while but he’s a solid rapper. We just announced his headline show a few weeks ago and it sold out pretty much on the day. His album is out today (Friday 1 March), it’s called Reflections. He’s signed to UTA and he’s doing really well… really excited future ahead.”
Backseat Baby – Cosmorat
Caitlin-Finn Ballard, ATC Live, said: “It’s the first single they’ve released. They’re two introverted, nerdy sound engineers who are geniuses when it comes to recording and writing. It’s been a heartening experience working with them; I’ve realised that word of mouth is still so powerful because they had no team or money behind them. Attention has picked up bit by bit to the point that we’re now doing a big festival summer. Now, they’ve got a team in place and we’ve got some fun shows lined up for their EP launch.”
Pasoori – Shae Gill, Ali Sethi
Kerem Turgut, All Things Live, said: “This video has more than 700 million views on YouTube. The artist is from Pakistan but he lives in New York. We had the chance to host him in 2023 in Dubai, which sold over 2,000 tickets. In Dubai, we have almost two million Indians, and one million Pakistanis, so the South Asian community is very strong. And then we put him on our programme and the show was great. We are going to bring him to the region again in January 2025. I think he’s a great artist and he’s very strong in our market.
Aspiration – Zaho de Sagazan
Niklas Magedanz, Goodlive Artists, said: “We booked her to Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg last fall and I have never received so many festival offers for an artist in the first year, especially in Germany. In France, it’s going even better for her. She’s playing the Zenith in Paris already. We really hope that this great potential comes over to Germany sometime soon.”
See the full playlist for Now That’s What I Call 2024 below.
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Futures Forum 2024 agenda ramps up
Futures Forum, the leading conference for the next generation of live music industry leaders, has unveiled the full speaker lineup for panels.
The fourth annual instalment of the gathering will again take place at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on 1 March 2024 – the final day of its renowned parent event, the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).
The Agents vs Bookers panel is completed by CAA’s Beckie Sugden and Aimée Kearsley who will go head-to-head alongside Wasserman Music’s Alex Hardee and Holly Rowland, with Marc Saunders (The O2) set to lead the charge.
Joining the A&R in 2024: Unchartered Territory session are Maddie Arnold (Live Nation), Louisa Robinson (FORM), Caroline Simionescu-Marin (WME) and Lottie Bradshaw (TEG Live Europe). Sally Dunstone (Primary Talent) will spearhead the session.
A Greener Future: The Case Studies will see Nikoline Skaarup (DTD Concerts) discuss NorthSide Festival’s journey to going meat-free and Mark Stevenson (CUR8) explain The 1975’s carbon-removal shows at The O2. In addition, Mickey Curbishley will discuss how Solotech’s sustainability approach was redefined through their work on a Jonas Brothers concert. AEG Presents and Live Nation will also appear in this session.
CAA’s Beckie Sugden and Aimée Kearsley will go head-to-head alongside Wasserman Music’s Alex Hardee and Holly Rowland
Elsewhere, the Evolution of the Music Festival panel has gained Jamie Tagg (Mighty Hoopla), Daniel Lawson (GALA Festival/TOGETHERZERO), Jess Shields (Live Nation) and Bee Grzegorzek (Attitude Is Everything). The join moderator Ross Patel (Whole Entertainment/MMF Board).
Meet The New Bosses: Class of 2024 is now a full house, with Connie Shao (AEG Presents) in the moderator’s seat. Speakers are: Chloé Abrahams-Duperry (Ticketmaster), Vlad Yaremchuk (Atlas Festival), Jamie Shaughnessy (CAA) and Katja Thalerová (LALA Slovak Music Export).
Forming the speaker lineup for Now That’s What I Call 2024 is Melanie Eselevsky (Move Concerts), Niklas Magedanz (Goodlive Artists), Kerem Turgut (All Things Live) and Gurj Sumann (Live Nation), with Louise McGovern (Midnight Mango) at the helm.
Soapbox Sessions and the hotly anticipated Futures Forum Keynote will be announced soon.
Passes for the 1 March 2024 event are available for just £125+VAT, which includes all of the above, a five-star lunch, refreshments, drinks, and networking opportunities. For more information on Futures Forum 2024 or to purchase passes, click here.
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Futures Forum 2024: First speakers confirmed
Futures Forum, the leading conference for the next generation of live music industry leaders, has revealed the first raft of speakers and moderators for 2024.
The fourth annual instalment of the gathering will again take place at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on 1 March 2024 – the final day of its renowned parent event, the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).
The first confirmed speakers include Wasserman Music’s Alex Hardee and Holly Rowland, who will appear together on the Agents vs Bookers panel, which aims to lift the lid on the inner workings of agency partnerships.
Chairing that panel is The O2’s Marc Saunders, who will conduct in-depth discussions and quickfire question rounds to test the pairs’ knowledge of each other and their rosters.
Gurj Summan will be one of four panellists to swap tracks, tips and tales of the artists that are dominating their playlists
Elsewhere, former New Boss Connie Shao (AEG Presents) will moderate Meet The New Bosses: Class of 2024, featuring a quartet of the most promising 30-and-unders in the international live music business.
While Claire O’Neill (A Greener Future) will take the helm for A Greener Future: The Case Studies. She’ll welcome a panel of sustainability pioneers from festivals, venues and tours, who will share their tried-and-tested practices and innovative solutions.
And finally, Gurj Summan (Live Nation, Festival Republic) will be one of four panellists to swap tracks, tips and tales of the artists that are dominating their playlists, during Now That’s What I Call 2024.
For more information on Futures Forum 2024 or to purchase passes, please click here.
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ILMC’s Futures Forum to return in 2024
Futures Forum, the one-day discussion and networking event for the next generation of live music industry leaders, is returning next year.
The fourth instalment of the gathering will again take place at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on 1 March 2024 – the final day of its renowned parent event, the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).
The meeting of the two events will bring together the people who currently define the business and more than 200 emerging execs who are driving its evolution.
The announcement of the flagship event follows last night’s sold-out Futures Forum 2024 launch party at Oslo in Hackney, London. The party was sponsored by AEG Europe, AXS and The O2, who are supporting a planned expansion of Futures Forum activity across the next 12 months.
“On behalf of everyone at The O2, AEG Europe, and AXS, we’re really super proud to be supporting Futures Forum 2024,” said Marc Saunders, senior programming manager at The O2, at the event. “It’s an honour standing here today and meeting so many ambitious and hard-working individuals like yourselves – we really do believe in nurturing young talent.”
“We’re really excited to be involved with the initiative because, at the end of the day, it’s supporting the next generation of live, which is all of you in this room.”
The announcement of the flagship event follows last night’s sold-out Futures Forum 2024 launch party
Futures Forum has taken place in 2019, 2020 and 2023, featuring keynote interviews with Dua Lipa and her father Dugi, Team Mumford & Sons (Lucy Dickins, Ben Lovett and Adam Tudhope), and Wasserman Music’s Marty Diamond, respectively.
As with previous editions, the 2024 edition will experiment with non-traditional conference formats, mixing connected discussions with immersive workshops, peer-to-peer networking and TED-style ‘Soapbox’ presentations by thought leaders.
The agenda will again be steered by a council made up of some of the most exciting young executives in the industry, alongside affiliated associations, the ILMC agenda team and the IQ editorial team.
The 2024 event capitalises on the success of Futures Forum’s new online platform and newsletter, which connects the international community via essential content and exclusive events.
Passes for the one-day event start from £125 + VAT. For more information or to buy tickets, click here.
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