The first five artists have been announced for ILMC’s Soho Calling, rebranded from London Calling for its third edition, set to return on Wednesday, 26 February.

More than 20 emerging artists will perform across six of Soho’s iconic stages: The 100 Club (hosted by Music Venue Trust), 21Soho, The Lower Third (presented by DIY Magazine), Phoenix Arts Club, The Social, and The Forge.

The first artists to join the lineup are Belgium’s Bluai, the UK’s Kai Bosch, Lola Moxom and Punchbag, and Ireland’s Really Good Time, with more to be announced in collaboration with partners Music Venue Trust, The Spanish Wave, DIY Magazine and Kili Presents.

The one-night event aspires to honour the legendary music district, which has played a pivotal role in nurturing up-and-coming artists and hosting groundbreaking performances, by providing a discovery platform for the next wave of talent.

Known as London Calling for its first two editions, the showcase has seen the likes of Noah and the Loners, Nxdia, Hamish Hawk, Babymorocco, Backroad Gee, swim school, Gia Ford and many more perform.

Presented by ILMC, conference delegates can access the shows for free with their delegate pass

Soho Calling launched in 2023, bringing 16 global artists across four venues, and grew to 17 artists across five venues for its second outing in February 2024.

A limited number of Early Bird All Access wristbands, which offer entry to all six venues, are on sale now for £25 plus fees. Tickets and information can be found on the Soho Calling website.

Presented by the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), conference delegates can access the shows for free with their delegate pass on a first-come, first-served basis.

ILMC will host around 2,500 professionals across the four-day music conference, bringing together the top live music professionals from around the world. The 37th edition of the conference will return to London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel between 25-28 February 2025.

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The full lineup has been revealed for the second edition of ILMC’s London Calling, set for Wednesday 28 February.

The central London showcase will bring 17 emerging artists to five stages across Soho: The 100 Club, 21Soho, The Lower Third, Phoenix Arts Club and The Spice of Life.

Nxdia, The New Eves, freekind. and Forgetting The Future will perform at 21Soho, in collaboration with Ticketmaster.

Babymorocco, Luna Morgenstern and Lala Hayden will grace the stage of Phoenix Arts Club, while MAVICA, b1n0 and Emilia Tarrant are due at The Spice of Life.

Meanwhile, Backroad Gee, LYVIA and Yiigaa + 7OEL (DJ) are slated to perform at The Lower Third, presented by UTA.

And elsewhere, The 100 Club (presented by Music Venue Trust) will host Noah and the Loners, Hyphen, August Charles and Gia Ford.

Babymorocco, Luna Morgenstern and Lala Hayden will grace the stage of Phoenix Arts Club

Lala Hayden and b1n0 are presented by The Spanish Wave and Mad Cool Festival, and Emilia Tarrant is presented by Amplead.

A core element of the 2024 International Live Music Conference programme, ILMC Delegate Pass holders will be able to access the shows for free by showing their pass. Entry will be permitted on a first come, first served basis.

A limited number of all-venue wristbands are also available for non-delegates, priced £30, granting access to all five venues throughout the evening. Tickets for The 100 Club and The Lower Third go on sale today (Wednesday 7 February).

The showcase debuted last year across four Soho venues, with 16 artists representing multiple international markets.

London Calling is supported by a wealth of great partners including United Talent Agency, Music Venue Trust, Amplead, The Spanish Wave, Mad Cool Festival, FORM, Kili Presents, NME & Ticketmaster.

Tickets for London Calling are available now via Universe: universe.com/londoncalling.

For more information about ILMC 2024, The Arthur Awards, Futures Forum, TEL and London Calling, visit 36.ilmc.com.

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The first wave of artists have been announced for the return of ILMC’s London Calling, which returns for its second edition on Wednesday 28 February.

The central London showcase will bring 18 emerging artists to five stages across Soho: The 100 Club, 21 Soho, The Lower Third, Phoenix Arts Club and The Spice of Life.

The first artists announced to take part are MAVICA, The New Eves, freekind, Forgetting The Future, b1n0 and Lala Hayden, with the latter two acts presented by The Spanish Wave and Mad Cool Festival.

A core element of the 2024 International Live Music Conference programme, ILMC Delegate Pass holders will be able to access the shows for free by showing their pass. Entry will be permitted on a first come, first served basis.

London Calling debuted last year across four Soho venues, with 16 artists representing multiple international markets

A limited number of all-venue wristbands are also available for non-delegates, priced £30, granting access to all five venues throughout the evening. Tickets for The 100 Club and The Lower Third go on sale on Wednesday 7 February.

London Calling debuted last year across four Soho venues, with 16 artists representing multiple international markets.

ILMC will welcome over 1,400 of the world’s top live music professionals from over 50 countries to its 36th edition when it returns to the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London between 27 Feb and 1 March.

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The 35th edition of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) has sold out, shifting a record number of tickets.

More than 1,300 professionals from over 60 countries will attend next week’s (28 February – 3 March) conference at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel, ILMC’s new five-star location.

This year’s conference includes a Hot Seat keynote with futurist Gerd Leonhard and a (Late) Breakfast Meeting conversation between Ed Bicknell and legendary KISS manager Doc McGhee.

Plus, a recently announced all-female Dragons’ Den will see Lucy Noble from (AEG Presents), Jacqueline Zich (DEAG) and Jolanda Jansen (The Ahoy) sit down for an up-close conversation with host Marie Lindqvist (ASM Global).

Other top guest speakers for ILMC 35 include Jessica Koravos (Oak View Group), Marcia Titley (Eventim), Melvin Benn (Festival Republic), Phil Bowdery (Live Nation), Alex Hardee (Wasserman Music), Mark Davyd (MVT), Tommy Jinho Yoon (ICA-Live-Asia), Amy Bowerman and Patrik Meyer (Deutsche Bank Park), Steve Reynolds (LS Events), John Langford (AEG Europe), Kim Bloem (Mojo Concerts) and Lisa Ryan (EFM).

“More of the world’s top promoters, agents, venues and festivals have signed up to ILMC than ever”

This year will also see ILMC’s first-ever central London showcase, London Calling, take place across four intimate Soho venues, featuring some of Europe’s most talked about emerging artists.

Plus, the Arthur Awards will return on Thursday 2 March as The ILMC Gala Fiesta & Arturo Awards, reflecting this year’s focus on the Latin live music market. More than 400 guests will attend the live music business’ best-loved awards, hosted by CAA’s Emma Banks.

“After a challenging but record-setting previous 12 months, the international live industry is clearly fully geared up for the year ahead, and business is back,” says ILMC managing director Greg Parmley. “That more of the world’s top promoters, agents, venues and festivals have signed up to ILMC than ever reflects this fact… and we’re looking forward to welcoming everyone to London next week.”

While the main ILMC conference is now sold out, a number of passes remain for Futures Forum, the one-day event for young live music professionals which takes place as part of the main conference on Friday 3 March.

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IQ 117, the latest issue of the international live music industry’s favourite magazine, is available to read online now.

The March 2023 issue sees Belgian promoter Herman Schueremans look back on 50 years in the live music industry, while Lewis Capaldi’s team discuss what made the singer’s latest tour such a success.

Elsewhere, the full agenda for the 35th edition of the International Live Music Conference is revealed and the New Tech panel is previewed.

Plus, IQ editor James Hanley examines the current state of the live event insurance market and Adam Woods puts the French business under le microscope.

For this edition’s double header of columns and comments, Marcel Hunziker talks up the benefits of developing a presence on TikTok and Sheryl Pinckney-Maas outlines the reasons to consider crowdsourced data to enhance event security.

In addition, Joe Hastings highlights the work of Help Musicians in tackling mental health issues in the music industry and Chris Bray explains how the ILMC scheme to introduce young professionals to the conference fits with ASM Global’s own future leadership plans.

As always, the majority of the magazine’s content will appear online in some form in the next four weeks.

However, if you can’t wait for your fix of essential live music industry features, opinion and analysis, click here to subscribe to IQ from just £6.25 a month – or check out what you’re missing out on with the limited preview below:

The line-up for ILMC’s first ever central London showcase has been revealed, including some of Europe’s most talked about emerging artists.

Titled London Calling, the new showcase element will take place on the night of Wednesday 1 March across four intimate Soho venues – Phoenix Arts Club, 21 Soho, The Lower Third and Spice Of Life – with 14 artists in total, many of whom are performing huge underplays in these small settings.

ILMC 35 takes place from 28 February to 3 March at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel. ILMC delegates will receive priority access to all four Soho venues. The shows are also ticketed via Dice and Ticketweb.

The showcase is organised in association with FORM & Kili Presents. Supporters of the night include Music Venue Trust/Revive Live, Mad Cool Festival, Comunidad de Madrid, The Spanish Wave, United Talent Agency and the agency’s HEAR THIS new music brand, Ginger & Gigseekr.

Performing artists include Delaporte, Quasi Qui, Queralt Lahoz, Demob Happy, Swim School, Casey Lowry, Jelani Blackman, Bel Cobain, Frozemode, Hamish Hawk, L’objectif, Ajimal, Edgär and Sarah Olivier.

The one-night event takes place as part of this year’s International Live Music Conference which sees over 1,200 live music professionals from 60 markets converge on London for three days of debate, meeting, and networking.

Registration and more information about ILMC and London Calling is available here.

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The International Live Music Conference (ILMC) has heralded the return of Futures Forum, a one-day discussion for the next generation of live music industry leaders.

Created and shaped by young professionals, the event brings together the executives that currently define the business with the emerging stars who are driving its evolution.

Futures Forum launched in 2019 and also took place in 2020, with keynote interviews with Dua Lipa and her father Dugi, as well as Team Mumford & Sons (Lucy Dickins, Ben Lovett and Adam Tudhope).

The 2023 edition will continue to experiment with non-traditional conference formats, mixing connected discussions with immersive workshops, peer-to-peer networking and TED-style ‘Soapbox’ presentations by thought leaders.

Also returning are the career-boosting mentoring sessions that proved a highlight of previous events. The one-on-one meetings provide a rare opportunity for Futures delegates to meet face-to-face with some of the most successful figures in live music.

The agenda is once again being steered by our Futures 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 council comprises Alexandra Ampofo (Metropolis Music, UK), Clara Cullen (Music Venue Trust, UK), Dotun Bolaji (Runway Artists, UK), Flo Noseda (Wasserman Music, UK) and Kedist Bezabih (Goodlive Artists, DE).

London Calling is a ‘first-of-its-kind’ central London showcase featuring some of the best emerging artists in the world

Plus Nastassja Roberts (Dreamhaus, DE), Seny Kassaye (For Agency, CA), Stella Scocco (Södra Teatern, SE), Théo Quiblier (Takk, CH), Will Holdoway (Method Events, UK) and Zoe Williamson (UTA, US).

Futures Forum will take place on the last day of ILMC (3 March 2023) at its new location, the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Passes for the one-day event start from £149. For more information or to buy tickets, click here.

ILMC has also announced a new major feature on the Wednesday evening (1 March) of the 2023 conference.

London Calling is a ‘first-of-its-kind’ central London showcase featuring some of the best emerging artists in the world.

The showcase will take place in multiple venues across Soho, just minutes from the Royal Lancaster, featuring artists carefully curated by a select number of cultural bodies and companies.

Early supporters of the night include Mad Cool Festival, Music Venue Trust’s Revive Live programme, Gigseekr and ILMC’s Latin Live partners, Loud and Live, Grandmove, and OCESA. ILMC delegates will have access to all London Calling shows.

ILMC Spa & Last Resort will welcome over 1,200 of the world’s top live music professionals from over 40 countries to the recently upgraded Royal Lancaster Hotel in London from 28 Feb–3 March 2023.

Full information about the conference is at 35.ilmc.com.

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