Speakers: Jo Dargie (Freeland PR), Keturah Cummings (Forward Slash), Luke Gray (Your Army), Jess Partridge (In Stereo/BDT Sounds) & Stephen Archibald (Jump the Shark Digital)
It can sometimes feel like getting your music heard is an incredibly difficult task. You’ve written and recorded the most amazing music but how important are the steps that follow. Getting your music heard is one thing but getting it heard by the right people is another. In this session our panel will discuss what it takes to be a successful artist in this modern climate and how you can best identify and grow your fanbase.
Jo Dargie (Freelance Music Consultant)
Jo Dargie is a freelance PR Manager, Journalist and Marketing Consultant in the electronic music scene. Her varied background in digital marketing and media has helped dance music creatives and businesses to grow their digital presence whilst staying true to club culture roots. Meanwhile, as a presenter on The Back 2 Back Podcast Jo has interviewed the likes of Ben Hemsley, Sister Sledge and AISHA, and has previously spent a summer in Ibiza as a clubbing journalist for Ibiza Spotlight.
Luke Gray (Your Army)
Luke Gray is a Senior National Radio Plugger at Your Army, one of the world's most successful music promotions agencies. He has been working as a radio plugger for 6 years, in which time he has managed campaigns for the likes of Christine and the Queens, The Chemical Brothers, Bonobo, Lapsley, Louis Tomlinson, Sampa The Great and more.
Jess Partridge (Bright Dead Things Sounds)
Founder of Sounds & Strategy, BDT Sounds and London in Stereo, Jess Partridge focuses on supporting the international music industry through talent development, export consulting, marketing and community creation using tools such as funding development, mentoring, workshops and project management. With a passion for equality in music she’s worked with organisations from Keychange, EMEE, Annie Mac, shesaid.so, British Council and many more to create impactful projects of all sizes. Jess is a proactive and knowledgeable champion of new music and its diversity.
Keturah Cummings (Forward Slash)
Keturah is a multi-creative and creative entrepreneur with a decade-long career spanning music, social media, digital marketing and cultural strategy.
In 2019 Keturah founded Forward Slash - a music marketing and creative agency providing consultancy, content production, campaign management, brand building and social media strategy for music artists and brands & organisations within the music and culture space. In the 3 years since its inception, Keturah has built Forward Slash’s reputation for delivering impactful, authentic and culturally relevant solutions, counting Columbia Records, Ministry of Sound, Sony, Netflix, BBC, Amazon Music and Nike among their clients.
With a current core team of 10, the company continues to expand, delivering visual productions via Forward Slash Studio, and empowering artists and creative business owners through Forward Slash Academy.
Prior to founding Forward Slash, Keturah was employed at the BBC working uniquely across music marketing as a social media producer at BBC Music, Radio 1 and 1Xtra, music curation as a member of the 1Xtra playlist committee and music programming on the 1Xtra music team.
Beyond this Keturah is an established DJ and radio broadcaster (under the artist name K2RAH) playing in clubs, festivals and brand events across the UK and internationally. As the founder of So Future - a label and platform showcasing emerging talent in underground and electronic Black music scenes around the world, Keturah continues to champion new artists and forward-thinking sounds - a continuation of her work as the creator of AllAboutGoodMusic Live, an award winning event that served as Manchester’s only live night for emerging Black music talent in the early 2010s.
Stephen Archibald (Jump The Shark PR)
Jumping The Shark Digital is a new direct to fan marketing agency, specializing in digital advertising for the music industry. We create bespoke, direct to fan marketing campaigns for single and album releases, as well as national and international live tours with an ethos focused on measurable and tangible results. Current clients include Akira Records (modernlove, Jasmine Jethwa, Ghostly Kisses, Phoria, Henry Green etc), Bellah Mae (Virgin / EMI), Larkin Poe (Red Light Management), Wes Nelson (Virgin / EMI) and Will Joseph Cook (The Vertex).
Stephen also runs Jumping The Shark MGMT, managing Cara Rose, Declan Welsh and The Decadent West, Hannymoon, Kaleo Sansaa and Tom McGuire and The Brassholes.