BPI’s ‘Wisdom Wednesdays’ returns in September after successful debut

UK record labels association the BPI is pleased to announce that, after a successful first outing, its “Wisdom Wednesdays” returns on 12^th September at The Auditorium, Huckletree, London EC2A.

This event gives BPI members the opportunity to network, learn and be inspired. The evening is made up of two parts – a panel discussion and Q&A with 5 successful professionals from the music industry about their personal journey, followed by a mixer with free drinks and pizza.

This second panel is made up of Kobalt/ AWAL’s Aaron Bogucki, Sony Music UK’s Dorothy Hui, Barbican’s Huw Humphreys, Concord Music’s Kim Frankiewicz and Urban Development’s Pamela McCormick. The panel will again be moderated by Jen Long. (See below for more information on the panellists).

With all the panellists having worked abroad as well as in the UK, and coming from different sectors of the industry, the discussion will explore: what made them move to different countries; how they adapted to new cultures; what learnings they brought with them, and more. All from different aspects of the music business.

The first Wisdom Wednesdays event took place in April with AEI Group’s Diluk Dias, PIAS’ Jane Third, Warner Music’s Bob Workman and Columbia Records’ Stacey Tang discussing what creativity means; how tech is changing music; what challenges the industry faces; the relationship between labels and artists, and more. The event was a sell-out, so members are asked to ensure they book their free place in advance.

The line-up for the second panel for Wisdom Wednesdays has been confirmed with:

Aaron Bogucki (VP Digital, Kobalt/ AWAL)

Aaron Bogucki has recently joined Kobalt/ AWAL as Vice President, Digital, where he oversees digital marketing campaigns for the AWAL roster including Lauv, Tom Misch, the Wombats, Laura Marling, and Bruno Major - as well as driving digital strategy. Aaron held the same position at Republic Records in New York, where, over the course of three years, he worked with the Weeknd, Post Malone, James Bay, Ariana Grande, Florence + the Machine, Liam Payne, and more. Before transferring to the US within Universal Music Group, Aaron was Head of Digital at Polydor in the UK, where he ran campaigns for artists including Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, Elbow, Snow Patrol, Eminem and the Rolling Stones. Aaron started his career at Mercury Music Group and had a brief stint at Warner Bros UK, before returning to the UMG fold.

Dorothy Hui (VP Digital, 4^th Floor Creative – Sony Music UK)

Dorothy's career of nearly 20 years covers a variety of roles in music entertainment. In her role as VP, Digital at Sony Music UK’s 4th Floor Creative, she leads digital marketing and audience development strategy across Sony’s labels, which include Columbia, RCA, and Commercial Music Group. Prior to Sony, Dorothy was based in NYC and led the digital marketing team at Roc Nation. There, she oversaw global digital strategy for label and management artists - including Rihanna, Shakira, J. Cole, and others - ensuring an integrated approach across all facets of artist business, including recorded music, touring, brand partners, creative projects and philanthropy. Previously, Dorothy held leadership roles at tinyOGRE Entertainment, Wind-Up Records, Universal Motown.

Huw Humphreys (Head of Music, Barbican)

Huw Humphreys is currently the Head of Music at London’s Barbican Centre, the largest multi-arts centre in Europe, where he has been in post since September 2014. This appointment brought him back to the UK after nine years as Director of Artistic Planning of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a position he held following six years with renowned artist management agency Askonas Holt (Harold Holt until 1998) and four years as General Manager of the European Union Youth Orchestra.

Kim Frankiewicz (EVP of Worldwide Creative, Concord Music)

Kim Frankiewicz began her career in music management in her native Australia where she worked with INXS, The Models and Jenny Morris at MMA Management, rising through the ranks to become MD of their publishing division whilst also running RooArt Records, a successful independent label out of Sydney. In 1997, Kim moved to New York where she took up the position of VP of International at Universal Music Publishing. Transferring to the London office in 2000, in 2012 she joined Imagem as MD for Imagem Music UK, overseeing A&R on a global basis for the company and signing and resigning artists and writers including Daft Punk, Kaiser Chiefs, Mark Ronson, Cathy Dennis, Justin Parker and Oh Wonder, as well as being instrumental in administration deals such as with Pink Floyd Music Publishing.

Pamela McCormick (Founder & Director, Urban Development)

Pamela grew up in Belfast in the 1970s through the era of pub bombings, barricades, daily murders and little integration. As her thinking and challenging of the origins of the troubles matured, she realised that poverty and lack of aspiration were at the heart of the mutual distrust. This insight has become the keystone upon which Pamela has built her career. After working in Edinburgh, Monte Carlo and Paris, programming and producing jazz events and assisting esteemed composers, concert pianists and conductors, Pamela arrived in London, keen to realise her dreams and action positive social change.  18 years since inception, with McCormick still at the helm today, an Arts Council England RFO/NPO Urban Development has built a lasting legacy and a reputation as a leader in both producing and showcasing new urban talent and educating the next generation of stars through industry-led business/employment support programmes, career guidance, access to resources and showcasing. 

Moderated by Jen Long (former BBC Introducing)

Jen has been working in music for over a decade. Best known as the former host of BBC Introducing on Radio 1, she worked her way up from a broadcast assistant in Wales to a spot on national radio. She was the voice of BBC Three, announcing Family Guy into people's homes every night and presented festival coverage for the channel alongside Greg James. After leaving the BBC, Jen worked at DICE as Music Editor before setting up her own company. She still runs the Kissability label she founded with Transgressive, and presents the podcast Talk The Line for The Line Of Best Fit.