BPI ‘Wisdom Wednesdays’ returns for 2019 focusing on entrepreneurship in the music industry

UK record labels association the BPI is pleased to announce that “Wisdom Wednesdays” returns on 1^st May at the new location of Gibson Brands, 61-62 Eastcastle St, Fitzrovia, London W1T 3QT.

This event gives BPI members the opportunity to network, learn and be inspired. The evening consists of two parts – a panel discussion and Q&A with 4 successful professionals from the music industry about their personal journey, offering invaluable insight into their thought processes, followed by a mixer with free drinks and pizza.

This fourth panel focuses on entrepreneurship and is made up of the founders of some of the UK’s most exciting music companies; All On Red & Dirty Hit’s Jamie Oborne, Remote Control Agency’s Pat Carr, Yes Please’s Ruth Emery and #Merky founder and Stormzy’s manager, Tobe Onwuka. The panel will be moderated Number 1 podcast, Creative Rebels’ host, David Speed. (See below for more information on the panellists).

Our panel come from a variety of backgrounds – label, management, marketing, TV, radio and promotions but all have set up their own successful music companies and have a wide area of expertise. They bring varying perspectives from different sectors over the industry and have been instrumental in the careers of artists such as the 1975, Wolf Alice, the Japanese House, alt-J, Blondie, Janet Jackson, Elbow, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Primal Scream and Stormzy.

Our three previous Wisdom Wednesdays events hosted speakers from AEI, Barbican, BMG, Columbia Records, Concord Music, Downtown Music, Glassnote UK, Kobalt/AWAL, Machine Management, PIAS, Sony Music and Warner Music. They were all sell-outs, so members are asked to ensure they book their free place in advance here.

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

Jamie Oborne – Founder & Owner, All On Red & Dirty Hit

Jamie Oborne is the sole founder and owner of both All on Red and Dirty Hit. All on Red is a management company which, over the past 12 years, has built up an impressive and varied artist roster including The1975, Pale Waves, The Japanese House, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, No Rome and lighting designer Tobias Rylander.  Jamie founded Dirty Hit in 2010 with The 1975 amongst the first signing to the label. The key objective has always been to create an exciting and forward-thinking label with a distinctive identity, across both the label and the artists on the roster which, in addition to the above, now includes Wolf Alice, Caleb Steph, Beabadoobee and AMA.

Pat Carr – Owner & Founder, Remote Control Agency

Pat has worked in the highly competitive Music industry for over 30 years, while award-winning as a marketing specialist, she has also run 3 successful independent companies, including the much-loved Infectious Music (twice!). She has worked on artists as diverse as the Mercury Prize winning alt-J, Blondie, Janet Jackson,  Ry X,  Ash, Blink 182, Rick Astley and both Perfecto and Ram Records and in her last role built the successful marketing and digital team at BMG UK.  In 2001 she set up the first ever UK label management and artist services consultancy and, after a 8-year hiatus at Infectious and BMG, set up Remote Control 2.0 which she runs today. With an inevitably varied and lively roster she still loves the industry today.

Ruth Emery – Founder & Director, Yes Please

With over 15 years experience in the music industry, Ruth started her career in the TV and Radio Promo Department at V2 records. There she worked across radio and TV on projects such as Paul Weller, elbow, Ray Davies and Liberty X! From V2 she went on to spend 6 successful years at Polydor Records working in the TV Department, which included a stint as their Head of TV. Highlights at Polydor included working on some amazing high profile campaigns including Madonna, Take That, Lady Gaga, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Saturdays, elbow, P Diddy and many more. 

Ruth set up Music PR agency Yes Please in 2012. They're a team of four who work across TV, Radio, Print Press and Online PR. The company prides itself on having a very personal boutique approach to all projects they work on. Current campaigns include Will Young, Primal Scream, Rosie Lowe, Wilderness Festival, RY X, Greenpeace at Glastonbury, Lauv amongst others. 

Tobe Onwuka – Manager, Stormzy & Founder, #Merky

Tobe Onwuka is the 27-year-old manager of the multi-award winning musician Stormzy and co- founder of #Merky, the brand behind the Stormzy movement.

Quitting his job at Land Rover four years ago to manage his childhood friend Stormzy, Tobe has expertly navigated his way through the British music industry without decades of experience and large resource.

From striking a management and record label deal between #Merky and Atlantic Records to curating a festival in Ibiza, launching a book imprint in collaboration with Penguin Random House, and launching ‘The Stormzy Scholarship’ programme with Cambridge University – the duo simply see no limit on how far #Merky can go.

Moderated by David Speed

David Speed is a co-founder of Graffiti Life; a creative company that makes art for big brands. Graffiti Life has created art for Nike, Disney, Warner Music, and many other global names. The company was created with the mission of empowering artists and creatives, which remains a core value to this day. David is also the host of the Creative Rebels podcast which debuted at #1 in the iTunes business charts. The show aims to provide creatives with the help and advice they need to take on the world! You can find Creative Rebels on iTunes, Spotify and all podcast platforms.