UN-CONVENTION MANCHESTER
Thanks to everyone who made it to our 2026 Un-Convention in Manchester.
Our 116th music conference and showcase once again brought together hundreds of pioneering artists, managers, labels, promoters, and festivals from over 50 towns and cities across the UK to explore the current state of the sector, build networks, and develop ideas and actions for a more prosperous, diverse, and equitable music industry, alongside performances from some of the finest new artists from across the country.
We look forward to announcing details of our October 2027 conference in the coming months. In the meantime here is a short highlight film from the last event.
For our 2026 conference we were excited to welcome a host of industry innovators and pioneers.
AI was of course a key topic, and we were delighted to have Kai Welp, the Chief Legal Officer for GEMA, joining us for the 2026 event. Kai was instrumental in GEMA’s landmark case against SUNO in Germany and brought his insights to our panel looking at the future of copyright, alongside Music Ally’s Joe Sparrow, Chris Cooke from Complete Music Update, and the Featured Artists Coalition’s CEO David Martin.
Bella Union's co-founder and Managing Director Simon Raymonde joined the record label panel, along with Dirty Hit's Cherish Kaya, and Ollie Hodge, ex-Columbia and Polydor A&R, who now runs independent label Some Action.
Sugababes' co-manager Matt Johnson joined our management panel led by the MMF's Annabella Coldrick, which also featured Ali Raymond, who has overseen the career of Arlo Parks, as well as Getdown Services manager Alice Boeglin.
Goc O'Callaghan, co-founder and director of ArcTanGent, and Board Member of the AIF, alongside Kevin Moore, festival director of Y Not, Sarah Mason from Shambala, and Dougie Brown, festival producer of Belladrum, made up our panel looking at best practice in the UK festival sector.
We once again looked at the development of regional music scenes, with insight from Leicester's Dr Yasin El Ashrafi BEM, founder of HQ Familia; Jamell Ackford, director of culture at Trinity Bristol; Rachael McEntee, who runs The Snug in Atherton, the first venue purchase by Music Venue Properties; and Jez Collins, founder and director of the Birmingham Music Archive.
Also featuring in the 2026 programme were speakers including Blur’s Dave Rowntree, Tom Kiehl, CEO of UK Music, Bev Whitrick, COO of Music Venue Trust, Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE, David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artist Coalition, and many more.
About Un-Convention
Founded in 2008, Un-Convention is a series of music conferences, showcases and events that have brought together thousands of artists and music professionals, both nationally and internationally over the course of 115 events on 5 continents, to share ideas and discuss the future of the music sector.
As well as our music conferences and showcases we also work to develop regional music scenes, support music export and exchange, and run a UK-wide touring network. To find out more visit the OUR WORK section of our website. In addition, we also hold quarterly networking events in Manchester, Details of these can be found here.
We are proud to be a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL
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