UN-CONVENTION MANCHESTER
Un-Convention Manchester returns on the 22nd and 23rd October 2026.
Our 116th music conference and showcase will once again bring 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.
Early Bird Tickets for this year’s event are available here, priced at £50.00 plus booking fee for Full Event passes, and £42.50 plus booking fee for Conference Only passes.
For our 2025 event we welcomed some fantastic speakers, including Scott Cohen (Co-founder of The Orchard), Bernard Butler (Grammy Award Winning musician and producer), Tom Kiehl (CEO of UK Music), Dr Jo Twist OBE (CEO of the BPI), Virág Csiszár (Head of International Booking at Sziget Festival), Robert Meijerink (Head of Programme & Booker of ESNS – Eurosonic Noorderslag), Anika Mottershaw (A&R and Project Manager at Bella Union), Jon Collins (CEO of LIVE), Bev Whitrick (COO of the Music Venue Trust), Peter Leathem OBE (CEO of the PPL), Camille Auguarde (UK Head of Operations, and A&R at Jack White's Third Man Records), Hari Sangar (Campaign Manager at NQ), Harriet McBain (Festival Manager at Deer Shed), Andy Rea (Co-founder of 2000trees Festival), Si Chai (Creative Director at Chai Wallahs), Maxie Gedge (European Project Manager at Secretly Group), Anna Moulson (Co-chair of the Association of Independent Promoters), Gordon Masson (Editor, IQ Magazine), Joe Sparrow (Editor, Music Ally), David Brewis (Field Music), Veso Mihaylov & Graham Stanley (The Jacaranda), Grace Meadows (Music Minds Matter), Duncan King (Skiddle), Tasmin Stephens (TTSSFU), Eno Williams (Ibibio Sound Machine), and many more. We look forward to announcing details of this year’s speakers soon.
For the last eighteen years Un-Convention has been providing a platform for the makers and champions of independent music to meet, network, and develop new ways of working.
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 independent 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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