We weren’t going to let torrential rain and flooding stand in the way of our Music Industry Plug-In event last week, and there was a noticeable buzz in the air as people arrived at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.
It turned out to be very productive and enjoyable day, which brought people together from all sectors of the industry to explore a variety of topics that we need to get ahead of. You can read Matt’s appraisal of the day below.
Breakfast gave the opportunity for delayed arrivals, drying off and networking, including with the MIA partners who formed the SME Support Fair. Positive conversations were taking place amongst the stories of travel challenges, and the determined spirit of the MI industry was tangible.
Ant kicked off the more formal content, using his newly advanced Powerpoint skills to outline the shape of the day, before the ‘Practical Sustainability’ panel, chaired by Steven Greenall. Andy Land (Focusrite) and Anthony Daly (ClimateEQ) brought fascinating insight to the conversation, demystifying some of the green speak and putting the realities into sharp focus. Steven made the session interactive with live polling (and his love for Queen) to take a measure of where the companies represented feel they are on the sustainability journey, before setting the challenge for everyone to identify and action one change to make their business more sustainable.
Coffee and cookies gave opportunity for more networking before Alice prefaced a presentation around the National Plan for Music Education and £25m allocation for musical instruments, given by Hannah Fouracre (Arts Council England), and Vicky Timperley (Department for Education). This served as a refresher of the context and the most recent information about the expected roll-out of funding, followed by answering delegates’ questions around the topic. It’s quite clear that the next crucial stage is the reorganisation of music hubs, emphasised by the main takeaway of the session: build relationships with your local hub to put yourself in a place of strength as the road ahead becomes clear.
Buffet lunch gave rise to more networking with a lovely relaxed but engaged feel, in spite of the continuing deluge and incoming reports of flooding and concerns about getting home. Suitably fed and watered we went into the final session of the day with undampened spirits.
Alex Tucker (Creative United) shared information about the upcoming re-launch of the Take It Away scheme, which is being expanded following a new funding award from Arts Council England. It is hope that the revised scheme will have enhanced impact in making learning an instrument accessible for all.
Up came the image of a shuttered, closed-down shop, previously used for Ant’s ‘Is this the end of for High Street retail?’ piece. Rather than being a harbinger of doom and gloom, this ushered in a conversation covering not only the challenges facing the industry, but also the opportunities. It was heartening to see headline data from our forthcoming State of the Industry report showing that most participants see their business as either ‘Steady’ or ‘Quieter’ rather than ‘Really Quiet’, though it would be nice to see more of those move to ‘Busy’ over the next year.
Conversation between Ant and competition law specialist Marc Shrimpling (Osborne Clarke) segued into wider conversation involving the retailers, distributors and manufacturers in the room. Marc’s seemingly endless knowledge provided strong anchorage to the conversation, which embraced go-to-market models, agency, crucial elements of competition law, and issues around stock levels in the channel. Again, much food for thought here, essential to ensuring the healthiest future possible for the industry. There’s no doubt we’ll be continuing this conversation.
As we brought the day to a close it was good to see an industry working together, organising lifts where possible for those potentially stranded by train cancellations and evening meet-ups for those forced to spend an unexpected night in Leeds. The friendly and engaged feel of the day continued as people made their way out into the rain, armed with grab and go drinks and brownies.
It has been lovely to receive so many positive messages over the last few days, and there’s plenty for us to feed into the ongoing work of the MIA. We’d like to extend our thanks, once again, to our expert panellists and to everyone who attended. Your support and engagement makes our work as the UK MI trade body possible and more effective.
