My Experience of the Digital Revolution – how the Internet has shaped the musical landscape from creation to consumption
Mike Smith has been discovering artists and running record labels since before the Internet became a consumer medium. He will unpack for us the enormous changes that the internet has created, not only in how music is distributed and its relationship to other entertainment industries but also how music is thought about and made. He will illustrate his talk with reference to acts that he has discovered and managed, and he will give us some fresh and surprising predictions for the next twenty years.
Mike is Global President of Downtown Music Publishing where he is responsible for a catalogue that includes John Lennon, Miles Davis, George Gershwin, the Wu-Tang Clan and The 1975.
He began his career as an A&R (artist and repertoire scout) in 1988 working for a variety of music publishers and he signed artists including Blur, PJ Harvey, Elastica, Supergrass, Gorillaz, The White Stripes, The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys.
In 2006 he became Managing Director at Columbia Records UK working with, amongst others, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and The Foo Fighters.
In 2016 he took up the position of Managing Director at Warner/Chappell UK whose diverse roster ran from Noel Coward to Skepta and Stormzy. In November 2016 he was the inaugural recipient of the George Martin Award at The Music Business Worldwide A&R Awards.
Members: Free, Online (please book to receive a link) or Victoria Hall (doors open 7.30pm)
Guests: £10, Online (please book to receive a link) or £10 Victoria Hall (pay on the door – you will be admitted to the Hall at 7.50pm if there is room)
Please book to watch online by 1pm on the day of the event
You do not book to attend in the Victoria Hall
Drinks are served in the Members’ Room after the lecture