Phil Nelson
Judges Chair

Phil steered the meeting and did not partake in any votes.

Phil Nelson has been an Artist Manager since 1988 and his clients have included The Levellers (1 Platinum, 5 Gold records)  who headlined Glastonbury before starting their own 15,000 capacity Festival Beautiful Days (which Phil set up) , and The Longpigs (1 Gold record and Brit Award Nomination). Current clients include 2016 Grammy-winning Matt Hales / Aqualung (1 Gold record) and Duke Special (1 Platinum record), Sweet Billy Pilgrim (1 Mercury Music Prize nomination.)

He was the Vice Chair of the Music Managers’ Forum from 1997-2007. He co-founded The Great Escape Festival with Martin Elbourne and Jon McIldowie and dreamed up the Breakers’ Chart for Music Week.

From 2016-18 he was Music Industry Ambassador at BIMM (British & Irish Institute of Modern Music) for BIMM Group of colleges, where he still lectures.  He also set up a Student-run Record Label, Pool Valley Recordings.

He set up the Appetite for Disruption conference –a Music Industry Conference free to Students from all FE and HE Institutions to go to, the USP being that the Panellists are in their 20s or early 30s; https://www.afdconference.com/    With Chris Cooke of CMU he also set up The Education conference at The Great Escape Festival which happens annually on the Wednesday of the conference. http://cmuinsights.com/conferences-musiceducation2019/

Alongside managing and lecturing,  Phil has set up Pathways into Music http://pathwaysintomusic.com/  with Chris Cooke, to research in detail the current state of Music Education and to provide a series of seminars for people who teach, advise and support early-career artists and future music industry talent, as well as the artists themselves. They are also mapping the Music Industry outside of London, region by region.

Phil is a lapsed bassoonist.

Eve Blair

Eve Blair is from Strabane in Co Tyrone and is based in the BBC Radio Foyle Studios in Derry. She’s been a music presenter of The Late Show on BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle for the past three years. She has also worked for the BBC for 13 years starting a career as a Broadcast Journalist both on air and off air in the newsroom, before following her passion into music presenting. Eve has presented across many programmes on BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle including The Arts Show and Magazine shows. For the past few years on The Late Show, Eve has championed many local new voices alongside well established local acts too. When she's not curating her playlists for The Late Show, she enjoys live music and travel.

Pat Carty

Pat Carty has been with Hot Press Magazine since 2017. In that time he's gone to Tulsa – and Belfast - with U2, followed Robert Plant to Germany, been reduced to tears by Kris Kristofferson, compared Bob Dylan to a three-legged dog, and was falsely accused of breaking the internet by The Darkness' Justin Hawkins. For the recent 1000th issue of Hot Press, Pat interviewed Steve Van Zandt, Brian Eno and Patrick McCabe and somehow managed to convince them all that he knew what he was talking about. He has also contributed to the Dave Fanning show (RTE 2FM) and the Tom Dunne show on Newstalk FM, as well as getting up early to join the morning crew on Dublin’s Q102.

Aine Cronin-McCartney

Aine Cronin-McCartney is freelance music journalist, content creator and music manager. An avid fan and supporter of the local arts and music scene Aine started out writing reviews of local acts. After graduating from Ulster University with a degree in Journalism and Photo-Imaging, Aine launched her own website/blog ainecroninmccartney.com where she posts reviews, interviews and vlogs including her own original series ‘My Top Five in NI’. A regular contributor to BBC Ulster’s premier music show Across the Line, Aine has reported, interviewed and presented from Stendhal Festival, Sunflowerfest, BBC Music Day, Output Festival, NI Music Prize and more. Recently, Aine launched her own music management company, Flux Music Management where she works with Derry based Americana, folk artist Reevah and is committed to helping artists further build their brand and lead successful campaigns.

Fiona McAuley

Fiona McAuley is Head of Digital for UK Music at international artist management company YMU Group. Working with artists such as Years & Years, James Arthur, Take That, Clean Bandit and Friendly Fires, Fiona leads the digital strategy across the company’s roster, and works closely with digital & social media partners to drive innovative and engaging partnership opportunities.

 Fiona has recently joined YMU Group from her previous role at Polydor Records, where she was Senior Digital Marketing Manager. In that role, she devised award winning digital marketing campaigns for domestic and international artists such as Snow Patrol, Years & Years, Mabel, Ellie Goulding, Mura Masa, Lana Del Rey and Madonna.

Prior to that she held a senior position at WMA, as well as roles at Universal Music Global Insights and Audiences NI. 

Max Pilley

Max Pilley is a music journalist working for a broad range of print and online publications, including Under the Radar Magazine, Loud & Quiet, MusicOMH, The 405, XS Noize and the dearly departed Drowned in Sound. Having studied Multimedia Journalism at Manchester Metropolitan University, he recently relocated to Belfast and continues to serve full-time as the Gigs Editor for Silent Radio. He covered the 2018 NI Music Prize for The 405.

Becci Scotcher

Becci is the Senior Grants and Programmes Manager at PRS Foundation leading the planning, management and evaluation of all PRS Foundation’s grants and programme activities, With over 17 years’ music and arts industry experience, Becci was a core member of the WOMEX 13 delivery partners; Cerdd Cymru : Music Wales team, and has advised the likes of JAAK, Help Musicians UK, Association of Independent Music, Welsh Government, and Arts Council of Wales. She previously held roles at Roadrunner Records, Welsh Music Foundation, and Wales Arts International.

Kristin Sinclair

Kristen is a freelance music writer and Editor of The Gown student newspaper at Queen’s University.

Phil Taggart
Presents BBC Radio 1's The Chillest Show Sundays 7pm

Phil is an in demand live DJ and is behind the successful Slacker club nights and podcast series. He also owns the record label Hometown Records and in 2019 hosted Other Voices Belfast. He has appeared regularly on Vevo and Channel 4, as well as recently fronting festival coverage for BBC Northern Ireland of the Bigger Weekend and previously also for BBC3. Music was his passion from a young age and whilst studying at the University of Ulster, he scooped the BBC/Skillset Young Broadcaster of the Year award. Born in the town of Omagh in Northern Ireland, Phil's career started initially as a helping hand on BBC Introducing in Northern Ireland.

Sarah Wall

Sarah is Senior Events and Outreach Manager at music licensing company PPL, playing a pivotal role in ensuring support for musicians and labels via music industry events, conferences and showcases; from The Great Escape to Wide Days, FOCUS Wales and SXSW (as a partner of the British Music Embassy). Another aspect of her role is working with PRS Foundation’s International Showcase Fund, which offers support for artists, bands and managers at a crucial tipping point in their careers.
Prior to this, Sarah spent 10 years building artists’ careers as an artist manager at a frontline international management company (based in London and New York City), as well as wearing the hats of A&R, Tour Manager, Label Manager and occasional Graphic Designer. Sarah has worked with indie bands, A-list pop and everything in between; developing artists from bedroom demos to radio playlists and stadium tours.