Plugged In - Artist Management Event

Generator presents the first in series of music business events in Yorkshire, under the banner of Plugged In. The event will be held at the Carriage Works, 3 Millennium Square, Leeds, on Thursday June 17th. It features a talk by two, highly experienced people in the area of artist management: Cerne Canning (Franz Ferdinand) and Graham Wrench (Richard Hawley, Tom McRae). It will also provide an opportunity to meet other like-minded people, who work in the regional music industry.

Focusing on the issues that affect modern day artist management, the event will explore the skills required to stay on top of the game in a rapidly changing music business.

Cerne Canning

Cerne started his career by clearing a mountain of demo tapes which lay at the door of Rough Trade label boss, Geoff Travis. This auspicious start in A&R led him into promoting some of the more popular bands of the late 1980s, at London venue Bay 63: Primal Scream, Shop Assistants, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Sonic Youth and Ted Chippington amongst them. He then promoted the NME’s C86 shows at the ICA London, before calling it a day as a promoter.

Moving into artist management, with business partner Simon Esplen (now a music lawyer at Russells Solicitors) they developed a roster which included The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Blue Aeroplanes and Warm Jets.

Cerne then took a break from management and dabbled at an internet start-up, and worked at Best PR, before joining Supervision Management in 2002. He started managing Franz Ferdinand in early 2003, with the band signing to Domino in March 2003. Franz are now an established multi-million selling act, having released three albums since January 2004.

Cerne is a QPR fan and rockabilly lover.

Graham Wrench

Graham’s career in the music business began in the 1980s, putting up fly-posters for The Leadmill, in Sheffield. He became the venue’s promoter and between 1989-98 booked artists such as Oasis, Pulp, Happy Mondays and many more.

Being a musician, an actor, and having set-up a record label, he felt experienced enough in the workings of the entertainment industry to take a shot at artist management. His first experience was managing Babybird, who had a big hit in the mid 1990s with the song You’re Gorgeous. He went on to manage the Britpop act Gene, and took the girl group Supersister to chart success in 2001.

For the last 10 years, Graham has managed Mercury Music Prize nominee Richard Hawley. He has recently added Tom McRae and rock ‘n’ roll legend Duane Eddy to his roster. He also co-runs the sponsorship company The Red Lodge who produce the music series The JD Set for Channel 4.

The event is free, but spaces are limited. To book your place contact:

jonny@generator.org.uk Tel: 0191 231 4016

Plugged In Yorkshire is funded and supported by Screen Yorkshire