Artist Management Services Ltd

When lockdown hit in 2020, few people knew the impact that the pandemic would have on the music industry across the UK. Musicians, producers and managers up and down the land found themselves with time on their hands like they never had before. One such musician was Richie Muir: an Edinburgh-born musician based in Nottingham, but most importantly of all, a huge, lifelong fan of the Scottish rock band, Runrig. Lockdown saw Richie launch a Facebook page dedicated to acoustic covers of Runrig songs from across the decades. Before too long, the idea to put a band together to keep the legacy of the music alive led to the formation of Beat The Drum: The Runrig Experience. With the band due to embark on their latest UK tour, aptly named ‘The Long Winter Tour’, we sat down with Richie to discuss what the group have been up to and what concert-goers can expect from this run of dates.   Richie, it’s great to see you. We’re excited to hear about what you and the band have got planned before t...

Coldplay has just announced a new string of UK dates as part of their ongoing Music of the Spheres tour, which has been selling out stadiums and smashing records across the world. The tour kicked off back in March to clamour and excitement - but the hullabaloo was less about the music and more about how the tour was to be made a reality: with a sustainable and eco-centric approach.   The Music of the Spheres tour was prefaced with several environmental pledges: to Reduce, Reinvent and Restore, according to the band’s official website. Without going into the details, the headline aim was to reduce CO2 emissions produced by the concerts by an ambitious 50%. Anyone with any experience in the gigging and touring industry will know exactly how big a challenge that figure presents.   The cynics amongst you will no doubt harbour deep scepticism about such claims. After all, the music industry is full of stars professing to want to ‘do their bit’ whilst navigating the skies at a whim ...

Artist Management Services are proud to be supporting the Sleep 1000 project – a charitable endeavour aiming to deliver one thousand sleeping bags and thermal blankets for Ukrainian refugees arriving in Poland.  The project has been spearheaded by a selection of local heroes who will next week undertake the mammoth task of driving the donated goods across Europe, from Nottingham to the Polish city of Krakow. Well over 1000 miles and involving several days of travel, the lengthy journey will involve a small fleet of vans setting off from the Nottinghamshire town of Hucknall early next week. Despite the logistical challenges the job presents, local Sleep 1000 volunteer, Alex Marshall, was hugely optimistic about the project and the benefit it will bring to the refugees fleeing Ukraine: "We knew we had to do something to help," he said. "We were told by a Polish couple, who are actually currently housing some Ukrainian refugees in Krakow, that there was a real shortage of s...

Covers are a useful weapon in an artist's arsenal; taking a well-known, well-loved classic and putting a refreshing new twist on it can be a great way to break through and get noticed. A rarer phenomenon occurs when an artist takes a lesser-known track from an established name, adapts the song, and releases it to greater acclaim than the original: so much so, that audiences sometimes assume that the song isn’t a cover at all. So, without further ado, here are five of our favourite covers that you never knew were covers in the first place!  1. UB40: RED, RED WINE (ORIGINALLY BY NEIL DIAMOND) Coming off the back of three consecutive Top 5 UK records, as well as achieving hits in countries around the world, UB40 released their version of Red, Red Wine in 1983 to much acclaim. Whilst other hits helped the band to get a foothold in the charts, it was this cover that gave the band their first Number 1. Included on the reggae covers album "Labour of Love", Red, Red Wine was or...

Taylor's Version:  How Taylor Swift made her music her own Anyone with even the vaguest interest in popular music will no doubt have seen the recent re-release of 'Red', the award-winning album from American country-pop superstar, Taylor Swift, initially released in the Autumn of 2012.  Why the re-release, you might ask? It would be considered highly unusual for such a relatively recent collection of music to be afforded a second publication. It is not uncommon at all for Swift, however. Back in April, the singer released a re-recorded version of her much-loved early album, 'Fearless', much to the excitement of fans and the interest of industry bodies. It is expected that the other Swift albums will also be given new life at some point in the future. So, what is the story behind this string of album re-offerings, and how might these new 'Taylor Versions' signal a change in how artists manage and control their work? The saga began in 2018 when Swift’s entered...

Artist Management Services have today published their report on how music students have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Having surveyed hundreds of students on a wide range of music-related courses, AMS have presented their findings in this detailed report, which highlights some of the key concerns. As well as the immediate disruption to learning that has similarly affected the rest of the education system, the results of the survey reveal destroyed confidence in the music industry and serious concerns about future employability.  Artist Management Services' Communications Director, Adam Cable, spoke about the report and its findings: "The results made for dire reading. It's clear, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the pandemic has brought about a real shift in priorities for students. There's more anxiety about career prospects and job security - we've even had conversations with students who are in the process of changing courses or giving up on music altoget...

We are delighted to share the news that we as a business are supporting a group of selected students from Nottingham Trent University, in collaboration with the Institute of Directors. Every year, the university nominates a section of their students to become student members of the IoD, giving them access to additional support, a mentoring programme and a number of business-specific events designed to boost their real-world experience.  One such event is the £50 Challenge, where students are put into teams and are tasked with turning £50 into as much profit as possible in a set amount of time, with money raised going to charity. The challenge is done in partnership with the students' IoD mentors; Artist Management's CEO, Ben Marshall, spoke about how excited he is to be taking on a mentoring role this year:  "Both as a business and as individuals, we are passionate about seeing young people succeed. The £50 Challenge is a great opportunity for students, as not only does it...

The cost of online music streaming services to artists has been hotly debated in recent weeks. Key figures from the industry have questioned the morality of streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music, suggesting that musicians who make their work available on these platforms do not get a fair price per listen.  "Access to unlimited music is fast becoming an expectation; it's almost a commodity. The days of paying for an album or an individual song are gone in the majority of people's eyes," said Matthew Hunt, Artist Management's Head of Production. "To have restrictions to music taken away is fantastic, but it doesn't come without side-effects."  As well as the meagre pay-outs, artists have also criticised streaming providers for not doing enough to promote new music, opting instead to make recommendations to listeners that contain mostly household names and 'old-school classics'.  "A lot of my Spotify recommendations are singers and ...

It might seem like a lifetime ago, but only one month ago, people celebrated a very different kind of Christmas. COVID-19 restrictions, put into effect by the UK government, allowed families a very limited amount of time to spend time together to enjoy the festivities with some semblance of normality. In the lead up to Christmas Day, it became abundantly clear for primary schools that the usual winter term traditions – namely, the much-anticipated Christmas nativity, performed by the schools' younger children - would not be able to go ahead as planned.  The scene is set - ready for filming to commence! This was certainly the case for Linby cum Papplewick Primary School, a village school in Nottingham, local to Artist Management Services. With staff already stretched with the additional workload of having to manage and maintain a safe learning environment for their pupils, the team started to think about ways they might be able to help. For parents, seeing their child perform in the...

The world reacted with dismay, but with little surprise, at the news yesterday afternoon that the world-famous Glastonbury festival will be cancelled due to the impact of COVID-19. Festival organisers, Michael and Emily Eavis, made a statement confirming the news (below), making it the second year in a row that plans for the much-loved music and arts festival have been abandoned. Fans and musicians alike have expressed disappointment but understanding.  “In spite of our efforts to move Heaven & Earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the Festival happen this year,” the Eavises said. “We are so sorry to let you all down.” Organisers have guaranteed the chance to buy tickets for the event in 2022 to people successful in securing tickets for this year through a £50 deposit. The event was due to occur between the 23rd and 27th of June; rumours regarding the line-up were already doing the rounds on social media.  MP Julian Knight, who is chairing the ...

The government has come under criticism this week for reportedly rejecting a deal with the European Union which would have seen musicians permitted visa-free touring, potentially meaning a lot of additional expense and hassle for performers looking to take their work around the continent. Here's what we know so far.  • Free movement of people between the UK and EU ended on 1st January with Britain's withdrawal from the European Union officially coming into effect. Of course, travel is still possible, but not in the same fashion as was allowed previously. Musicians and their technical crews face new rules, additional costs and extensive paperwork, especially if moving between countries.  • It was initially reported by The Independent that Brussels was the culprit for the breakdown in negotiations for easy touring. However, since then, an 'EU source' has disputed this claim, arguing instead that the UK is responsible for the failure to reach an agreement, reportedly r...

If one thing can be unanimously agreed upon by everyone, barring the likes of Jeff Bezos and investors in Pfizer, 2020 has been one hell of a ride; emphasis on the 'hell'. What a brief bit of respite from the doom and gloom it was when, early this morning, Spotify users awoke to find their smartphone apps telling them that their personal Spotify Wrapped was now available to watch: a personalised review of your year-long listening habits, favourite tracks and most-listened-to artists. A phenomenon that flew under the radar in years gone by, the now hotly anticipated annual event has been the most consistently talked about and tagged phrase across social media today. It's a bit of fun ultimately. Wrapped will tell you quirky factoids like which new genres you've explored, how many hours of your life you've forfeited to conspiracy theory podcasts and how you're in the top 0.5% of global Frozen II soundtrack listeners thanks to car rides with your two-year-old. Spot...

We are delighted to announce that we have finished as runners-up at IKON 2020, a global small business award.  To be recognised on the international stage is a fantastic achievement, and even though we didn't walk away with the top prize, we feel very proud to have made it to the final, where every candidate showed themselves to be worthy of the win.  IKON 2020 is an annual conference held in California and hosted by Keap, a software company aimed at improving and growing small and medium-sized businesses. It is estimated that the company currently has around 200,000 users. This year's conference differed from years gone by in that much of the presentations needed to be held virtually, due to the ongoing restrictions caused by COVID-19.  After an extensive application and interviewing process, our CEO, Ben Marshall, was delighted to find that his business had made it to the final, which involved delivering a keynote presentation to the thousands of conference delegates vi...

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With current COVID restrictions showing no signs of going away any time soon, many consumers looking to organise a small wedding or party are having to be creative with how they create the party vibe without contravening any government or venue enforced rules. One of the most common get-arounds used (especially when it comes to weddings) is to move as much of the event outdoors, both to appease restrictions and to make guests feel more at ease with social distancing. If you are fortunate enough to have been asked to perform music at one of these outdoor events, you may be unsure of the challenges that could be presented to you. After all, the majority of musicians will have spent much of their time playing indoors. So without further ado, here are the most important tips for making your alfresco gig run as smoothly as possible.  1. Are you catered for? Before agreeing to perform or signing any sort of formal contract to do so, you must have assurances that the necessary resources...

The lights go down. The crowd erupts into anticipatory cheers and applause. Stage lights flicker as the unmissable rattle and hum of a legion of VOX AC30 amplifiers begin to crackle into life. As the muffled, distorted vocal intro of arguably one of the greatest concert openers of all time breathes its way through the line array speakers, a silhouetted figure strides through the haze, clad in a glitzy, disco ball-like jacket and leather gloves that would make even Liberace blush. Freddie – is that you? Alas, it is not. But as Adam Lambert's devastatingly excellent vocal cords navigate their way through Queen's stadium anthem, 'One Vision', like a lightsabre would through the even world's sturdiest butter, it's easy to see why legends like Brian May and Roger Taylor feel so at ease sharing the stage with the American Idol finalist. Lambert is good. Almost too good. This was back in 2015, in one of the UK's many soulless, corporate-owned stadia, at the tail e...