All below times are in BST (UTC+1).

Tuesday 17th October

SANdBOX SUMMIT

9.00Am - registration

9.30Am - Welcome and Introduction

Event Host: Paul Brindley, CEO & Co-Founder, Music Ally

9.45am - Panel discussion: Discord and Community Building

Chair: Marlen Hüllbrock, Head of Marketing & Audience, Music Ally

Tom Gayner, CEO and Founder, Levellr
Lucy Fletcher, Community Manager, Warner Records UK 
Matt Sherratt, Artist Marketing Manager, Amuse

Over the past year, there’s been an increased focus on building strong communities around artists. Discord has become one of the key digital spaces for artists to do so, but there are a myriad of other tools available too. However, the task of building and maintaining such a community is challenging. In this panel, we want to take stock and talk to experts in the field about their top tips and key learnings when it comes to building communities on Discord and elsewhere.

  • When is the right time for an artist to start investing in building their fan community?

  • How do you pick the right platform?

  • What are the key challenges in building a thriving community?

  • How do you stay on top of a thriving Discord community?

10.30Am - Presentations: Going Global: Genres On The Rise

Presenters:

Chaz Jenkins, Chief Commercial Officer, Chartmetric
Shivam Malhotra, CEO & Founder, Malsons Media (Manager, Shubh) 
Marcela Murillo Trujano, Management Team, Peso Pluma, Prajin Music

We've already witnessed the global rise of genres like K-Pop, Reggaeton, and Afrobeats. But the borderless consumption enabled by streaming continues to provide fertile ground for various local sounds to reach new milestones on the global stage. In 2023, we've seen the first Regional Mexican song reach the top of the Billboard Global 200 Chart, Diljit Dosanjh became the first Punjabi artist to perform at Coachella, and a new breed of Arab artists pushing artists from the region to new heights on DSPs. To stay on top of these industry trends, we've invited some of the teams behind these artists to present case studies on their artists and how they helped their respective genres/scenes reach audiences globally. 

11.10 am - Break 

11.40am - Panel discussion: Beating the burnout

Chair: Joe Sparrow, Editor, Music Ally

Sammy Andrews, CEO, Deviate Digital
George James, CEO, Be-Hookd Digital
Anique Cox, Manager, Bree Runway
Anne Löhr, MITC, Co-founder MIM

With increased demands upon both artists and modern-day marketers, and the always-on nature of the role, attention is now focusing  on how to deal with the stress and strains of such constant pressure. This panel will consider what can be done – and should be done – to guard against mental health and burnout issues, with practical advice and guidance for both marketers and artists.

  • What strategic choices can mitigate against the ever-growing demands on modern-day marketers and artists?

  • What sort of limits should sensibly be put on the nature of the marketing role these days?

  • How can we help artists to stop them becoming overloaded by too many marketing demands on their time?

  • How can both marketers and artists achieve a sensible work/life balance in the modern day music industry?

12.20pm - Presentations: MODERN APPROACHES TO ARTIST campaigns

Amy Lilley, Learning Development & Marketing Manager, Music Ally
Sarah Seukeran, Learning Operations Manager, Music Ally

12.45pm - Lunch

2.00pm - One on one: How to stay creative

Will Grant, Head of Marketing, Domino Records in conversation with Sam Hill, VP, Global Digital Marketing, BMG

Marketers are under constant pressure to be inventive, original and fresh in their campaign ideas. But where should you look (aside from Music Ally of course) for inspiration and ideas to stay ahead of the game? And how do you balance the desire to come up with new ideas without relying on the more tried and trusted campaign tricks? This one on one conversation between two highly experienced considers these challenges.

2.25pm - Panel discussion: D2C Today and Tomorrow

Chair: Patrick Ross, COO, Music Ally

Jason Rothery, Senior Director, E-Commerce International, Warner Music Group
Dan Minchom, Managing Director, Ochre
Aileen Crowley, Partner, Lark42
Rachael Scarsbrook, General Manager of E-Commerce & Marketing, BSI Merch

D2C is not new, but its applications continue to evolve. In this panel we’ll look at the state of D2C in 2023, including new opportunities and challenges, from virtual merch and beyond. What are the factors that make up a solid D2C strategy in today’s fragmented landscape of social platforms and DSPs?

  • What are the core platforms in today’s world of D2C?

  • What are the challenges and opportunities of every social platform and DSP jumping on the shopfront bandwagon?

  • A discussion of some of the most successful and exciting D2C campaigns of late.

  • What have we learned after the NFT boom, and what are the lasting implications of virtual merch?

3.10pm - Break

3.40pm - Panel discussion: How campaign trends differ across different platforms

Chair: Marlen Hüllbrock, Head of Marketing & Audience, Music Ally

Josh Deal, Founder & CEO, Zebr
Theresa Peuker, Senior Digital Manager, Modest! Management
Mike Walmsley, Global Head of Digital, September Management
Lina Yanson, Video & Social Accounts Manager, Secretly Distribution

With TikTok, Reels, and Shorts  - there are various major short-form video platforms that can potentially drive the success of a release campaign. But while the format is similar, how and when trends emerge on each platform can be quite different. The experts on our panel will discuss the main similarities and differences when it comes to trends on TikTok, Reels and Shorts, so you can better understand how to best utilise the power of each of these platforms.

  • What are the best practices and approaches for TikTok campaigns?

  • How do these differ from campaigns on Reels and Shorts?

  • What types of trends tend to work on TikTok vs. Reels vs. Shorts?

  • How does the creator community differ?

4.20pm - PRESENTATION: CAMPAIGN TOOLS THAT ARE MADE FOR MUSIC

Josephine Ruiz-Healy, Associate Director of Product Marketing, Spotify

Learn more about how the team at Spotify for Artists is building a powerful suite of campaign tools to help artists and music marketers drive meaningful music metrics. 

4.35PM Emerging marketer award supported by Spotify for Artists

This new award recognises up-and-coming talent in marketing.

The nominees are:

Delegates will be invited to vote on the winner and the winner will be presented with an award at the end of the session.

5:00PM - Drinks & networking