FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Beyond The Music 2026

Beyond The Music, Manchester's creative industry conference and music showcase returns from October 6-9 for three days of vital, policy-setting, conversations, lectures and networking events as well as three nights of break through music showcased across venues in Salford. TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Photo Credit: Mark Waugh

The full 2026 conference programme titled Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness details Beyond The Music’s commitment to a strengthened, connected and collaborative industry. Across three days, it will host leading voices from music, film, gaming, media, technology and more; convening creativity, culture and innovation in order to identify, discuss and solve some of the biggest challenges facing our modern industries.

Beyond The Music 2026 will begin with a very special opening premiere of 24 Hour Party People, the 24th Anniversary reissue; accompanied by an exclusive keynote session with Steve Coogan (Actor), Michael Winterbottom (Director) and Andrew Eaton (Producer) on Tuesday 6th October.

Official conference and festival programming will then begin on Wednesday 7th October, with the ‘Life’ programme to be introduced by Bev Craig, the new Mayor of Greater Manchester and founding member of Beyond The Music; followed by Tom Gray, Chair of The Ivors Academy’s “A Place For Us: A call for a sovereign creativity” address. The programme will then delve into summit discussions spanning creative activism for artists and the ever evolving class divide within the creative industries; alongside a “The team behind…” session with Tommas Arnby, Manager of Yungblud.

Wednesday will also see Beyond The Music host the first ever UK edition of Billboard UK’s 40 Under 40 Honors List, where artists, creators, delegates and industry pioneers will gather at the Beyond The Music opening lunch to celebrate the future leaders of the UK music industry; later opening into a series of mixers and networking events designed to connect leaders from past, present and future.

The Beyond The Music conference programme will also welcome the voices of some of the creative industries’ most influential women, with keynotes from Dr Jo Twist OBE, Chief Executive of the BPI; and Sophie Jones, CEO of the Royal Television Society. Joining them will be Jo Charrington, President of Capitol Records UK and Stacey Tang, Co-President of RCA UK for two special keynote conversations presented by The Money Trench: The Music Industry Podcast with Mark Sutherland.

Thursday’s ‘Liberty’ summit programme will tackle everything from music industry investment; creative sovereignty in the face of unprecedented industry change; rights and wrongs of our future creative economy; a new direction for the live music eco-system; and what the creative industries really need from the UK government’s new ‘Turn It Up’ plan.

Further keynotes conversations will welcome Sunderland singer-songwriter Tom A. Smith, and Martin Goldschmidt, Chairman and Founder of Cooking Vinyl in conversation with John Robb; while artist Daudi Matsiko will speak with Joe Hastings, CEO of Music Support.

Most uniquely, Beyond The Music 2026 will host a full day, The Creative Industries AI Summit convened by the new Prime Minister of the UK and founding member of Beyond The Music, Andy Burnham on Friday 6th October. The session will bring together leaders from every corner of the creative industries, who will meet for the very first time to align on a rights-and-integrity first policy for AI in the content industries; ‘The Manchester Principles’.

Announced to join over 100 speakers for the 2026 conference programme today are Jo Charrington (President, Capitol Records UK); Amber Davis (SVP, Warner Chappell Music); Molly Neuman (President, CD Baby); Gee Davy (CEO, AIM); The Ting Tings (Artist); Jon Collins (LIVE); Tiffany Calver (DJ, Broadcaster & Writer); Tom Kiehl (CEO, UK Music); Lucy Noble (VP, AEG); Shani Gonzales (MD, Warner Chappell); Mark Sutherland (The Money Trench); Josh Daniel (Generator); Sprout Grooters (Youth Music); Ant Andrews (Expectation Management / The Molotovs); Shain Shapiro (Founder, Sound Diplomacy); Ant Hippsley (Milk & Honey); John Robb (Louder Than War); Michael Dugher (Music Champion, DCMS); Iain Cooke (45RPM); Alexandra Condon (VP Public Policy & Affairs, Warner Music Group); James Frith MP (Bury North); Rose Marley (CEO, Co-operatives UK), Trigga (Artist), Jin Jin (Songwriter), Alastair Webber (CEO, The Other Songs), Seb Lowe (Artist) and Joe Hastings (Music Support).

The full list of speakers, timings and conference details; including access to full delegate tickets for Beyond The Music 2026 can be found HERE.