The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Music Managers Forum (MMF) have revealed two further recipients for the 2021 Artist & Manager Awards.
Amy Morgan of September Management and The Black Music Coalition are both named today as award winners.
Celebrating achievements in the artist and manager community, the ceremony returns to London’s Bloomsbury Big Top on Thursday, November 18.
SoundCloud has been confirmed as headline sponsor. The show will be hosted by Capital FM’s Roman Kemp.
As previously announced, the event will see Elton John and David Furnish honoured with the prestigious Artist & Manager Partnership Award, sponsored by PPL.
"SoundCloud is proud to have the opportunity to partner with The Featured Artists Coalition and Music Managers Forum to help celebrate these outstanding artists and the extraordinary achievements of industry change-makers," said Erika Montes, VP, artist relations, SoundCloud. "We share their deep and ongoing commitment to innovating a more fair, inclusive and equitable music community with artists in the UK, and beyond, at the center of it all."
Amy Morgan has been named as winner of the coveted award for Manager of the Year, sponsored by YouTube Music, recognising her global success with Glass Animals.
Working with the band since the start of their career, Morgan led a multifaceted campaign for their third studio album Dreamland, overcoming a wave of Covid-related barriers to explore everything from groundbreaking 3D artwork, livestreamed events, syncs in FIFA ’21 and Minecraft fanfiction.
Following the lifting of restrictions, Morgan has subsequently helped the band re-embark on their touring commitments, navigating a marathon run of sold out dates across the UK, North America and Europe, including a headline show at Alexandra Palace on November 19. In the US, the band sold 135,000 tickets in three days. This activity has powered Dreamland to become Glass Animals’ most successful album to date - charting at No.2 in the UK, No.7 in the US and No.6 in Australia, while accumulating billions of streams and opening new fanbases in Canada, Ireland, Germany and China.
Their platinum selling hit Heat Waves has now surpassed one billion streams and become the UK’s biggest export from a British contemporary band. As well as re-entering the UK Top 5, the track has ensured Glass Animals are, alongside Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa, the only British act to break the Spotify US Top 5 in the last year, and the only UK band to break the Spotify Global Top 3. Glass Animals have also now amassed a million subscribers to their official YouTube channel.
What Amy has achieved with Glass Animals is simply inspirational
Roz Mansfield
Previous winners of Manager of the Year include Starwood Management, Debbie Gwyther, Closer Artists, Tap Management and Jonathan Dickens.
Roz Mansfield, head of artist relations, YouTube Music, said: “All of us at YouTube Music would like to extend Amy our congratulations for this highly coveted award. The important role played by music managers during the pandemic should never be overlooked, nor how hard those in the MMF community have worked to re-pivot campaigns, explore new avenues and keep their artist's business functioning. It's why YouTube Music is so proud to support the MMF’s Accelerator Programme. What Amy has achieved with Glass Animals is simply inspirational, creating one of the most innovative digitally-led campaigns of recent times and delivering extraordinary success in the face of adversity.”
FAC and MMF also revealed The Black Music Coalition as 2021 Industry Champions.
Founded in the wake of #TheShowMustBePausedUK, the Coalition is dedicated to eradicating racially biased practices and barriers and establishing equity and equality for Black executives, artists and their communities within the music industry. In little over a year, the organisation has assumed a leadership role in these discussions - publishing a groundbreaking manifesto and building a network for change.
Marking one year on from Black Out Tuesday, the Coalition recently hosted a series of panel discussions at the Royal Albert Hall, bringing together prominent voices from across the industry.
Annabella Coldrick, CEO, MMF and David Martin, CEO, FAC, said: “We would like to congratulate all our winners for their achievements in the face of adversity. The pandemic has been incredibly tough for all artists and managers, many of whom have been left to operate without support of a safety net, but Amy absolutely encapsulates how our community has attempted to bounce back with innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity. We are also immensely proud to recognise the leadership displayed by The Black Music Coalition. The battle against racial injustice is a defining issue of our time, and now, more than ever, it is vital that all in the industry continue to step up and push for lasting change.
“We would also like to say a sincere thank you to our headline sponsors SoundCloud, and to our award sponsors YouTube Music and PPL. Without the ability to reach global audiences via digital platforms, the impacts of the pandemic would have been even more severe for artists and their teams. Their support for these awards has been equally crucial.”
The Artist & Manager Awards is co-promoted by the FAC and MMF. The event is produced by Oli Bartlam at Full Fat Events, with commercial strategy overseen by Romano Sidoli.
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