Over two Saturdays this double-header masterclass will give you a crash course in both the creative and business approaches in the craft of songwriting. From the initial spark of an idea to getting your track signed, we will cover it all.

These masterclasses are aimed at songwriters, producers, solo artists and bands.

MORNING SESSION
Presentations and panel discussion with our three guests, followed by a Q&A.

1. Keith Armstrong is currently best known as the manager and publisher of internationally successful singer-songwriter Jake Bugg, but he has had a 30-odd year career in all areas of the music business. He managed one of the biggest worldwide acts of the 90s (The Lighthouse Family) and then went on to set up his own label, Kitchenware Records, having considerable success with acts such as The Editors. His new focus in publishing and back into managing find him ideally suited to talk about the business side of songwriting. He will reveal how sessions have worked with Jake and how, as a budding writer, you might be best able to make a business out of it.

2. Jenny Jones works as a sync specialist for Ninja Tune (Cinematic Orchestra, Bonobo, Thundercat). Jenny works for their publishing arm Just Isn’t Music on sync – placing existing songs in film, tv and adverts. She will be revealing exactly how that happens, what money is involved, how the legal side works and also how you might be best prepared to get your songs synced.

3. Steven Braines is the main man behind management company The Weird and the Wonderful. He started out scouting for Zomba Publishing (M.I.A., Daft Punk, Vampire Weekend) then moved to managing artists such as Tricky and Magda before getting a number one with KDA. His artists have writing credits with Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry and have collaborated with artists from Aloe Blac to sync queen Lisa Gerrard. One of Steven’s current artists is internationally renowned dance music star Maya Jane Coles. He is the youngest ever board member of the Music Managers Forum and is also on the board of the AFEM. Steven will be revealing more about a career as a songwriter/producer and how you might attract a publisher partner, managers and labels.

AFTERNOON SESSION
Private 1-to-1 meetings with Keith Armstrong, Jenny Jones and Steven Braines. This gives you the chance to speak directly to big players in the industry specifically about YOUR songs and how to make deals happen, how to get into great writing sessions and how to get that money to flow! It is also a great opportunity to play some of your material to our experts and get some honest industry feedback. Each meeting will be 15-30mins in length. This is a new idea we are trying to combat the typical scrum to speak to guests after an event!

Please note*

By registering for this event you are registering for the morning session. You can apply for the opportunity for a one-to-one session with a representative from Ninja Tune or Universal during the registration process. As numbers are expected to be high we can’t guarantee that everyone will be able to participate in the afternoon session but we will inform you prior to the event.

Places at this event are FREE OF CHARGE for creative and digital businesses from North East England, thanks to ERDF funding.*

*County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear

With VR and AR developments being the hot topic of the moment, we’re happy to announce our next Thinking Digital Session will be dedicated to exploring what’s trending locally and nationally on this exciting subject. Join us on Tuesday 26 September at the fabulous Zerolight offices on Newcastle’s Quayside to hear updates and progress stories from Joseph Artgole of Zerolight, Phil Charnock of Liverpool’s Swapbots, as well as one further speaker to be announced.

In addition to this you’ll have the opportunity to take part in a Q&A session plus try out some cool demos kindly provided by Zerolight and Hedgehog Lab as well as one other AR/VR exhibitor to be announced.

The session will run as follows:

• 5.00 Registration and VR/AR Exhibits
• 6.00 Introductions
• 6.10 Keynotes
• 7.00 Intro to the Exhibitors
• 7.10 Discussion and audience Q&A
• 7.45 Networking and VR/AR Exhibits

Click here to register

Refreshments will be provided.

‘Digital Futures’, Generator’s business support programme, is designed to meet the business development needs of the North East’s creative and digital businesses. This programme is part-funded by England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. Places at this event are FREE OF CHARGE for creative and digital businesses from North East England, thanks to ERDF funding.*

*County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear (excluding Tees Valley)

Generator and Digital Union, in partnership with Blu Sky Tax are pleased to welcome US Tax & Financial Services to deliver this fantastic session!

Where do ambitious tech companies go next? Often, the first choice is to expand into the US. With its large consumer market, world-class talent network and large pool of capital, the US remains one of the most attractive markets for any company that wants to ‘go global’.

If your company is planning or in the process of expanding to the US, you’re invited to our interactive event focusing on building a successful US business. The discussion with experienced company executives and professionals will focus on the realities of US expansion and discuss best practice strategies for high-growth UK businesses with aspirations to scale and grow in the US market. This event will be a conversational discussion of expansion in the US from a panel comprising people with hands-on experience and will focus on practical issues including:

• Culture
• Recruitment
• Business Planning
• Tax
• Immigration
• Legal issues

REGISTER HERE

Facilitators for this session are:

• Nora Rothrock, (Moderator) Early Tech Founder and Group Managing Director, US Tax & Financial
• Brett Putter, Founder CultureGene
• Anna Gudmundson, Senior Advisor to Tech Scale-ups
• Brad Albin, International Corporate Tax Director, US Tax & Financial
• Elizabeth Jamae, Partner/Attorney at Law, D’Alessio Law Group (Immigration)
• Tracey Ginn, US Corporate Attorney, MBM Commercial LLP

Schedule of event:

• 16:00 Arrival
• 16:15 Event kick off
• 17:45 Networking drinks
• 18:30 Close

Digital Futures’, Generator’s business support programme, is designed to meet the business development needs of the North East’s creative and digital businesses. This programme is part-funded by England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. Places at this event are FREE OF CHARGE for creative and digital businesses from North East England, thanks to ERDF funding.*

‘Make Video Work For You’ is a masterclass for businesses and public sector organisations of all sizes, looking to understand how to best use video and animation to support and drive their promotional, training and corporate needs.

The region’s leading production agency Three Motion Media, will be delivering the free morning session, so whether you are a small company looking to create your first promotional video, a large trust looking to capture or promote a forthcoming conference, a global brand owner looking to launch your new product or a training consultancy looking to improve your learner experience with professional online content, join us.

The session will be fun and interactive, with real project content used throughout the event to explain the techniques and tools available, and the chance to get hands on with some of the equipment used to create content professionally. We will also cover the effective deployment of content to reach and attract big audiences online.

REGISTER HERE

Schedule of Event

09.30 Registraton

09.45 Event starts prompt

13.30 Event close

Three Motion is a multi-award winning video and animation production company based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Three Motion produce digital video and animation for a wide range of clients, including large brands such as Bacardi, Greggs, MTV, as well as a number of smaller businesses such as the Outdoor Fitness Club and MyBody. View their portfolio

With over 50 years of industry experience (between us), our team is an enormously talented group of individuals, dedicated to producing video and animation to the highest standards. We are hugely passionate about our work and take pride in every project we are involved with.

Three Motion Media – Create | Engage | Share

‘Digital Futures’, Generator’s business support programme, is designed to meet the business development needs of the North East’s creative and digital businesses. This programme is part-funded by England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. Places at this event are FREE OF CHARGE for creative and digital businesses from North East England, thanks to ERDF funding.*

Mike Cockburn, MD of Sogno will deliver two sessions in this masterclass focusing on using Positive Psychology & Coaching techniques in your Business. These sessions are relevant to any business leader from start-ups to established SMEs interested in applying new techniques to drive their business forward & navigate change.

Session 1: Developing Corporate Resilience through Positive Psychology

Mike will be exploring how positive psychology concepts can strengthen corporate resilience. We live in a period of rapid and unpredictable change that is creating unprecedented pressures on organisations. In this environment, conventional responses to change have often proved to be ineffective. Positive psychology offers some creative alternatives that you can look to apply in your own organisation.

From this session, you will gain:

• Deeper appreciation of what drives change
• Exploration of how conventional organisations are conditioned to respond
• Reflection on your personal resilience and how to build your resources
• An appreciation of how positive psychology can make a difference for individuals and their organisations

If you are interested in attending this event, we recommend you complete this survey in advance: https://www.robertsoncooper.com/iresilience/.

Session 2: Coaching for Strategic Change

Mike will be exploring how coaching based leadership can play a central role in shaping effective strategies for organisational change. He will share the Sogno 6Q with you; an easy to remember coaching model, based on 6 key questions that will enable you to turn every conversation into a genuine dialogue based on listening and mutual understanding. This deeper appreciation will create the environment for more imaginative decision making and greater buy in your organisation’s mission and strategy.

From this session, you will understand:

• How coaching based leadership can facilitate effective strategy development
• How to develop a coaching based leadership style
• Learn key coaching skills and a meta coaching model
• Understanding the relevance of ‘The Hero’s Journey’ development narrative

REGISTER HERE.

Schedule

10.00am Registration

10.15am Session 1 begins

11.45am Break

12.00pm Session 2 begins

1.30pm Close

‘Digital Futures’, Generator’s business support programme, is designed to meet the business development needs of the North East’s creative and digital businesses. This programme is part-funded by England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. Places at this event are FREE OF CHARGE for creative and digital businesses from North East England, thanks to ERDF funding.*

*County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear (excluding Tees Valley)