Last Train Home: On Track Announces Guests

Andy Haggerstone

Andy is co-founder and managing director of Kaleidoscope, an artist management company (Callum Pitt, Grace Gillespie, Shields) and record label based in Newcastle upon Tyne, and a partner in Blank Studios, a recording studio in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley. Kaleidoscope’s roster have performed at festivals including Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Melt!, Reeperbahn and The Great Escape, have landed sync placements with brands including Ubisoft and FILA and on TV shows/channels including Made In Chelsea and BT Sports, and have featured on key DSP playlists with Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer.

Henry Carden

Henry is the artist manager for Cattle & Cane and also one of the co-founders of Twisterella Festival, Middlesbrough’s multi-venue metropolitan music festival showcasing the brightest and best emerging talent. Additionally, he brought the likes of The 1975, Frank Turner, Wolf Alice, Alt-J, The Amazons and many more to Teesside as they were breaking, as well as working closely with regional acts like Cape Cub, Llovers and Dylan Cartlidge.

Kieron Donoghue

Kieron Donoghue has been involved in the music and tech sector for over 15 years. In 2008 when Spotify first launched in the UK he created a music platform called Playlists.net and a playlist brand called Topsify. After growing them to become the largest independent Spotify platforms online he sold them to Warner Music in 2014 and joined as their VP of global playlist strategy and curation. In 2018 Kieron left Warner and set up Humble Angel Records, a ‘streaming-first’ independent record label. Humble Angel Records has since generated tens of millions of streams and launched the career of over a dozen artists.

Martin Longstaff

Martin Longstaff, aka The Lake Poets, is a multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Sunderland. Martin’s music as The Lake Poets and his writing for other artists has reached the top 5 of the UK singles charts and the US Billboard Top 10 Album Charts, as well receiving steady daytime airplay on BBC Radio 2, Radio X, and BBC 6 Music. Lead single from Martin’s debut Lake Poets album received over 8m Spotify plays and his songs and compositions have been played in venues as far and wide as London’s 02 Arena, New York’s Madison Square Gardens and Sydney’s Opera House. Martin is also a qualified teacher and regularly works in the community running songwriting workshops, recently receiving an honorary doctorate for his efforts in education over the past 10 years.

Claire Dupree

Claire Dupree is the editor of NARC Magazine, the independent guide to alternative music and culture for the North East. NARC’s focus is on what’s happening in the region, and they have a strong ‘local’ ethos, meaning that they prioritise North East musicians, makers and creators in their content.

Emily Pilbeam

Emily Pilbeam is the Team Assistant for BBC Music Introducing in West Yorkshire, Team Assistant for BBC Music Introducing in Humberside and a previous Team Assistant for Radio 1 & 1XTRA. She also presents the BBC Monday Night Mixtape between 9-10pm on BBC Radio Leeds, wherein which she showcases the best Alternative City Sounds – focusing on local music, events that are happening in West Yorkshire and highlighting upcoming artists from across the world. Alongside this, she puts on her own nights at a local venue in Leeds, and also DJs at several different venues in Leeds.

Taking place at The Forum in Darlington, from 11am to 2pm, Saturday 7th September, LTH: On Track is a free music industry conference for both artists and music creators as part of Last Train Home Festival.

The event will give artists the opportunity to speak to a host of music professionals and gather advice on how to navigate the music industry and build a sustainable career.

The programme will open with roundtable sessions discussing all things music industry from touring and getting gigs, to record labels, music management, music press and getting played on the radio; followed by Claire Dupree, founder & editor-in-chief of the North East’s premier monthly music and culture publication NARC. Magazine, who will present a comprehensive guide to music press (including those big do’s and don’ts). Capping off the day, we’ll be hosting an A&R panel where artists and bands will be given the opportunity to have their music heard by the music industry professionals in attendance.

LTH: On Track is free to attend and for all ages. Click here to register to attend.