Judges: Music Week Women In Music Awards 2023

The Midi Music Company was established in 1995 and delivers music education & talent development projects with children and young people aged 11 – 30, providing a creative industries careers advice service (CICAS®), events, industry seminars and music courses. Wozzy has supported the career development of various artists/creative entrepreneurs through CICAS®, including The Noisettes, Shingai Shoniwa, Kate Tempest, DJ Ng, MOBO Award winner Moses Boyd, Claye Morrison (Artist & Producer for roc nation!), British Composer Award winner Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian, Jazz FM Award winners Yussef Dayes and Steam Down. Wozzy is a member of the UK Music Diversity Taskforce, consults with the BPI and manages Future Afro Jazz band, United Vibrations and eight-piece Ska Reggae band, Chainska Brassika, as well as being an inductee into the Music Week Women in Music Awards Roll of Honour 2018 and Honorary Freewoman of the London Borough of Lewisham.

Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) members include virtually every significant digital service and retailer selling music, video and games in the UK. Kim first joined ERA in 2002 as Director of Development before taking on the top job at the association in 2004. Under her stewardship the organisation has transformed itself from its former guise as the British Association of Record Dealers (BARD) into a broad-based trade body whose members include independents (such as Sister Ray and Resident), specialists (HMV and Game), supermarkets (tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys), home delivery (Amazon, Rakuten) and digital and mobile providers (Sky, Virgin, Spotify, Google). As well as being responsible for the day to day running of ERA and Record Store Day, Kim is a director of the Official Charts Company and a key participant in many entertainment industry forums. Kim started her business career as a lawyer with Lovell White Durrant Solicitors, before switching to corporate finance at Coopers & Lybrand and later spending seven years in media investment banking with West LB Panmure.

Having worked for Live Nation Entertainment International for nearly 20 years, starting in its Clear Channel days, Selina holds a hugely varied position with duties extending to that of Company Secretary, International Group Counsel, and Head of Government Affairs, managing the Group’s dealings with national regulatory authorities. Selina was recognised in Music Week’s inaugural ‘Women in Music Roll of Honour’ in 2015 and has twice received the industry’s ‘Professional’s Professional’ award at the ILMC Arthur Awards.

Steve is responsible for the strategic direction of AEG Presents with a focus on developing new live event opportunities. He has been Senior Vice President of Music at Live Nation, spending in total 15 years at the company. Joining in the summer of 2000, across his time at Live Nation Steve’s remit was broad and varied. He created and booked Wireless Festival and promoted shows for amongst others Drake, Katy Perry, Dolly Parton, Linkin Park, Rhianna, The Killers and Nicki Minaj. Having worked with close to 400 artists at Live Nation in 2016 he joined AEG in a newly created co-CEO role with Toby Leighton-Pope. As well as running the successful British Summer Time Hyde Park shows Steve and the team have created a brand new festival in the shape of All Points East as well as a multitude of shows with artists ranging from Alice Cooper to Bananarama to Blondie. Outside of the UK he promotes shows throughout Europe with partners in all markets. Steve’s passion for music is still at the heart of everything he does. As he puts it himself when describing his job “ It’s always been the best hobby I’ve ever had!”

Jo Smith was appointed as Director, Legal and Business Affairs, Warner/Chappell Music UK in April 2014. She is responsible for leading the legal team, negotiating publishing deals and advising the MD and Senior Management Team. Jo also sits on the PRS Board and the MPA Board. Smith joined Warner/Chappell in April from Sony/ATV where she worked as Director of Legal & Business Affairs since January 2012. Previously she spent six years at EMI Publishing as VP, Legal & Business Affairs, during which time she managed business agreements in Continental Europe. Between 2003 and 2006 Smith occupied consultancy roles at Warner/Chappell and Island Records. She qualified as a lawyer in 1998 at Russells Solicitors and worked there for six years for both recorded music and publisher clients.

During an illustrious 45-year career, Alan has worked with an incredible number of high-profile artists, bands and companies; David Bowie (for nearly four decades), The Who, Victoria and David Beckham, the NFL, Bon Jovi, Led Zeppelin, Amy Winehouse, Shakira, P Diddy, Britney Spears, Naomi Campbell, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Michael Jackson, WME, Channel 5, Red Bull, Iron Maiden, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sir Paul McCartney, entertainment company AEG, Sony and EMI record labels, the Big Brother TV franchise, One Love Manchester and, of course, The Spice Girls. Alan is only the third recipient of the huge honour of being inducted into PR Week’s Hall of Fame in 2017, and is also probably the only PR in the world who has been an “exhibit” twice at the coveted Victoria and Albert Museum. In April 2015, through a unique 3-week long live event, (“Always Print The Myth: PR in the Modern Age”), Alan reflected on the evolving role of PR within fashion, culture, media, entertainment, sports and politics across the past 40 years. And as contributor to Pink Floyd’s “Their Mortal Remains” in 2017. Alan is also a regular contributor to TV and Radio. He fronted the BBC’s “Music Moguls” programme in 2016 – examining how PR and music are intertwined -and in 2018 did a second BBC series, “Hip Hype and Hustle”.

Annabella joined the UK’s Music Managers Forum in January 2016. MMF is the world's largest professional community of music managers with over 670 members based in the UK with global businesses and a wider network of managers in the USA. We campaign for a fairer, more transparent music industry which operates in the interest of artists and their fans. Annabella brings a wealth of experience to the role having had a career encompassing EU advocacy in Brussels, commercial and public affairs with Cadbury, government communications at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and, latterly, as Director of Policy and Research at the Design Council. The MMF UK has published the respected Dissecting the Digital Dollar series of 5 reports calling for the greater transparency in the music industry to ensure artists are fairly paid in the digital age. They are also a founder and supporter of the FanFair Alliance campaign which successfully called for restriction of ticket touting (scalping) so that real fans can see their favourite artists. Annabella is a founder member of EMMA, the European Music Managers Alliance alongside 6 other MMFs across Europe.

A Henley Business School MBA graduate, Vick Bain has extensive experience as a CEO in the music industry; leading the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (BASCA), the professional association for the UK's music creators and the home of the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards for six years. Having worked in the creative industries for over two decades, Vick has sat on the UK Music board, the UK Music Research Group, the UK Music Rights Committee, the UK Music Diversity Taskforce, the JAMES (Joint Audio Media in Education) council, the British Copyright Council, the PRS Creator Voice program and as a trustee of the BASCA Trust. Vick now works as a freelance music industry consultant, is a director of the board of PiPA http://www.pipacampaign.com/ and an exciting music tech start-up called Delic https://www.delic.network/ and has also started a PhD on gender diversity in the UK music industry at Queen Mary University. Vick was enrolled into the Music Week Women in Music Awards ‘Roll Of Honour 2017’ and BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour Music Industry Powerlist 2018.

Annette Barrett has held the position of Managing Director at Reverb Music, one of the United Kingdom’s most successful independent music publishers, since 2001, working with noted songwriters like Nitin Sawhney, Jamie Hartman, Peter Gordeno, and Matteo Saggese. Following the company’s 2012 acquisition by New York-based independent publisher Reservoir, Annette’s role has expanded to include the pursuit of intercontinental opportunities for the company’s international roster, which now includes talent like Ina Wroldsen, Lucy Rose, and Apollo 440. Over the course of her career, Annette has signed and worked with a slew of world class songwriters and recording artists, including David Bowie, George Michael, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Prince, Sting and The Police, to name just a few. Even with such an impressive roster under her belt, Annette remains dedicated to the development and promotion of new talent, helping up-and-coming writers hone their skills and discover the markets that best suit their unique sensibilities.

Having worked in the music industry for 25 years, Tara is now a well established manager of three acts. Declan McKenna (Columbia), FEET (Clapped Records) & The Murder Capital (Human Season). Her previous roles included day-to-day on Snow Patrol & Foals. Helping build both bands from newcomer indie outfits to festival and arena headlining acts worldwide. Her focus is on nurturing songwriting and keeping her bands focused, and centred. She is both well liked & respected in her field and has always been heavily involved in promoting equality within the industry. She is especially passionate about this showing her two children that you can change anything if you work hard enough.

JUDGES