2022 Artist & Manager Awards in association with beatBread - full list of winners from last night’s ceremony at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top
Burna Boy presents Bose Ogulu with her Manager of the Year Award
Becky Hill picks up Artist of the Year, presented by her manager Alex Martin along with Nile Rodgers and Merck Mercuriadis
Tim Burgess presented with the Artists’ Artist award to recognise 30 years of music making
Manic Street Preachers, Wet Leg and The Script join Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer in congratulating Martin Hall for lifetime achievement as Managers’ Manager
Digga D, M Huncho and Potter Payper celebrate Groundworks award for Team Achievement
Beabadoobee and Callum Reece revealed as Breakthrough Artist and Breakthrough Manager
Carl Cox, ABBA Voyage, Krept & Konan, Red Light Management and Music Declares Emergency complete the list of winners
FAC and MMF address the crisis in live music in opening speeches
Last night saw the 2022 Artist & Manager Awards in association with beatBread take place at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top, with major winners including Becky Hill, Tim Burgess, Burna Boy’s manager Bose Ogulu, and Martin Hall, long-time manager of Manic Street Preachers, The Script and Wet Leg.
Attracting almost 600 guests from across the music business, the prestigious event is organised by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Music Managers Forum (MMF) and celebrates creative and commercial successes across the artist and management community.
In what has been a momentous year for both, Becky Hill was deservedly crowned Artist of the Year, presented by her manager Alex Martin and tour manager Amanda Barker, alongside music legend Nile Rodgers and Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis; while Bose Ogulu received the award for Manager of the Year from her son, the global superstar Burna Boy and Sheniece Charway, Artist Relations Manager at YouTube Music.
Becky has now amassed over 20 million followers and four billion streams on Spotify alone. As a British female solo artist, only Dua Lipa and Adele generated more plays on the platform in 2021. Winner of a BRIT Award for Best Dance Act in 2022, and widely respected as a songwriter, singer and performer, Becky has accumulated 13 x Platinum, 3 x Gold and 3 x Silver records across her decade-long career.
Bose, meanwhile, is widely regarded as one of the world’s most entrepreneurial music managers. With deep roots in the Lagos music scene, she has overseen Burna Boy’s unstoppable rise to global stardom, building long-term partnerships in the UK, including collaborations with the cream of British talent such as Stormzy, J Hus, Dave, Jorja Smith, Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin, Mabel, Lily Allen, Steel Banglez, P2J, Fred Gibson & Jae5. Co-founding the pioneering Spaceship Collective in 2020, Bose has become a leading light in advocating for African artists to maintain greater control and ownership of their repertoire.
The lifetime achievement awards for Artists’ Artist and Managers’ Manager also recognised two highly respected individuals, with Tim Burgess saluted for over 30 years as a songwriter and performer, and Martin Hall for his long-term successes in music management. Tim received his award from Brix Smith and PPL Chief Executive Peter Leathem, while Martin’s was preceded by a warm speech from PR guru Terri Hall and video messages from Manic Street Preachers, The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue, Wet Leg and Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer, who said: “How many managers can say that 25 years ago they were taking a new band to number one in the album charts, and here they are again, in 2022, managing a new band to number one in the album chart. That longevity speaks volumes for you Martin.”
The ceremony also featured several surprise announcements, with the founders of Groundworks - Bills, Jeffrey Owusu-Dankwa and Niall 'Louis' Bentil - receiving a special award for Team Achievement. Following a speech from Colin Batsa, President of EGA Music Group, they were joined onstage by artists Digga D, M Huncho and Potter Payper.
Awards for the tightly-contested categories of Breakthrough Artist and Breakthrough Manager were also revealed on the night, with the former going to Beabadoobee (presented by Primal Scream’s Simone Marie Butler and Spotify’s Ruth Collett, and collected by Chris Melian from management company Dirty Hit) and the latter to Callum Reece at One House for his successes with the likes of Eliza Rose, Sherelle, cktrl and Mwanjé. Callum’s award was presented by MMF Chair and Vice Chair, Paul Craig and Kwame Kwaten, with Amazon Music’s Laura Lukanz and Hazel Berry..
Elsewhere, we recognised some true legends of music, with Pete Tong and TikTok’s David Mogendorff stepping up to present Carl Cox as Pioneer. Ever the tireless DJ, Carl was playing a set 10,000 miles away in Australia. His manager Alon Shulman received the award. Meanwhile, Björn Ulvaeus sent a video message to Svana Gisla, Ludvig Andersson and Baillie Walsh, the show producers and director behind ABBA Voyage. They were presented with their richly-deserved award for Innovation by Imogen Heap and Utopia Music’s Roberto Neri.
James Sandom and Tyler Brown at Red Light Management were presented with their award for Writer / Producer Manager by Lewis Thompson, hitmaker for the likes of David Guetta, Anne-Marie and Joel Corry, while Krept & Konan were recognised in the Entrepreneur category for their succession of commercial ventures - including the soul food restaurant Crepes & Cones and Nala’s Baby, their hugely successful range of baby skin care products. Their award was accepted by manager Riki Bleau.
Finally, we were delighted to recognise the vital work of Music Declares Emergency as 2022’s Industry Champions for their impactful campaigning around climate change which is driving momentum towards more environmentally sustainable practices - particularly in live touring. Presented by Sam Lee, the award was accepted by co-founder Lewis Jamieson and director of creative strategy and artist spokesperson Fay Milton.
The ongoing challenges around live music - from Brexit and the pandemic, to the crippling cost of living crisis - and its impact on the livelihoods of artists and managers were all raised in a joint opening address by the FAC’s CEO, David Martin and Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive of the MMF.
“There’s no point pulling any punches. For the majority of artists, the past few years have been pretty hard,” said David. “We’ve had Brexit, a pandemic, and now a cost of living crisis. It’s been tough to make a living from music, and it remains tough.”
“Without addressing these issues, the next generation will really struggle to break through - and that will have ramifications for every promoter, record label, music publisher and tech company here tonight,” added Annabella.
The ceremony was hosted by Doc Brown (aka Ben Bailey Smith) and guests also enjoyed two live performances from London-based pop-punk artist GIRLI and the hotly-tipped rapper FelixThe1st.
The full list of winners at the 2022 Artist & Manager Awards in association with beatBread is as follows:
BECKY HILL - Artist of the Year (Award sponsored by Hipgnosis)
BOSE OGULU - Manager of the Year (Award sponsored by YouTube Music)
TIM BURGESS - Artists’ Artist (Award sponsored by PPL)
MARTIN HALL - Managers’ Manager (Award sponsored by SJM Concerts)
BEABADOOBEE - Breakthrough Artist (Award sponsored by Spotify)
CALLUM REECE - Breakthrough Manager (Award sponsored by Amazon Music)
GROUNDWORKS - Team Achievement
KREPT & KONAN - Entrepreneur
ABBA VOYAGE - Innovation (Award sponsored by Utopia Music)
CARL COX - Pioneer (Award sponsored by TikTok)
RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT - Writer / Producer Manager
MUSIC DECLARES EMERGENCY - Industry Champion
The headline sponsor for the 2022 Artist & Manager Awards was beatBread, the pioneering music funding platform that enables artists to access growth capital while maintaining control of their careers and ownership of their music.
Launched in November 2020, and already a highly valued Associate Member of the MMF and partner of the FAC, beatBread offers new ways for independent artists to source funding to further their careers. The service provides advances on streaming income for both catalogue and unreleased repertoire, empowering artists and giving them complete choice of their distribution, marketing and promotion partners. beatBread advances range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $2M per artist for a limited share of existing catalogue revenues, with options also available for unreleased music.
To date, the company has supplied funding to almost 500 artists and labels across multiple genres, six continents and a broad range of career stages.