Artist & Manager Awards 2024: Looking back on the night

Pet Shop Boys and their manager Angela Becker celebrated their hugely successful long-term partnership at last night’s Artist & Manager Awards which took place at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top.  

Organised by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Music Managers Forum (MMF) the event recognises the creative individuals who release music and perform shows and their entrepreneurial partners who help them build a business. The evening was hosted by BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz.

With 2024 marking the 40th anniversary of Pet Shop Boys’ iconic debut single, West End Girls, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have already enjoyed an extraordinary year - releasing an acclaimed new album, Nonetheless, their highest-charting studio album since 1993 and performing to packed venues around the world - including a five-night residency at London’s Royal Opera House and a headline appearance at Radio 2’s annual In The Park festival. 

Underpinning these successes has been a 16-year partnership with their manager Angela Becker, recognised by tonight’s award, that has seen Pet Shop Boys continue to innovate and flourish during a time of tempestuous industry change.   

On receiving the award, Neil Tennant paid tribute to Angela’s work and said: 

“At a time when we needed it, Angela brought into our lives: good advice, organisation, honesty and strategy to help us carry out some of our strange, spontaneous and wilful ideas. And to make this a reality. She has helped us flourish in those 16 years and we love her for it.”

Describing her experience as a “rarified education”, Angela reflected on Neil and Chris’ “intelligence, passion and curiosity”, before offering words of advice to future generations of managers. 

“Learning the language of your client’s hopes and fears will open doors to profound impact,” she said, “ensuring your work echoes in the hearts of audiences long after. I am continually elevated and inspired by the pursuit of new ways to communicate Pet Shop Boy’s vision. As Hans Christian Andersen says, ‘Where words fail, music speaks.’” 

Their Artist & Manager Partnership Award was presented to Neil, Chris and Angela by Jen Ivory, MD at Parlophone, and Peter Leathem OBE, CEO of award-sponsor PPL.  

Another globally successful duo was celebrated earlier in the evening, with Chase & Status and their manager, Sophie Kennard (co-founder Frame Artists), receiving the Artist & Manager Team of the Year from UTA’s Obi Asika and Sarah Wilson from award-sponsor TuneCore. 

The award marked an astonishing twelve months for Chase & Status, which has encompassed a BRIT Award, headline appearances at Creamfields, Boardmasters, TRNSMT and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, their own one-day show at Milton Keynes National Bowl and a string of hit tracks, including Backbone, their smash collaboration with Stormzy and career-first number one. 

Our Icon Award was presented to Paloma Faith by her long-time manager Innis Ferguson at Lateral Management. 

Although downplaying her icon status (“it’s truly an honour, but one I certainly don’t feel when I’m at school drop-off or pick up with yesterday night’s gig makeup halfway down my face and wearing a dirty grey tracksuit…”) over the past year, Paloma has cemented that position in British culture, reaching number 2 with her sixth studio album, The Glorification of Sadness, and publishing her second Sunday Times bestseller, MILF. 

During a witty and heartfelt speech, Paloma paid tribute to Innis, Jamie Binns, Radhika Rose Wilson and the team at Lateral, and urged artists to use their platforms and to be politically engaged. 

“Throughout history, musicians have always spoken out about social issues. It’s not a new thing. It should be part of all our work to continue to do that job. It's our duty. Please do not squander your influence on superficial things alone when you can make the world better.”

Riverman Management founders Alex Weston and Dave McLean were awarded the highly-coveted title of Managers’ Manager in tribute to an incredible 35 years working in music. 

Initially making their name as promoters, taking US acts including Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden across to the UK, Riverman are now synonymous with artist management - representing Placebo since 1995 and continuing to break new boundaries . Their current roster also includes Friedberg, Dea Matrona, Tom Fleming (ex Wild Beasts) and Dougie Poynter, while the Riverman team is completed by Angus Blue and Virginia Lee. 

As well as sustained successes in music, Riverman have also branched out into film production, with the indie hit Schemers which was an Audience Award winner at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. 

A second film is currently in pre-production, and Alex was presented their award by Stefan Demetriou of Aldgate Pictures and FAC Board Director, Brix Smith. 

Reflecting on Riverman’s successes and on the increased demands being placed on managers, Alex called for greater recognition and support of the role:

“What other job on this planet requires us to have so much wide-ranging knowledge and so many skills  and so much responsibility. And the most extraordinary thing of all is that, very often, certainly when we work with new artists, we don’t get paid anything at all to do this…..for years on end.    

“But we do it because we are 100% committed and passionate about each of the artists we take on and truly believe, against all the odds, we can break them and their music! They are the future of our industry and put their faith and trust in us to help them achieve those ambitions. But, a note to our major labels, sometimes it’s worth remembering that managers need support too!”

The winners in the tightly-contested categories of Breakthrough Artist (sponsored by TikTok) and Breakthrough Manager (sponsored by Amazon Music) were revealed on the night - as was the winner of a new awards category for 2024, the Secret Weapon. 

Barry Can’t Swim was a hugely popular choice for the artist award, in a year when his Mercury-nominated debut album, When Will We Land?, connected with ever larger audiences - quite literally at Glastonbury, when spiralling crowds resulted in a complete shutdown of the Park Stage. Earlier this month, he confirmed a major headline appearance for 2025 at London’s All Points East. Manager Oran Bartonwas presented with the award by Blur’s David Rowntree (the FAC’s Artist In Residence) and TikTok’s Lisa Skeppner. 

Recognising her fantastic work with Irish singer-songwriter Cian Ducront, Victoria de Juniac (VictoriaBDJ Management) received the breakthrough manager award from the MMF’s Chair and Vice-Chair, Niamh Byrne and Jill Hollywood and Amazon Music’s Hazel Berry. 

Our inaugural Secret Weapon Award, established to recognise a critical member of a management company who has made invaluable contributions behind the scenes, was won by Hope James at Atlas Artists, particularly her work for Rachel Chinouriri.  

Elsewhere a wide diversity of established and upcoming artists and managers were awarded.  

Sam Kelly and Ray Simpson from Cymande were presented with their Originator award by the singer-songwriter Joel Culpepper. Now widely recognised fxor their foundational influence on hip hop and rare groove, Cymande’s fusion of funk, soul, jazz, Calypso and reggae recently gained a fresh audience through the acclaimed thought-provoking documentary Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande. The band have a new album coming in January 2025, featuring collaborations with Celeste and Jazzie B, and play UK shows at Cross The Tracks and Brixton Academy. 

With the blessing of her family, our 2024 Pioneer was awarded posthumously to SOPHIE. 

A visionary producer, whose music still sounds ahead of its time, SOPHIE’s award was collected by her mother, Pamela Long and sister Katy Grimstone, and introduced by the singer, songwriter and visual artist Hannah Diamond who spoke movingly of her friend and collaborator. “SOPHIE didn’t just break boundaries,” said Hannah. “She shattered them. She redefined what it means to be an artist, proving that electronic music could be joyful, radical, queer, and boundless.”

Fittingly, this week SOPHIE’s final self-titled album was named by Rough Trade as their album of the year. 

Another special moment came with the presentation of our Fan Champion Award for Yungblud (Dom Harrison) Tommas Arnby, Adam Wood and the wider team at Special Projects Music. 

With Dom, Tommas and Adam providing a video message, their dedicated approach to audience-building - notably through this year’s “affordable” one-day Bludfest festival - was highlighted by team member Erin Gibson who collected the award. Appropriately, Erin was joined by two of Yungblud’s most passionate fans, Corey and Kenya.  

Finally, our awards for Writer / Producer Manager and Team Achievement recognised the important work of Ant Hippsley and the Croydon-based powerhouse that is Finesse Foreva.  

As head of Milk & Honey’s UK office, Ant is currently representing one of the hottest producer and songwriter rosters in the world, including Finn Keane - aka Easy Fun, who co-wrote and produced five tracks on Charli XCX’s Brat - Stuart Price, The Elements, Billen Ted, Jordan Riley, Biff Stannard & Duck Blackwell. 

In the space of five years, this stellar cast of talent have contributed to seven BRIT nominations, four Mercury nominations, three Grammy nominations, an Ivor Novello and a run of platinum and gold tracks including six No 1s, 11 Top 5’s, four Top 10’s and three Top 20’s. 

Following in the footsteps of previous recipients such as #Merky, YMU, Forever Living Originals and Groundworks, the entrepreneurial founders of Finesse Foreva - SK, TK and JB Madelt - were recognised for their trailblazing contributions to culture and community. 

Operating as a management company, record label and recording studio, Finesse Foreva have played a significant role in the careers of artists including Skengdo x AM and Russ Millions - taking drill to the masses via the iconic chart-topping Tion Wayne collaboration, Body. 

However it is their work with young people in Croydon that really sets them apart, sharing their knowledge via free educational courses in the music business, event management and music production. In 2023, Finesse Foreva founded the Music NXT GEN CIC and, in collaboration with the MMF, organised the largest music conference in South London as part of the Mayor's London Borough of Culturecelebration. 

The 600+ attendees were also entertained by live performances from Moonchild Sanelly, BEKA and Hana Lili - the latter both awardees from the FAC’s Step Up Fund. 

The full list of winners at the 2024 Artist & Manager Awards: 

Artist & Manager Partnership (sponsored by PPL)

Pet Shop Boys & Angela Becker (Becker Brown) 

Artist & Manager Team of the Year (sponsored by TuneCore)

Chase & Status & Sophie Kennard (Frame Artists)