Beyond The Music, Greater Manchester's global music and media industry forum and new music showcase festival, today announces first seat releases for the All Content AI Summit convened by Prime Minister of the UK, Andy Burnham; alongside details of the first run of speakers for its groundbreaking, policy-setting conference programme, taking place across MediaCity, Salford for the very first time on 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th October 2026.
The 2026 programme, titled Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, will embody Beyond The Music's core ethos: to raise, discuss and solve the biggest challenges impacting the creative industries in the present day. The MediaCity campus in Salford, Greater Manchester, will become a hub for some of the strongest voices in music, tech, film, gaming and content, and political leaders; as they convene to protect, preserve and expand our industries for generations to come.
The All Content AI Summit
Andy Burnham, Prime Minister of the UK, convenes a first-of-its-kind, full-day All Content AI Summit on Friday 9th October. The session will combine global key stakeholders from every corner of the creative industries to align on a shared, rights-based position for AI and ways to protect art and its creation, whilst ensuring commerce can grow and flourish alongside modern technology — 'The Manchester Principles'.
First wave speakers
Announced today are the first speakers taking part in the three-day conference schedule, tackling everything from pioneering business models, cross-sector collaboration, the political and economic value of the music and media industries, new economic models, live music ecosystems and much more.
Joining actor Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom are some of the most influential names in the modern creative industries and UK politics; from Stacey Tang, Co-President of RCA Records UK and Chair of the BRIT Awards Committee, Sophie Jones, incoming CEO of the Royal Television Society, and YolanDa Brown OBE DL, artist and Chair of the BPI, to Bev Craig, the newly appointed Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Leading the addition of Beyond The Music's "The team behind…" sessions, highlighting key campaigns from the year, will be Tommas Arnby, the music executive, festival promoter and manager behind global alt-rock sensation Yungblud; and Dan Lambert, manager of hotly-debated Irish rap group Kneecap. Each will sit down at MediaCity to discuss the trials, successes and teams behind some of the present moment's most talked about artists; with further artist sessions still to be announced.
Elsewhere, Tom Gray of The Ivors Academy will deliver an Address; Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of the BPI, will give a keynote; British-Ugandan singer-songwriter Daudi Matsiko will take part in an 'In Conversation' session in partnership with Music Support; and Michael Adex, Founder and Chief Executive of NQ and manager of Manchester artist Aitch, will return to Beyond The Music as both a speaker and curator, alongside the likes of Sunderland singer-songwriter Tom A Smith.
Beyond The Music 2026 speakers (A–Z)
Catherine Martin (The Ivors Academy, Ireland) // Chris Hawkins (BBC Radio 6 Music) // Dan Lambert (Kneecap) // Daudi Matsiko (Artist) // Dr. Jo Twist OBE (BPI) // John Robb (Louder Than War) // Jon Collins (LIVE) // Josh Daniel (Generator / Interval Records) // Kate McBain & Dan Tsu (Youth Music) // Martin Goldschmidt (Cooking Vinyl) // Michael Winterbottom (Director) // Michael Adex (NQ) // Miles Leonard (YTL) // Molly Neuman (CD Baby) // Nazir Afzal OBE (Social Justice Pioneer) // Nina Nesbitt (Artist) // Ruth Kilpatrick (Artist Manager) // Shain Shapiro // Sophie Brown (Dynamite Songs) // Sophie Jones (Royal Television Society) // Stacey Tang (RCA) // Steve Coogan (Actor) // The Anchoress (Artist) // Tim Hegarty (Cutting Edge) // Tom A Smith (Artist) // Tom Gray (Ivors Academy) // Tommas Arnby (Yungblud / Locomotion) // Vicky Dowdall (VDM Music) // YolanDa Brown OBE DL (BPI)
More details on the 2026 conference programme, and further speakers, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Lead festival curators
This year, Beyond The Music will join forces with a series of exceptional, industry-leading tastemakers to curate each of its festival stages. Revealed today, the lead curators for the 2026 edition include Michael Adex (Founder & Chief Executive, NQ); Chris Hawkins (Presenter, BBC Radio 6 Music); John Robb (Founder, Louder Than War); Emma Wiggins (Rock & Metal Alliance) and Dellessa James (Amazon Music +44).
They join a host of previously announced curators including Audio North, BBC Introducing, FOCUS Wales, Heist or Hit, Melodic, RTB, Studio 88, SXSW, Treehouse Manchester, OpenLab, The Line of Best Fit, Notion and Dot to Dot Festival in solidifying Beyond The Music's mission to transform the careers of some of grassroots music's most deserving talents.
We're thrilled to be part of Beyond The Music festival in Manchester, as we're committed to providing artists with the tools, services, and visibility they deserve. Through our Amazon Music For Artists Master Class and the Amazon Music x +44 x NQ Stage supporting Black Music, we'll continue this commitment live during the festival in October.
We're thrilled to be partnering with Beyond The Music to launch the next stage of RMA's journey and showcase some of our exciting heavy bands, at an event built around genuine connection and collaboration. It's great to partner with a team that truly understands what we're building and champions emerging talent the way we do.
Giving an artist their first national play is one of the best feelings in radio. I've broadcast from MediaCity for well over a decade and this region has never once stopped producing brilliant new music, so I've packed a whole stage at Beyond The Music with exactly that. See you there in October, I honestly cannot wait!
It's great to be part of this year's Beyond The Music programme. It's been great to see the conference grow in line with the growth within Greater Manchester as a whole. NQ has always supported initiatives that give back to the city and help platform new talent coming through!
I'm looking forward to curating a cutting edge mix of modern high decibel, post punk and new shapes and sounds that are all louder than war for Beyond The Music…
The music lineup for Beyond The Music 2026 will be revealed in the coming weeks.