UD’s Industry Takeover Returns For A Massive Seven-Day Festival
Written by SOURCE on March 22, 2023
UD’s Industry Takeover is back and it’s expanded even further. This year, bolstered by the new Talent House headquarters UD launched with East London Dance, UD’s Industry Takeover has grown from the all-dayer of previous years into a massive, seven-day festival, featuring 20 different events.
Running from March 27 to April 2 at the Talent House, the week-long event will include appearances and contributions from 0207 Def Jam, Music Against Racism, Rio Ferdinand Foundation, PPL, BBC’s Chi Chi Izundu, Elijah, UD’s first ambassador, Ray BLK, and many more.
The event kicks off with an In Conversation with 0207 Def Jam founders, Alex and Alec Boateng, steered by BBC Correspondent, Chi Chi Izundu. Also on the schedule will be a conversation between Jacqueline Springer, Curator of Africa & Diaspora: Performance at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and UD’s first ambassador, Ray BLK. The final of the three ‘In Conversations’ is Michelle Kambasha from The Guardian, and Athian Akec, a member of the UK Youth Parliament and an active campaigner on knife crime, Brexit and climate change.
As ever, at the heart of the Industry Takeover are the elements of community development and Black music culture. UD has been working closely with Music Against Racism and they’ll be staging their own takeover of the festival on Friday, March 31. A collaboration between UD, Rio Ferdinand Foundation, and Warner Music UK, this panel will be an open and frank discussion about music’s role in the fight against racism and division within the industry. Taking part in the discussion on the day will be Heather Small (Rio Ferdinand Foundation Ambassador), Jermain Jackman (singer, songwriter, author and activist), Lord Victor Adebowale (UD Chair), Joe Kentish (President, Warner Records), Paul Samuels (VP A&R, Atlantic Records), Paul Hill (Education Co-ordinator, Show Racism The Red Card), moderated by Esi (KISS FM).
There will also be a tonne of high-level industry figures from across the music industry on hand to share their expertise and insight with the next generation, including A&R executives from Sony Music’s Robot + Humans, Secretly Canadian, and PIAS. Multi-platinum producer TSB will be putting on a Production Masterclass with The Flight Club, Finesse Foreva co-founder TK and producer JB Made It will be taking part in a Q&A hosted by the MMF, and there’ll be a whole load of workshops provided by everyone from PPL and PRS Music to higher-ups from TikTok, and Butterz founder Elijah, who’ll be sharing more of the insight that has made his yellow square social media series so essential.
There’ll be plenty of live music as well, of course, kicking off on Thursday, March 30, at 6.30pm with the one-away Industry Takeover Open Mic, which will be hosted by Nayana, and powered by Complex UK. Since launching the Open Mic sessions in 2022, UD has seen a plethora of new talent gracing the Talent House stage. Artists that make the cut will be profiled, post-event, by the Complex editorial team. Meanwhile, The Spit Game will be filming a live cypher at the Talent House and GUAP will host a live showcase of up-and-coming talent, before Orii Jam closes the Industry Takeover 2023 with a live jazz session.
Commenting on this year’s Industry Takeover line-up, UD Founder and CEO Pamela McCormick said, “This year’s programme for Industry Takeover is bigger and bolder than ever before, with 20 events across seven days in our brand new state-of-the art Talent House. The festival content, co-designed with the young people we empower, is a reflection of the discussions they want to have with the music industry around Black music culture and the people with whom they want to build alliances and expand their network. UD’s role is to develop, educate and connect young Black talent to the business, and I’m excited that, throughout this week of events, we will be providing a platform to elevate the voices of underrepresented communities and drive positive change to create a more diverse industry. I’m grateful to all of our partners, funders and speakers for their engagement and would encourage others who do not know UD so well to come down and check us out.”
Alex Boateng, co-president of 0207 Def Jam, also commented: “For years, UD Music has been at the centre of youth music culture in London, having a big hand in the careers of many artists and execs behind the scenes, including mine! Their events are always a must attend and we’re looking forward to connecting with everybody on Monday.”
Shauna Belvett, London Regional Manager at the Rio Ferdinand Foundation, added: “The partnership between Rio Ferdinand Foundation and Warner Music is designed to inspire young people to pursue their careers and skills through engagement with the music industry, and to give them a voice to deliver personal and social change. This collaboration with Music Against Racism and UD will put the voices of young people at the heart of a future strategy to tackle racism head-on.”
Tickets are running out fast, but you can reserve a free ticket to #IT2023 at udtickets.com.
