Not merely about the great live sounds spilling from the stages this weekend, Metropolis also boasts a terrific Spoken Word bill, as a host of big industry names get chatty in the RDS.
Saturday November 7 (from 18.30 to 19.15) sees our own Roisin Dwyer leading a 'Future Of Music' panel, with a quartet of key industry figures taking part.
Darius Van Arman is the CEO and co-founder of Secretly Group which includes the Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar, Dead Oceans and Numero labels, as well as the SC Distribution network. Since its formation in 1996, Secretly has become America’s new indie powerhouse, releasing commercial successes such as Antony & the Johnsons, The War On Drugs, Bon Iver, Yeasayer and Angel Olsen, in addition to hundreds of innovative, critically acclaimed albums from a diverse roster of folk, rock and electronic artists. Van Arman is also an active board member of American indie lobby, A2iM, and digital rights platforms, Merlin and Sound Exchange.
Gareth Murphy is the author of Cowboys and Indies – The
Epic History of the Record Industry, one of the most
important music business books of recent times. The book was hailed by major industry players like George Martin, Geoff Travis, Martin Mills and Rick Rubin as an essential guide to how A&R shapes popular culture. One of the central inspirations for the book was Murphy’s discovery of a previous record crash, provoked by the arrival of radio in the ’20s, which has parallels with the present crisis.
Julie Feeney is an award-winning artist from Galway, renowned for her classical, avant-garde style. Her three albums to date have received wide acclaim, with her 2005 debut 13 songs scooping the inaugural Choice Music Prize and her latest, 2012's Clocks, entering the Irish Indie Chart at number one.
She has also written an opera, Bird, which goes into full production in 2017.
This past year has found Feeney playing shows both at home and in the likes of Amsterdam, New York Mexico and Italy. She recently premiered her one woman show, which ran for 17 performances, in Dublin.
Linda Coogan Byrne is the founder of Good Seed PR, one of Ireland's most well-known and established music PR companies. A musician herself, she has a keen understanding of an artist's needs and has consistently championed underground and developing acts. She has a broad knowledge of many different aspects of the industry, having worked and studied in music retail, music technology, online marketing, event & talent management, event promoting, PR and even musical instrument construction (she studied as a Luthier, designing and contrasting harps and stringed Renaissance instruments, and can play over 11 instruments).
Over the years, Linda has worked with the high profile likes of Amanda Palmer, Joss Stone, Alison Moyet, Duran Duran, REM, The Prodigy, Groove Armada and Underworld.