Beyond The Music

Having worked with Beyond The Music since its inception, we knew that the festival’s second year was a vital chance to establish it as a key moment in the global industry calendar and set it apart from its UK competitors within music, music industry and political media.

We sought to solidify relationships with the UK’s music press stakeholders whilst amplifying the change-making work that founders Oli Wilson and Sarah Pearson are doing within the North West industry; using press and broadcast interview opportunities to voice the concerns and work of both them and the vital voices speaking and performing across their festival and conference programme.

For Beyond The Music 2024, it was vital for inside out to not only establish the festival’s awareness, but amplify its messaging and a strong understanding of its multi-faceted programme. Split into two halves, a daytime conference programme and a night time live music programme, the campaign needed to cater to two different sides of music media whilst maintaining a sense of cohesion.

From launch, inside out set about raising awareness with a wide range of news stories across music media and regional North West outlets; encouraging ticket sales from local Manchester festival-goers. Once word was out, we were able to highlight key talking points and speakers from BTM’s expansive conference programme; keeping a keen eye on active industry talking points relevant to the issues that Beyond The Music’s active membership groups are working in response to.

This approach resulted in founders Sarah Pearson and Oli Wilson giving interviews to multiple industry and news stakeholders, including the likes of Sky News, Times Radio and BBC Radio Manchester. In addition, we secured extensive preview content via leading tastemaker and music publication NME, and Manchester’s leading news outlets Manchester Evening News, Manchester’s Finest and Metro.

Onsite at the festival, inside out hosted over 70 visiting journalists spanning major music publications NME, The Line of Best Fit and Clash through to broadcast guests from BBC 6Music and BBC Introducing, and key local titles Manchester Evening News, Manchester’s Finest, Manchester Confidential and The Manc. Our press office ensured all attending media had a strong understanding of the programme and ethos of the festival, and had access to speakers, artists and founders for maximum exposure.

We also liaised with government representatives for speakers Lisa Nandy MP and Andy Burnham, ensuring the pair were fully briefed on media activity onsite and able to provide approval on accompanying press materials.

Sky News – Online Feature

NME – The 10 best acts we sat at Beyond The Music Manchester 2024

Huck – Online Feature

Manchester Evening News – Preview Feature

“inside out have helped propel Beyond The Music to a critically acclaimed global music industry event in just two years. We’re confident in saying it could not have been done without them. Their dedication, attention to detail, professionalism and strategic know-how, for us, make inside out the premier events agency.”

– Oli Wilson and Sarah Pearson
(Co-founders, Beyond The Music)