Manners McDade Visits ECMA Music in Motion Summit 2018

I’ve just returned from Halifax in Canada, where I was invited to participate in the Music in Motion summit of the East Coast Music Association’s annual conference and festival. The ECMAs celebrate and promote local talent, with a focus on the live industry, showcasing musicians to local and international bookers, venues and festivals. Their Music in Motion summit invites film music and sync experts, offering expertise and opportunities to local artists looking to develop their careers in those areas of the music business.

The 4-day event consisted of talks, panels, workshops, showcases and award ceremonies, along with the music festival which took place in various venues and bars across the beautiful capital city of Nova Scotia, including an opening show on the waterfront.

 Here are a few highlights from the week:

·       There were so many talks and workshops going on - from electronic music production workshops to talks about mental health issues in the music industry. Always something important and fascinating to see! I was invited to host a roundtable discussion with local and international music supervisors to discuss the ‘music to picture’ business within each of our markets. Songwriters, composers and managers were keen to ask about Manners McDade and the sync industry in the UK.

·       The programme was full of performances by many impressive musicians and composers, and I have to say I was blown away by the level of talent on the scene. It really feels like a booming industry, and it was exciting to be part of the celebrations this year! Highlights include fiddle player Ashley MacIsaac (a local musical hero who performs with a beatboxer!), and a showcase of artists from exciting developing music publisher Sound of Pop, in a fantastic dirty rock’n’roll pub the North side of Halifax!

·       The Music in Motion summit was a great networking opportunity, including many music supervisors - several from Toronto (including the amazing David Hayman from the Supergroup, who gave a brilliant talk on brand partnerships with artists), as well as international supervisors from LA such as Chop Shop Music.

Listen to my playlist of discoveries from the week...