Output 2025 Sign Up Now Open

OPENING KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

  • CRISPIN HUNT

    President

    PRS for Music

  • NAOMI POHL

    General Secretary

    Musicians’ Union

  • TOM GRAY

    Mercury Prize-Winning Musician, Music-Rights Activist & Chair of the Ivors Academy

11:30 SESSIONS

11:30 SESSIONS

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Naomi Pohl (Musicians’ Union), Jude Copeland (Lawyer, Cleaver Fulton Rankin)

    Moderator: Chris Cooke (CMU)

    As generative AI has become more sophisticated and more widely available, it has prompted some big debates in the music industry. To train a music-making AI, you need access to large quantities of existing music. But do you need to get permission from the relevant creators and rightsholders first? The music industry says "yes", but many AI companies say "no".

    We explain the legal arguments, run through the lobbying and litigation that is happening right now, and outline what music-makers and everyone working in the music industry needs to know.

  • Room, Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Yaw Owusu, Gemma Bradley (BBC Introducing), James Ayo (Hot Box Entertainment)

    Moderator: Siobhan Brown (Soultrane Festival)

    POWER UP is an ambitious, long-term initiative which supports Black music creators and industry professionals and executives, as well as addressing anti-Black racism and racial disparities in the music sector.

    Co-founded by PRS Foundation and Ben Wynter and managed by PRS Foundation in partnership with YouTube Music, Beggars Group and the Black Music Coalition, the initiative brings several music industry partners and goes beyond solidarity, with new approaches which foster meaningful change. Hear from people involved in the scheme as well as Northern Ireland based recipients of it, and learn how you could apply to be part of this changemaking opportunity.

  • Room, Floor - TBA

    Panelists: James Robinson (Craic Magazine), Bryony Coles (The Creative Grind), Jack Farar (Photographer)

    Moderator: Esther Follis

    In 2025 artist and band photography is still the first impression made by new music across all socials - from a button on a streaming service, to a thumbnail on Instagram and TikTok, to a live moment captured as part of a set of performances. Capturing this lightning in a bottle takes vision, work and preparation. Hear from some of the best visual alchemists in the field as to how to master this key skill as a performer, band or photographer.

  • Please note this is a 90 minute session and will start promptly at 11am.

    Room, Floor - TBA

    Hosted by: Sarah McBriar (Founder of AVA)

    Speakers: Belfast Night Czar, Free The Night, MLAs, Policy Makers, Translink, Department for Infrastructure, Venues, Promoters, Organisers and Artists.

    Focus: Late night transport, licensing reform, after-dark culture, safety and policy change — what’s next for nightlife in Belfast and Northern Ireland.

    Part two of our AVA Nightlife Roundtable; we not only continue the conversation, we substantially push this along with tangible targets & planned outcomes.

    As a group, we continue to focus on evolving Northern Ireland’s nightlife amidst shifting cultural, economic, and legislative landscapes. This roundtable brings together key voices from across the supporting sector and the scene to explore where we stand — and where we need to head.

    From grassroots promoters to venue owners, artists to policymakers, from council departments to public sector organisations, we’ll dig into the real challenges facing Belfast’s nightlife today: transport, licensing, safety, sustainability, community, and creative freedom. This is an open, solutions-focused conversation about protecting and progressing a vital part of Northern Ireland’s cultural fabric.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Will Reeves (Mix Engineer: Olivia Dean, Stormzy), Chris W Ryan (Producer: Chalk, NewDad), Cameron Craig (MPG), Natalie Bibby (MPG), Jessica Hammond (Producer)

    Moderator: Rocky O’Reilly (Start Together Studios)

    The MPG is a non-profit organisation that represents professional Record Producers, Recording Engineers, Mixers and Mastering Engineers from all backgrounds as well as Recording Studios to make sure that their voice is being heard within the music industry. Run by members for members, the Guild is led by five elected directors in a voluntary role. In this session local and national music producers and execs will look at how to develop in this area of the industry.

  • Room, Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Amy Fitzgerald (Peppa Pig), Giles Packham (Composer, SCGI), Grace Loughrey (BBC)

    Moderator: Mark Gordon (Score Draw Music)

    Writing music and songs for children’s media is one of the hardest parts of the music landscape. Facing down the canon of public domain nursery rhymes, working to support storytelling for a very young audience, following animation frame by frame to support comedy, drama and emotional narratives, and all for the hardest of all critics - very young children! Composers who have worked for brands like Peppa Pig and Nick Jr sit down with one of the BBC CBeebies creative team to unpack how children’s music really works and what the opportunities are for musicians in this sector.

  • Room, Floor - TBA

    Panelists: TBA

    Moderator: Phil Nelson (BIMM)

    Unpacking the routes to market from the classroom to further and higher education to employment or freelance work in the creative and business sectors of music is a critical area of growing the value of any regional music economy. This session faces those in the sector whose responsibilities are to deliver against these goals.

12:40 SESSIONS

12:40 SESSIONS

  • Hosted By: Sunjay Kohli (AAA Media)

    This session will focus on developing a broad oversight and understanding of what YouTube can offer and how best to utilise the key features to develop and grow your channel. The workshop delivery ensures a shared knowledge base is developed throughout & encourages continuous discourse. It’s delivered by Sunjay Kohli  - former YouTube Lead at BMG UK.

  • Room, Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Ben Magee (New Champion Management), Sarah McBriar (AVA Festival), Oskar Persson (Pernod Ricard)

    Moderator: Flora Dalton (Business & Operations Director, The Tenth Man)

    In an era where consumers increasingly demand genuine connections from the brands they support, this panel examines how heritage brands are forging meaningful relationships with musical artists that honour both commercial objectives and creative integrity.

    The Tenth Man have curated some of the finest industry experts, who will dissect successful case studies where brands have moved beyond traditional advertising to become genuine cultural contributors, funding artistic endeavours while respecting artistic autonomy.

    This thought-provoking discussion challenges both brands and artists to consider how they can build partnerships that remain authentic in an increasingly commercialised cultural landscape, exploring what truly constitutes meaningful collaboration versus opportunistic association in today's music industry.

  • In Conversation With: Dave Harvey (DJ, Team Love, Love International, Silver Hayes, Futureboogie)

    Hosted By: Timmy Stewart (DJ,The Night Institute, Black Bones)

    As part of its ongoing Cultural Conversations series, Belfast's celebrated club night and creative platform The Night Institute invites an audience at the Output Conference to a live edition featuring two major forces in underground music:

    TNI resident DJ & promoter Timmy Stewart & Bristol curator, festival founder & more Dave Harvey.

    Timmy Stewart brings a deep knowledge of Belfast's electronic music community to the stage in this candid conversation with Dave Harvey, renowned for his Love International Festival, the Futureboogie label bookings for Glastonbury and a wide network of genre-defining events and roles across the UK & Europe.

    This discussion will offer a rare glimpse behind the scenes of independent music culture, covering topics like grassroots scenes, international collaboration, and the enduring power of parties to shape cities and communities.

    This is an unmissable opportunity for music lovers, aspiring promoters, producers, label owners and anyone passionate about the cultural impact of nightlife & the electronic music community.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Iain Archer (IVORS)

    Moderator: Andy Skinner

    Topline melodies are where good songs can become immortal. It’s impossible to imagine any of the great pieces of music from the last 70 years without being able to immediately whistle the melody. That’s what the role of a top-liner is - to create next to the chords and the lyrics an unforgettable earworm, using just the 12 notes that are a scale in music. How do they do it? What constitutes an incredible topline? This session, featuring Grammy and Ivors Academy award winning songwriters, will reveal where the magic comes from and how to best capture it in songwriting.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Ged Grimes (Games Composer, Simple Minds), Pete Davison (Games Composer: Feltopia, Warped Kart Racers, ), Helen Lynch (Director, Apollo Music Hub)

    Moderator: Graham Best (Head of Gaming, PRS)

    The sound of video game music in 2025 starts at one end with 8 bit chiptune music, goes through pop, rock, jazz, ambient and every genre conceivable, and ends up with a 200-piece orchestra and choir soundtracking a game whose development could have cost a billion dollars. Such is the nature and scale of the opportunity for music in gaming - from AAA titles to a one person Kickstarter working on Roblox. With so much opportunity, what are the entry points for new composers, and how do composers grow and thrive in this field? In association with PRS for Music this panel will reveal all.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Sarah Johnston (EmuBands), Tom Gray (IVORS)

    Moderator: Chris Cooke (CMU)

    When your music is streamed on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, how do you get paid? There are no fixed per-stream rates, with royalties being calculated on a consumption share and revenue share basis. We explain what that means and how it all works, discuss the new rules and thresholds now being applied, and review the various debates over whether or not the current business model is fit for purpose.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Livi Creighton (Stylist, Allsaints), Travis Gilbert (Travi The Native), Lucinda Graham (Stylist)

    Moderator: Esther Follis

    Terri Hooley, self-proclaimed Godfather of punk, once said “When it comes to punk: New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason”.

    In 2025, just as in 1977 - fashion and style are very important in the visual presentation of an artist and band, and more than ever in this second age of digital content.

    In a first for Output, we’ll bring key tastemakers and gate-keepers on the world of music and fashion together to discuss how artists can start to create a visual identity that is authentic to themselves and cuts through across socials and live.

13:40 SESSIONS

13:40 SESSIONS

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Anna Haugh (Genuine Irish), Saul Duffin (Yeo Magazine), Cian McGivern (The Rock Revival)

    Moderator: Dylan Murphy (Mabfield)

    This panel looks at the powerful ways artists can harness social platforms to build authentic connections, enhance their career trajectory, and maintain creative control in the digital age. The panelists will discuss how social media has evolved from a mere promotional tool to an essential artistic canvas where musicians can showcase their identity, connect directly with fans, and create communities around their work.

    Social media specialists will share insights on how artists are leveraging platforms like Instagram and TikTok to cultivate genuine relationships with their audience while avoiding the pitfalls of algorithm-chasing and engagement bait. This enlightening conversation addresses the balance between strategic content planning and spontaneous sharing, the importance of platform-specific approaches, and techniques for maintaining mental wellbeing whilst navigating digital spaces.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Grant Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit) in conversation with Eoghan O’Hagan (Music Support)

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    In Conversation With: André Marmot

    Moderator: Dana Masters

    A lively, subversive history of the new UK jazz wave, encapsulating its revolutionary spirit and tracing its foundations to the birth of the genre itself. For many in the nineties, jazz was viewed as an obsolete, uncool genre, loved by out of touch white men with deeply questionable taste.

    And yet, by 2019, a new generation of UK jazz musicians were selling out major venues and appearing on festivals line-ups around the world.

    How has UK jazz regenerated its image so totally in twenty-five years? And how did it ever become uncool in the first place?

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Kev Douch (Big Scary Monsters, Alcopop!), Dillon O’Brien (Fooligan, Makeshift Art Bar), Sophie Shaw (Social Sounds, DJ), Phil Jones (Manager, Tuesdays Artists)

    Moderator: Brian Coney (The Thin Air, Junk Drawer)

    Every year artists are expected to do more and more before working with a third-party. Manage themselves, write and record their own album. Book their own tour. Make their own videos. Build and maintain their own websites and social media portals. Do their own graphic design. What is possible in 2025 and how can artists best use free resources to grow and expand their value?

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Alice Lemon (Equity), Caroline Sewel (Musicians’ Union), Joel Harkin (Artist)

    Moderator: Robbie McCammon (Reger)

    Freelancers and self-employed musicians form the backbone of the music industry—yet too often they’re left without protection or support. This panel, featuring representatives from The Musicians’ Union, Equity and working musicians, will shed light on how freelance status leaves artists vulnerable to exploitation, late payments, poor working conditions, and undervaluation. Together, we’ll explore why collective action and union representation matter, and what practical steps musicians can take to protect themselves and advocate for fair treatment. If you’re a self-employed artist navigating today’s music industry, this conversation is essential to understanding your rights—and your power.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Olli Dutton (Plugger, Obscene Strategies - Chalk, English Teacher), Luke Gray (Your Army), Sheena Madden (Amplify), Rebecca Breene McDonnell (Rubyworks)

    Moderator: Aaron Casey (RAAP)

    Radio in the UK and Ireland is still one of the most accessible ways for new music to prosper, from playlisting on specialised stations both national and regional (and the benefits that come from this) through to daytime plays, acoustic sessions in studios, interviews, and critically being part of the ecosystem of radio presenters (many of whom have side-hustles in record labels, club nights, blogs, management and other music opportunities. This panel will demystify the landscape with key voices in the sector who engage with new and emerging music.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Ian Neil (Music Supervisor, Sony Music), Amelia Hartley (Head of Music Supervision, Banijay Group)

    Moderator: Mark Gordon (Score Draw Music)

    High-end television and film are two places where a key music placement can move the needle on an independent artist. From shows that have a defined sound and connected music-hungry viewership (such as the music placed on the genre-defining Peaky Blinders, through to high budget films (where a placement can put a band on tour with the front fees) how can new and emerging bands and songwriters find ways to access this opportunity? Two of the UK’s most successful and pre-eminent music supervisors sit down for a fireside chat (and possibly a Guinness) to discuss all.

14:50 SESSIONS

14:50 SESSIONS

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: TBA Soon!

    Moderator: Brian Coney (The Thin Air, Junk Drawer)

    The Shortcut Spiral is an urgent, clear-sighted panel exploring how shortcut culture, platform servility and AI-generated content are eroding soul and long-term thinking in music.

    In an era of algorithm-chasing, Spotify sycophancy and the creeping normalisation of AI-generated content, this panel asks: what are we really sacrificing in the name of speed and convenience? From the death of genuine music journalism to the slow erosion of artistic risk and long-haul creativity, The Thin Air editor Brian Coney (Pitchfork, The Guardian, etc.; Junk Drawer) and guests explore the cultural cost of shortcut culture and what it might take to reclaim soul and integrity in an increasingly artificial music landscape.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Sarah Liversedge-Platz (BDi Music), Aimée (Artist), Caoilian Sherlock (Artist)

    Moderator: Dina Coughlan (Tremolo Music)

    One of the key roles of a proactive music publisher is to source and suitably match writer to writer, making magical introductions for its exclusive Artist, Producer and Topline writers. This panel will explore and discuss how publishers and writers work together creatively day to day and how the Publisher sources writing sessions for its writers whether it be for an in room Artist focus session, writing to label A&R briefs, attending writing camps to find that hit song or writing specifically for a sync brief to be placed on media platforms.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Edel Murphy (CEO and Artistic Director, UofA), Dr Jonathan Mitchell (Access  and Inclusion Manager, UofA), Peter Fleming (Composer, Songwriter and Music Producer for NKP), Mr. Brian Aylward (Singer, Songwriter and Musician)

    Moderator: John Shortell (Musicians’ Union)

    Join the Musicians’ Union and University of Atypical for Arts and Disability (UofA) for a live panel exploring the real-world experiences of disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent artists and the role and limits of access riders. This conversation will centre disabled voices, highlighting both the barriers faced and the practical solutions that can enable full participation in the music industry. Learn how access riders not only support individual artists but also strengthen the entire music ecosystem by fostering inclusion, creativity, and fairness. Whether you're an artist, promoter, venue operator, or industry professional, this panel offers vital insights for building a more accessible and sustainable future for music.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Ciaran Birch (Composer), Dean Fagan (Composer)

    Moderator: Christine Fitzpatrick (Belfast Met)

    After 2024’s hugely successful trailer panel, we’re taking a really deep dive with trailer music composer Ciaran Birch into how he puts together, between in the box samples and recording, a session for one of his many award-winning creations - these include composing music for trailers such as: ‘Avengers: Endgame’, ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’, ‘Vikings’, ‘Ghostbusters - Frozen Empire’, ‘Wonder Woman’, ’Dr. Strange’, ’Star Wars: Rogue One’, & ’Blade Runner 2049’.

    Calling up mixes, tracks and stems, he’ll walk through the end to end creative process in this unmissable session, whilst composer and music rights specialist Dean Fagan looks at the business end of composing music in this part of the industry.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: TBA Soon!

    So, you’ve got the degree… now what? This no-fluff panel dives into the gritty realities of working in the Northern Ireland music industry. From late night load-ins to last minute invoices, we’ll hear from a range of industry pros who’ve made music their business. From artists celebrating their first wins, to managers navigating setbacks, and session players juggling side hustles, they’ll be sharing the essential skills they wish they’d learned earlier. We’ll explore the importance of bridging the gap between education and the industry and hear how you can piece together your music career in 2025. 


    This panel is a Live Recording.

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Addison Patterson (Shine Belfast), James Tones (Agent, Wasserman), Jon Collins (LIVE), André Marmot (Agent, Earth Agency), Gisèle Mazot (Bookings, Alias)

    Moderator: Ben Magee (New Champion Management)

    What a year 2025 is turning out to be for live music and where to begin on the state of the live sector? Where does the emerging sector start to fit into the live sector in 2025 - and what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to live music both here and in the wider creative economy? Can artists afford to tour UK, Ireland and EU? Can indie promoters survive rising costs? Can venues survive at all? Jon Collins, Chief Exec of LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment), representing the UK’s live music business, a £4.5bn industry that employs over 200,000 people, and other panelists will discuss all this and more!

  • Room. Floor - TBA

    Panelists: Arts Council Northern Ireland, Help Musicians NI + More Funders TBA Soon!

    Moderator: Nikki MacRae

    A discussion on local and national opportunities for music creators and businesses to avail of support from public sector bodies. This session is always popular, so come early and find out more.