This April 27th at 5 pm (BST) Byta.com will present our first HowWeListen Live: In Conversation, with Huw Stephens, live online from Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wales.
We are delighted to announce that our first guest will be Huw Stephens, a new music ally for over 22 years, former BBC Radio 1 and current BBC Radio 6 Music & BBC Radio Cymru. This month’s event comes to you from Cardiff, Wales. Huw will join us live from one of his favourite music venues in Wales, Clwb Ifor Bach, who along with FOCUS Wales, an international multi-venue showcase festival, are partnering with Byta on this month’s event.
This is a new monthly online event that will be presented in two parts:
- A Workshop: tips, advice and insights for tomorrow’s artists & music industry leaders
- An In-depth interview with a music industry professional
About the Event
This series is designed to deliver the knowledge to enable tomorrow’s artists and industry leaders to better manoeuvre their way through the music ecosystem. Providing a fun Q&A along the way!
HowWeListen Live: In Conversation will be hosted by Byta’s founder, Marc Brown, whose deep music business background and digital audio knowledge have helped him deliver unique insights to audiences from Tallinn to Toronto. Marc is a former label owner, manager and radio plugger.
Key takeaways:
- Connect the dots of the music industry: artist teams & timelines and digital best practices
- What you can do yourself to make an impact
- New music discovery and insights from an international radio DJ
- Tips, advice and anecdotes from 22+ years in the music industry
Event Format
HowWeListen Live (part 1):
The workshop will introduce industry insights that Marc has picked up from his work in A&R departments, running his own radio promotion company, plus years of experience managing artists and significant large-scale projects. Some of the topics he will touch on include artist’s teams, timelines and connecting the web of the music industry. Plus, most importantly, tips on what you can do yourself to better increase the chances of your success. The workshop will also include opportunities for participants to network.
HowWeListen In Conversation (part 2):
Each event will feature an in-depth one-to-one conversation and we kick off with a deep dive into Huw’s impressive DJ career – driven by a passion for new music discovery. Marc will delve into how Huw negotiated his own path to success, one filled with challenges and accomplishments.
Huw will reveal exactly how he discovers new music and artists. Providing tips along the way: how to make yourself heard, where to put your music, who to send it to, the dos and don’ts of radio promotion and much more!
About Byta
Byta (“Bee-tah”: the Swedish word for exchange) is unrivalled in taking advantage of the unique properties found in audio files — reading and writing file metadata, converting file formats and delivering fast yet secure streaming. Enabling everyone to send & receive digital audio in a clean, simple and secure way. Byta has also launched #HowWeListen, their not-for-profit, dedicated to providing musicians and their teams with the knowledge required to move their careers forward.
About Huw Stephens
Huw Stephens is a presenter, DJ and host.
Huw joined BBC Radio 1 at 17, becoming the youngest ever Radio 1 DJ. He has broadcast live from Glastonbury, Reading Festival, Sonar, South by Southwest, and Eurosonic on BBC Radio 1, as well as live from Radio 1’s own Teen Awards and Big Weekend. His passion for new music has meant he has been the first to champion countless new artists early on. He has contributed to BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, 6Music and presented on BBC Radio Wales, and presents regularly on the BBC World Service.
He hosts regularly, from corporate nights to world-famous events including the NME Awards and the Bafta Cymru Awards.
Huw is the founder of the Swn Festival in Cardiff, Wales’ premier new music festival which he founded in 2007, and won Best Small Festival at the NME Awards in 2014. He curates the Lake Stage at Latitude Festival, which saw early appearances by The xx, Alt J, The 1975, Catfish & The Bottlemen and many more. He also compares the main stage at Reading Festival. Huw has DJ’d and curated at Green Man Festival, Festival no 6, Bestival, T in the Park and Glastonbury.
He DJs regularly around the UK to thousands and has DJ’d around the world in Venezuela, Barcelona, Iceland, Norway, Austin Texas, New York, New Zealand and Patagonia. Since 2006, Huw Stephens Presents has been a monthly live music night in London’s The Social, playing host to new artists.
Huw presents a weekly show on BBC Radio Cymru playing new artists from Wales and the world. He champions new music and DJs at the Eisteddfod, the National Festival of Wales. He founded two record labels; Boobytrap and Am Records, and has released two compilations on Wichita Recordings named Music Sounds Better With Huw.
Huw’s television credits include hosting the Glastonbury Festival on BBC2, the Topman CTRL series for Channel 4, coverage at Reading Festival for BBC 1 & 4, and voice-over work for BBC3, Discovery Channel, and music campaigns for The 1975, Bombay Bicycle Club and PJ Harvey amongst others. He was nominated twice for Best Presenter at the Bafta Cymru Awards for his presenting on the music series Bandit for S4C. In 2014 he presented a piece on Dylan Thomas on location in New York for BBC Worldwide Online.
He has an Honorary Degree from the Open University, and an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Glamorgan and Bangor University. He was inducted into the Gorsedd of Bards of the Isle of Great Britain in 2012.
About Marc Brown
Marc is the founder of Byta / byta.com. Run as a distributed team across 3 continents, Byta enables everyone to send & receive digital audio in a clean, simple and secure way. Built for everyone working with music today.
He has an extensive music business background and considerable digital audio knowledge which have helped him deliver unique insights to audiences from Tallinn to Toronto.
Marc got his start at murderecords, Canada’s premier artist-owned label during the mid-90s. After working in A&R at the legendary London indie Creation Records, then at Alan McGee’s Poptones, Marc started his own boutique UK radio promotion company off the back of his success with The Hives. For over 10 years Marc worked with an impressive list of indie rock luminaries including Wilco, Bloc Party, Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes, Spoon and Refused as well as legends such as Tom Waits, Yoko Ono, Booker T and Mavis Staples.
Marc currently lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.