‘Supporting Independents and Championing Diversity in Music‘
Byta Presents: #HowWeListen Live: In Conversation with Lara Baker (General Manager, UK & IE – FUGA)
Wednesday, October 4th, 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm UK – Live online via Zoom
Free registration here: https://byta.co/hwl-live-lara-baker
Our next guest is Lara Baker, General Manager (UK & IE) at FUGA. Named in Billboard’s International Power Players 2022, Music Week’s Women in Music Roll of Honour and SheSaidSo’s Alternative Power List. She is passionate about improving diversity, gender balance and inclusivity in the music business, having sat on UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce, supported the Love Music Hate Racism campaign and organised regular women in music and diversity-focused events. Lara joined FUGA in early 2023. She came from Songtrust/Downtown Music Publishing, where Lara worked for 4 years as Director of Business Development for UK, IE and Australia. Lara’s background and passion have always been supporting independent labels and artists. Her career in music began in 2004 at AIM (the UK trade association for independent labels), where Lara spent 14 years serving the independent community, ultimately as Marketing and Events Director. During this time she created the AIM Awards, the leading celebration of independent music, as well as AIM’s year-round programme events including AIM Connected, AIM Sync conference and Indie-Con (now known as Future Independents).
FUGA is the world’s leading B2B music distributor. FUGA is the number-one choice for some of the world’s top labels, management companies and distributors, including Epitaph Records, Ultra, Curb, Mom + Pop, mTheory and Domino. As GM UK/IE, Lara’s role leads new business and client relations for the territory.
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation is a monthly online event that will be presented in two parts:
- A workshop: Tips & insights for tomorrow’s artists & music industry leaders with Byta founder Marc Brown.
- An in-depth conversation with Lara Baker about diversity, music promotion & distribution. Also insights into independent record labels and the best approach for artists and their teams when wanting to break into a new market.
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 fun and insightful Q&A along the way!
#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation is 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, A&R, manager and radio plugger.
Key takeaways:
- How can independents achieve big goals in today’s music market?
- Diversity and inclusion = a healthier and more prosperous music industry for all
- New approaches to digital distribution
- How can creators and independent labels get noticed in new markets?
- What differentiates a distributor and a label?
- Insights into best practices when dealing with music publishing
- Timelines: how do artists and their teams best prepare for releases?
- Three key building blocks when it comes to a career in music
- UK and IE: key market trends for creators
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 artists’ 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.
#HowWeListen In Conversation (part 2):
Each event features an in-depth one-to-one conversation. This time around Marc will be chatting with Lara Baker, General Manager for FUGA UK & IE
About Byta
Byta (“Bee-tah”: the Swedish word for exchange) is unrivalled in taking advantage of the unique properties found in audio files. By simplifying the reading and writing of file metadata, conversion of file formats and delivery of fast yet secure streaming, the platform enables everyone to send and receive digital audio in a clean, simple and secure way. Byta has also launched #HowWeListen, a not-for-profit organisation that complements the company’s ultimate goal: providing artists and their teams with the tools and knowledge needed to move their careers forward.
More about Lara Baker:
Lara joined FUGA in early 2023 from Songtrust/Downtown Music Publishing, where she worked for 4 years as Director of Business Development for UK, IE and Australia. Lara’s background and passion have always been supporting independent labels and artists; beginning in 2004 at AIM (the UK trade association for independent labels), where Lara spent 14 years serving the independent community, ultimately as Marketing and Events Director. During this time she created the AIM Awards, the leading celebration of independent music, as well as AIM’s year-round programme events including AIM Connected, AIM Sync conference and Indie-Con (now known as Future Independents).
In 2018, Lara established her own company The BKRY, providing project management, strategy and event programming for clients including BBC Music Introducing Live, The Great Escape Festival, the Musicians Union, the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), Liverpool Sound City, the Music Managers Forum and AmericanaFest UK.
Lara is a board member of the Americana Music Association UK, a frequent speaker at a number of events including TEDx, SXSW, UN Women and Midem, and co-founder of the Music Week Women in Music Awards. Lara is committed to driving forward greater diversity and equality in the music industry, and regularly writes and speaks on this subject.
About Marc Brown
Marc is the founder of Byta / byta.com. Run as a distributed team across three continents, Byta enables the sending and receiving of digital audio in a clean, simple and secure way. Built for everyone working with music today.
His extensive music business background and considerable digital audio knowledge 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, and 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 ten 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.