19.05.2026: The 20th anniversary edition of the annual Great Escape festival in Brighton served up a stellar array of panel sessions, insightful interviews and showstopping live performances from some of the most exciting new acts on the planet.
A raft of emerging artists and music industry leaders took to the South Coast from May 13-16 for what provided an outstanding showcase for the future of the sector.
Among a packed schedule of conference content was a panel session exploring UK Music’s landmark Black Music Means Business report (pictured below), which revealed the enormous economic contribution of Black Music over the past 30 years. The session was moderated by UK Music Head of Diversity Eunice Obianagha and featured 100 Million Percent Ltd Director Trenton Harrison-Lewis; University of West London Music Psychologist/PHD Researcher Natasha Hendry; BLACKMEX Co-founder Kwame Sarfo; and Black Lives in Music Chief Executive Charisse Beaumont. You can find out more on the report here.
Emily Smith and Meg Fretwell of emerging UK act Panic Shack featured on PPL’s In Conversation panel to discuss the band’s career to date, the importance of building the right team to develop a career as an artist, and the crucial role of PPL’s Momentum fund in helping them capitalise on vital opportunities. The panel also included Clwb Music’s Adam Williams; Brace Yourself’s Ivano Maguilli; Earth Agency’s Sophie Roberts; and moderator Sophie Williams of Billboard UK.
PRS for Music presented a panel entitled Live and Rising: Gigs, Growth and Getting Noticed, which discussed such issues as what it takes to get booked, how to grow audiences and the challenges and opportunities that come with playing live today. The panel featured PRS for Music’s Andy Ellis; President of PRS Members’ Council Crispin Hunt; Clara Townsend and Hanni Pidduck of the band ARXX; and Liquid Management/Tinderbox Music’s Suzi Ireland.
Meanwhile, music venues across Brighton delivered a packed line-up of live music from some of the world’s most exciting new artists. UK Music was fortunate enough to catch stellar sets from the likes of singer songwriter Berenice and art-rock four-piece Modern Woman at The Bootlegger; Manchester’s Westside Cowboy at Chalk (pictured); and alternative rock five-piece Theatre at Komedia, to name just a few.
The diverse and eclectic programme of live music across the four-day event underscored the incredible wealth of breakout talent set to become the stars of tomorrow, while the crucial insights discussed as part of this year’s conference content helped identify areas that need to be addressed to ensure that the UK’s world-leading industry – which contributes £8 billion to the economy, generates £4.8 billion in export revenue and supports 220,000 jobs – continues to thrive and prosper for generations to come.
