Jasmine’s Juice -ARTIST & MANAGER AWARDS 2021 at Bloomsbury Big Top.

On November 18th I joined more than 700 artists, managers and music industry professionals at the Bloomsbury Big Top for the 2021 Artist & Manager Awards in association with SoundCloud.

Jasmine with Music Industry Legends Paulette Long, Kwame Kwaten

Co-founded by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and the Music Managers Forum (MMF), the event was crowned by a final-hour appearance from Elton John and David Furnish to pick up their prestigious Artist & Manager Partnership Award, sponsored by PPL and I was sat at a fab table full of music industry acts and bigwigs courtesy of Music Mangers Forum General Manager Anneliese Harmon.

Jasmine with Anneliese Harmon
Jasmine with Music Managers Forum General Manager Anneliese Harmon

Marking an incredible lifetime of achievements in music, the joint award put special focus on Elton and David’s recent successes, including the award-winning 2019 biopic Rocketman, the best-selling memoir Me and this year’s number one single Cold Heart (Pnau Remix) (with Dua Lipa) and album The Lockdown Sessions. Attendees also celebrated the couple’s generous advocacy and charity work, particularly through the Elton John AIDS Foundation, their championing of young upcoming artists and their vocal role in demanding solutions to post-Brexit touring of Europe.  

Elton and David- image courtesy Andy Willsher

Elton and David’s award was presented by Rina Sawayama, who was also revealed as 2021’s Breakthrough Artist (sponsored by Spotify). 

Other artists recognised on the night included Little Simz (Artist of the Year, sponsored by Amazon Music), Mogwai (Pioneer) and BICEP, who shared their award for Innovation (sponsored by TikTok) with their management team at This Is Music

Three award categories for music management were collected by female winners, with Amy Morgan (September Management) receiving Manager of the Year (sponsored by YouTube Music) for her incredible record-breaking work with Glass Animals, and Grace Ladoja MBE (Metallic Inc) receiving the Entrepreneur Award in recognition of her bridge-building between music scenes in the UK and Nigeria.

Grace Ladoja MBE

Kayleigh Thorpe (Little Runaway Management) was revealed as the 2021 Breakthrough Manager for her astonishing work with Gerry Cinnamon

The FAC and MMF also celebrated some highly significant industry successes, with The Black Music Coalition receiving their richly deserved award as Industry Champions from Alex Boateng (Co-President 0207 Def Jam), Joe Kentish (President, Warner Records UK) and Taponeswa Mavunga (Director of Africa, Sony Music UK). Karma Artists, also celebrating their 10th anniversary, were a highly popular choice as Writer / Producer Manager, while YMU Music Group were presented with the Team Achievement Award by Kurupt FM’s Chabuddy G for their range of groundbreaking inclusion initiatives, including a Mental Health and Well-Being programme for clients and staff. 

Jasmine With Kanya King and Eunice Olumide

Featuring show-stopping performances from Wes Nelson & Hardy Caprio, The Anchoress and Lucy McWilliams, the Artist & Manager Awards was presented by Capital FM’s Roman Kemp and featured a red carpet reception courtesy of luxury boutique jewellery studio A Jewellers.  

A Jewellers graciously let Jasmine wear their 30carat diamond necklace

Commenting after the Awards, Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, Music Managers Forum and David Martin, CEO, Featured Artists Coalition said: 

“Coming together again with friends and colleagues feels such a hugely positive and symbolic step forward. Tonight’s Awards was about celebrating music, talent, innovation and camaraderie across the artist and management community – whether that’s individuals at the start of their careers, survivors and legends, or those still standing after decades.” 

Jasmine with her BPI colleague Sophie Jones

The full list of winners were:

Artist & Manager Award 2021 in association with SoundCloud:

  • Artist & Manager Partnership (sponsored by PPL): ELTON JOHN & DAVID FURNISH (ROCKET ENTERTAINMENT
  • Artist of the Year (sponsored by Amazon Music): LITTLE SIMZ
  • Manager of the Year (sponsored by YouTube Music): AMY MORGAN (SEPTEMBER MANAGEMENT)
  • Breakthrough Artist (sponsored by Spotify): RINA SAWAYAMA
  • Breakthrough Manager: KAYLEIGH THORPE (LITTLE RUNAWAY MANAGEMENT)
  • Entrepreneur: GRACE LADOJA MBE (METALLIC INC)
  • Pioneer: MOGWAI  
  • Innovation (Sponsored by TikTok): BICEP and THIS IS MUSIC
  • Industry Champions: THE BLACK MUSIC COALITION
  • Writer / Producer Manager: KARMA ARTISTS
  • Team Achievement: YMU MUSIC GROUP 

Jasmine’s Juice – Power Of Women- Navigating Career Obstacles & Difficult Situations.

Jasmine was delighted to be in conversation between Nadia Khan for a PPL session for women aspiring to be on boards, looking at obstacles women in the workplace face, from the gender pay gap to how we tackle systemic bias.

This session was a continuation of the Board Development Programme on which PPL collaborates with Women in CTRL.

This will took place online on 30 November 

Jasmine’s Juice – Royal Television Society – Taking The Work Out Of Networking

Let’s face it, networking is an essential part of our jobs in television. Connecting with people, sharing ideas and exchanging experiences – it all makes for a happier, fairer and more diverse creative industry. 

We talk about networking but do we prioritise it? Does it come naturally to you or are you a bit intimidated? Is it time for you to reach out? 

On November 16th Jasmine sat on the Royal Television Society panel sharing hacks about networking.

Meet 3 of the best in the business – brilliant networkers whose work relies on their ability to build relationships across the industry.

Jasmine Dotiwala, Warner Brothers’ Andrew Zein and Simone Pennant of The TV Collective will be sharing their insights and anecdotes, giving you some dos and don’ts, and telling us how they managed to keep their networks alive in these last months of Covid-19.

You’ll also have the chance to network with your co-attendees in break out rooms at the end of the session. 

Hosted by Daisy Church, Media Trust. 

Access: This event will be closed-captioned. Should you have any particular access needs beyond this which we can reasonably accommodate please email kwhittaker@rts.org.uk

Panel

Andrew Zein – Andrew’s role at Warner Bros as SVP Creative, Format Development & Sales has him responsible Creative oversight of the development and production of programming and the exploitation of all forms of content within the WB International Television Production division (24 production companies, across 14 different countries.) He is also responsible for driving creative development within international production, steering the business to develop locally created properties into global formats and fostering co-developments across the group.

Prior to joining Warner Bros, he was Managing Director of Tiger Aspect Productions, one of the UK’s leading independent television producers, for 13 years.

Jasmine Dotiwala – Jasmine has over 25 years of experience as a Head of department, manager, broadcaster, producer, director and columnist at brands like Netflix UK, Media Trust, Channel 4 News, MTV and more. In 2020 she moved into a role working with the Netflix UK Editorial & Publishing team. She continues to support Media Trust programmes.

In addition, Jasmine continues to report on ground-breaking arts and culture stories for Channel 4 news and Sky News. She also appears as a regular panel guest on Jeremy Vine on 5.

Simone Pennant MBE – Simone Pennant MBE established The TV Collective (TVC) over 10 years ago. TVC, is a networking resource that coaches, champions and connects TV professionals with a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background to paid opportunities in the industry and to each other. Last year, Simone through TVC worked with Channel 5 and successfully diversified its supplier base, and as a result, the broadcaster is now working with nine new production companies led by people from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds. 

More recently, she hosted a series of networking events which aimed to build better relationships between BBC Two commissioners and senior producers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Simone is currently collaborating with Channel 4 on their 2020 accelerator programme, where ten Indies have been matched with Commissioning Heads of Department for unscripted genres to work together towards a commission.  

She is a member of Bafta, and a juror for both the RTS and Broadcast Awards. In 2018 was awarded an MBE for her services to the Media industry.