Interview | Matthew Cannell

Artists like Sleaford Mods and The Smile have more than being brilliant music makers in common - they are also managed by ATC Management, a business our MA in Music Business student Matthew Cannell has started working for. 

After a professional career as an actor, Matt chose to return to academia to explore the music industry. 

It's proven to be an inspired decision with Matt securing opportunities with ATC Management. 

In our interview, Matt shares more on his decision to study at ICMP, how he found the brilliant role and how his industry experiences have been… 

To start off with, what led you to ICMP? 

I graduated from drama school in 2015  and spent eight years working professionally as an actor. Throughout that time I had always been massively interested in music, and had played in bands where I would often take on a lot of the organising and management duties. In 2023, I decided I wanted a change of career and wanted to work in music but on the business side and applied for ICMP's MA in Music Business.

And how have you found the course? What have been the key things you've learned while studying? 

I knew there were a lot of aspects about the music business that I had already learned from being in bands and self managing, but there were definitely other areas of the business that I wanted to become more knowledgeable in. I researched courses and came across ICMP online. I had heard of it previously through word of mouth at gigs but wasn't aware that they did a music business course.

How did your studies prep you for your role with ATC? 

As soon as I started at ICMP, I looked for roles where I could begin to get experience working in the industry while completing my studies. I had chosen the part-time option for the MA Music Business as I needed to work as much as possible around it to financially make it work. 

After a few weeks of checking and refining my CV/cover letters, I applied for a three-month internship at ATC Management. I subsequently had two interviews for the role and found out in the middle of October 2023 that I had been successful. 

I feel that I had an interesting route of going to class at ICMP and learning, while simultaneously gaining experience working in the industry. I think it's great to learn theory and principles while having the opportunity to see it in practice."

I'm really interested to hear more about your various roles with the company - what did your work with the Hives and Murder Capital involve? 

So I actually started on an internship where I assisted the office manager at ATC with a variety of tasks. I was then able to gradually become involved in helping out managers with tasks for the artists they work with and sit in on meetings.

A few weeks before my internship was coming to an end, I was offered a permanent full time role at the company as an assistant and began working with manager of The Hives. Working in management means that you are across all aspects of an artist's business.

When I joined the management team, they were in the middle of their album cycle, so it really can be anything, from working on touring plans to merchandise strategy to social media and digital marketing strategy - it is different every day.

More recently I've started working with the manager of The Murder Capital, once again being involved in various parts of their business from working on the release of their newest single, to helping with touring plans such as them recently supporting Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds on their EU tour dates.

What does your new title as Day to Day Manager involve? Is there a typical day? 

In terms of the work I am doing, it is relatively similar to my work as an assistant in terms of working with managers on The Hives and The Murder Capital.

However, more recently I've started to be able to take on artists and gradually build my own roster, so my new role is reflective of this too.

No matter what the role is within management, the ‘typical’ day doesn’t really exist and that's what makes it so interesting and exciting."

Do you have any advice for students or aspiring industry professionals looking to follow in your footsteps?  

My main piece of advice would be to try and get experience working in the industry whenever you can.

It can be really hard to get that first role in the industry and can definitely feel like you are sending your CV and cover letter off into the ether, often never to hear back.

However, I think the best thing to do is to make sure you are keeping your CV and cover letters as up to date as possible. I also would suggest that if you are struggling to get a role that is directly in the music business, you could try to find a role that will give you transferable skills that you can reference when applying for music jobs. I spent my time between finishing working as an actor and starting at ICMP, managing a boutique fitness club. This is obviously very different from what I am doing now, however there are so many skills such as management, people skills, budgeting, marketing and asset creation that are transferable, and I think that definitely helped in my application (alongside all the specific music experience).

What does the future have in store for you with ATC? 

I feel incredibly grateful that my first role in the music industry is at a company such as ATC where they are very focussed on providing support and training to give us the opportunity to continuously progress.

I absolutely love the work I am doing and in the future I hope to continue working with the various great acts we have on the roster, and then over time build my own roster and eventually end up solely working fully on my own roster of artists.

Well done to Matt on securing this role! Connect with him on social media below: 

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