ICMP's Ian Ramage heads up new BMG industry 'strike force'

Congratulations to ICMP Music Business and Entrepreneurship tutor Ian Ramage on his new role as BMG's head of repertoire for UK artists in the US. 

Alongside his teaching at ICMP, Ian will be responsible for heading up teams in London, New York and Los Angeles to ensure UK artists and their song catalogues are effectively represented in overseas territories.  

Ian's new position effectively demonstrates how ICMP's teaching faculty are not only working at the very heart of the music industry but leading many of the changes and developments impacting the sector too. 

Commenting, Ian said: "My new role at BMG is to ensure UK-based artists are properly represented in the US and can make the most of any opportunities available to them."

Engaging with a young cohort of music fans, the students I’ll be working with at ICMP, is brilliant at informing my role at BMG. I see my teaching as a two-way street in terms of not only helping my students but also informing my understanding of the business and how young people consume music." 

"I really believe the music business programme should be peopled by active industry practitioners. For someone who once used to be a music manager in 1989 to be a tutor is not enough. It needs to be delivered by those who are currently working within industry who are both fully immersed and connected with the latest trends and topics. They need to take their experience into the classroom so they are not teaching just theory but actual practice." 

He added: "The industry is exciting as it's moving so fast but it's slightly scary in some ways - but this course will explore the place of music in culture and how that has changed in terms of how audiences engage with it."

Ian is one of the industry's most respected industry professionals, working with artists ranging from The Cure, Elvis Costello and Pink Floyd to Coldplay, Keane and Richard Hawley in a career spanning more than 30 years. 

Ken Foreman, ICMP's Deputy Dean and Programme Leader of the BA (Hons) Music Business and Entrepreneurship degree course, said: 

The value of having a tutor of Ian Ramage's stature on our programme is enormous. He operates at the highest level in the music industry and is working on initiatives which will have a huge impact on the wider business. We're excited to see how this not only affects the wider industry but helps our students he teaches too."

Ian was one of the speakers at the inaugural Reboot conference, the first music business education conference of its kind held at ICMP earlier in the year. 

Find out more about what we learned from the event.