In The City

In the City was the British international music industry conference and live showcase festival founded in 1992 and held annually, predominantly in Manchester, England, but it also travelled to Dublin, Glasgow and New York. Conceived as the United Kingdom’s first large-scale international music convention, it combined industry panels, keynote interviews, policy debates and a live urban music festival, and became a significant fixture on the UK and European music industry calendar during the 1990s and 2000s.

The event was closely associated with broadcaster and music entrepreneur Tony Wilson and fashion model Yvette Livesey, and was developed during a period of transition within Manchester’s music industry, following the peak years of Factory Records and the Haçienda nightclub.

Background and conception

The idea for In the City emerged in late 1991 through discussions between Yvette Livesey and Tony Wilson, who jointly developed the concept, drawing on the model of New York’s New Music Seminar. The proposal was launched publicly at the MIDEM music industry conference in Cannes in January 1992, where the project was framed as an international event rooted in Manchester rather than London.

Planning took place against a backdrop of organisational change at Factory Records. While Wilson remained publicly associated with Factory, In the City was structured as a separate project, developed with Livesey and members of the Simply Red management team, Elliot Rashman and Andy Dodd.

Inaugural event (1992)

The first In the City International Music Convention took place from 12 to 16 September 1992, with conference activity centred at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Manchester, and additional events staged across the city.

The organisers promoted the event as “a real music convention in a real music city”, emphasising discussion, debate and music culture rather than purely commercial deal-making. The programme combined seminars, keynote interviews, panel discussions, concerts and club nights over five days.

The opening night featured a Saturday all-night dance event, reflecting the convention’s strong engagement with contemporary dance and rave culture.

Format and programme

Conference structure

The 1992 programme was organised around themed strands, including:

• The Manager, focusing on the role of artist management
• Twelve Star Tuesday, addressing European music markets and policy
• Sessions examining the music marketplace, performance, retail, copyright, publishing and routes into the industry

Special formats included:

• Hypotheticals, in which industry figures role-played crisis scenarios
• In the City Interviews, a daily interview format presented with audiovisual material and intended for broadcast

Music, exhibitions and public events

Alongside the conference sessions, In the City staged an extensive programme of public cultural events across Manchester. These included:

• Live showcases and club nights at venues including the Haçienda and the Ritz
• Label-curated dance events and DJ performances
• Exhibitions such as a Jimi Hendrix exhibition in Castlefield and Sublime: The Sol Mix – Manchester Music & Design 1976–1992 at Cornerhouse
• Film screenings and talks at Cornerhouse Cinema
• A literature and discussion event at Waterstone’s Deansgate featuring writers and commentators including Jon Savage, Steve Redhead, Dave Haslam and Tony Wilson

Showcase performances during the inaugural year included emerging and established acts such as Suede, Radiohead, Brand New Heavies, M People, EMF, K-Klass and The Auteurs.

The first In the City Unsigned was held in the Town Hall, featuring 12 bands, including the then-unknown Oasis.

Music Day and industry debate

During the 1992 event, organisers published a daily newspaper titled Music Day, distributed to delegates and participants. The publication reported on keynote speeches, panel debates and policy discussions taking place at the convention.

Prominent issues covered included:

• Royalty rates and packaging deductions for new digital formats
• The introduction of Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) and MiniDisc
• Retail concentration and the power of major high-street chains
• Relations between record companies, artists, managers and publishers

Keynote speakers whose contributions were reported in Music Day included US entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman and Maurice Oberstein, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

International Managers’ Forum

One of In the City’s most significant institutional outcomes was the founding meeting of the International Managers’ Forum (IMF), held during the 1992 convention.

The meeting attracted approximately 300 artist managers and led to the creation of a steering committee tasked with establishing the organisation and developing policy positions on industry issues. The IMF later became a permanent professional body representing artist managers in the UK and internationally.

Later years and development

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, In the City expanded its programme to include digital media, technology and interactive culture, as well as spin-off events such as Interactive City and the In the City Dance Summit.

By the mid-1990s, the event had developed a branded Live Unsigned showcase strand, including a 1995 promotional compilation titled In the City Live Unsigned ’95, featuring emerging artists such as Baby Bird, The Delgados, Placebo and Kula Shaker. Other artists who played Live Unsigned included Oasis, Catatonia, Coldplay, The Darkness and Elbow, who were signed out of the event.

Speakers and participants over the years included figures from across the music and cultural industries, among them Brian Eno, Rick Rubin, Lyor Cohen, Steve Coogan, Peter Saville, Martin Mills, Andrew Loog Oldham, Darcus Beese, Dave Rowntree, Feargal Sharkey, David Hepworth, Mark Goodier, Seymour Stein, Clive Davis, Chris Blackwell, Ed Bicknell, Lucien Grainge, Peter Grant, George Martin and Peter Blake.

Reception and legacy

Contemporary press coverage described In the City as filling a gap left by dissatisfaction with established international music industry gatherings such as MIDEM and the New Music Seminar, while highlighting Manchester’s suitability as a host city.

In the City was an annual reminder of Yvette Livesey and Tony Wilson’s continued belief in Manchester as an international cultural centre and helped continue to remind the world of Manchester’s place in the world of music and business.

Post 2010

Following the 2010 event, In the City’s annual events were placed on hiatus. The preceding years had seen significant challenges, including the death of co-founder Tony Wilson in 2007 and Yvette Livesey’s treatment for breast cancer in 2009. Livesey later stated that the music industry was undergoing substantial change and that she felt the time was not right to revive the event.