The panel brought together the BBC DJ Steve Barker, DJ and producer Johnny Jay, Patrick Pulsinger, artist Henrietta Smith-Rolla and myself Tristan Hunt from the Association For Electronic Music to dust down the history of electronic music, cast a critical eye on where the industry presently stands, and shine a light into the distance that is it's future.
Myself and fellow five panelists engaged in a robust debate on what constituted the most important aspects of electronic music. The wide ranging conversation spanned everything from production techniques (in which we found ourselves at times a little mired in the semantics of such things) through to copyright, the skills needed for emerging artists to succeed in todays market and what new opportunities are being presented by recent technological advances, like Music Recognition Technology (MRT), to help artists and rights holders ensure they get played when played in clubs and festivals.
I also touched on the need to ensure that maintaining health and wellbeing are just as important as the need to develop professional skills - that simple things such as sleeping well, having a routine, doing regular sport, meditation, yoga and keeping a good support network around you can significantly help us all realise our ambitions and remain healthy in what can at times be a very demanding career.
Huge credit goes to Tony Rigg and his wonderful team at UCLan for pulling together this informative event for music students and aspiring artists in the North of England. More regional events like this are needed if we're to continue to nurture and further grow the UK's already vibrant electronic music industry.
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