Beyond The Music to bring Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom to 2026 edition

The music and media industry forum, which runs alongside its new music showcase festival, has released its first batch of speaker announcements and opened initial seat releases for the event's centrepiece, the All Content AI Summit. The full programme takes place across four days, from 6-9 October, with the AI summit closing out proceedings on the Friday. This year's conference carries the title Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, continuing Beyond The Music's stated aim of tackling the biggest issues facing the creative industries. The AI summit will bring together figures from music, tech, film and gaming alongside political representatives, with organisers framing the day around producing a rights-based position on artificial intelligence, dubbed the Manchester Principles, intended to balance protections for artists with room for commercial growth. As well as Coogan and Winterbottom – who brought the city's legendary 80's music scene to life in 24 Hour Party People – the speaker list includes several senior figures from UK music and broadcasting, including Stacey Tang, Co-President of RCA Records UK and chair of the BRIT Awards Committee, Sophie Jones, the incoming CEO o...