Manager Spotlight: Yvonne Ellis

20 March 2025

The manager spotlight offers a small insight into the heads of incredible managers.⁠ This week in the spotlight is Yvonne Ellis!

How long have you worked in Management?

6 Years.

Who do you manage now?

Mali Hayes, Briana Corrigan, Myke Wilson, Zoe Kyoti.

Where did you find your first client and what inspired you to take them on?

At a jam session. The inspired performance.

What does a good/bad day at work look like for you?

When the inspiration flows and everything slots into place effortlessly / When the To Do List ends up longer than it was at the beginning of the day!

What has been the highlight of your management career to date?

Signing my 1st band to the label of their dreams, enabling them to tour the EU and release 2 albums.
Also being accepted on the Accelerator course which completely changed the way I work in management.

What do you think are the big challenges for a manager in 2025?

For me personally, the financial obstacles of live touring are becoming increasingly challenging as each year passes. I began my music career via this route in the 80s and it is crushingly difficult to watch the compromises having to be made as each year passes. Grassroots venues are rapidly disappearing and the knock on effects for the future of live music (the ROOT of the business) is not looking good right now.

Why would you recommend the MMF?

I can’t recommend the MMF highly enough to everyone in the music management sector. The support, the resources, the meetings, the advice.. I couldn’t imagine being a manager without being a member of this organisation.

What did you gain from the Accelerator Programme?

The Accelerator course changed my life for the better in so many ways. Our cohort became “family” so quickly and continues to be so now.. we show up for one another and share opportunities, knowledge and advice.

The weekly meetings covered ALL topics relevant to music management through our course leader Paul Bonham and various industry specialists, and the monthly trips to the YouTube building in London for in-depth learning experiences were invaluable. (Food was always great too!)

For me personally I had a huge awakening that coming from a creative background (music production) rather than administrative, I could better serve my clients as a consultant manager, offering a personal service to those I am involved with creatively: independent artists, musicians and songwriters who want to know how to get their music out into the world but also who need to be surrounded by a community of like-minded people. I would never have come to this decision had I not participated in the course and I’ve since been able to tailor make my business very much based on the “community” style learning process we benefitted from on the course. And where else might you have the opportunity to sit in a social circle with the likes of Lyor Cohen, chatting about how the business has changed since the heyday of Def Jam?!

What music are you currently listening to?

Webmoms.

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