This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Business News Industry People Management & Funding
Jon Webster steps down as MMF President
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 25 May 2017
Jon Webster has announced that he is standing down as President of the UK’s Music Managers Forum. He took on the role after stepping down as the trade body’s CEO at the start of 2016. Webster plans to pursue a number of projects following his departure, including completing his book about the time he spent at Virgin Records, the record company he joined in 1981, and where he become Managing Director in 1988.
The MMF grew significantly in both size and influence while Webster was its CEO, expanding its educational activities and events programme, and more proactively speaking out on behalf of the UK’s artist management community. New CEO Annabella Coldrick has continued that expansion since taking over in January 2016.
Coldrick paid tribute to her predecessor yesterday, telling reporters: “Much of the MMF’s current success and vitality must be attributed to Jon. The organisation now represents more than 500 artist managers around the UK, and has gained a hard-fought reputation as a body that stands up for artist rights and promotes greater education and transparency throughout the music business. No one has battled harder than Jon to get us to this position and to galvanise the management community – and while we sadly accept his decision to step down, the MMF remains as committed as ever to build on his years of work”.
Webster himself said this morning: “This process began in 2015 when I told the board I wanted to stop being CEO. All organisations need change to evolve and my involvement was coming to an end. Annabella was recruited as CEO and has proved to be the exact person that we needed to take the MMF forward in an increasingly policy led environment. I am very proud of what we have achieved in the last ten years, although there is still much to do, particularly in the area of transparency and fairness for artists and managers”.
On future projects, he added: “I am not retiring but want to concentrate on writing my memoir about my time at Virgin before taking a long hard look at the world and deciding what lies ahead. I am very happy to leave the MMF in the capable hands of the team and the board. I will try to be available if a temporary extra pair of hands is ever needed as the MMF holds a significant place in my heart”.
