Becky Ayres is Managing Director of Sound City, which is the UK’s longest consecutively running new music showcase festival and industry conference and is independently owned. Sound City is also the UK lead festival for Keychange, the global movement for gender equality in music.
Since 2008, Sound City has showcased 4000+ emerging artists including Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Lizzo, Sam Fender, Fontaines DC, Stormzy to music fans & music industry professionals from 40 countries
With Sound City’s equity partners Modern Sky in Beijing, Becky is developing an online tech platform, Synchroncity to help Western artists take content into China, and is raising investment through grants and private funding to develop the platform.
Becky is Deputy Chair of the Liverpool City Region Music Board which provides funding support, advice, guidance for the music ecosystem in Merseyside and champions Liverpool as the World Capital of Music.
In response to the AIF statistics that 204 UK festivals have cancelled since 2019, Becky works with independent festivals to create new income streams, bring in cash and become resilient and sustainable long-term.