A BLOG OF SORTS FROM CHRIS COOKE
February 2026 Updates
Leicester thanks
Great couple of days at the Leicester Music Conference. I lost a hat, but gained lots of great insights from the experts on our Pathways Into The Music Industry panel. And also got this rather nifty PPL/PRS notebook. So, definitely a net gain! Thanks to the LMC team for inviting me.
K-pop soap opera
Another dramatic episode in the big ongoing corporate K-pop soap opera. Someone should really turn this into an actual soap opera. Or maybe an opera. I’ll write the libretto if anyone is up for doing the music. Here is my CMU report.
CMM Parliament dinner
I had dinner in Parliament on Monday evening, with the Council Of Music Makers hosting a gathering for MPs and Lords to discuss various issues music-makers are facing in 2026. It was a very productive discussion – and with a Chris-friendly menu! (And only partly because I picked the menu). See if you can spot the difference between the two photos.
To Leicester…
I’m heading to the Leicester Music Conference for the first time this week, which is exciting. Pathways sessions on Thursday and this panel on Friday. There’s another Chris Cook speaking (but without the ‘e’) – I wonder if anyone would notice if we swapped panels? Anyway, hope to see some of you there.
Reacting rights
I have a new copyright obsession – rights management in connection to reaction videos on YouTube etc – how it works (or doesn’t). If any of you work for music or media companies that have policies regarding whitelisting, blocking or monetising reaction videos – or if any of you actively pitch to reactors – I would be interested to know!
Double lecture day
Double lecture day today, talking about music revenues (this morning) and music-maker businesses (this afternoon) at Loughborough University and Nottingham Trent University respectively. All without leaving London! It’s very nice of these universities to build campuses that are 20 minutes from my house.
Metadata webinar
Whenever you release music, always remember this: if you mess up the metadata, you will lose money. Next month I’ll be explaining how artists and songwriters can make sure they don’t mess up their data when releasing new music, as part of the Help Musicians Business Skills programme – info here.
Blackfriars to Brighton
Arrived at Blackfriars Station ridiculously early, so had time to add to my collection of random sunny Thames photos. Heading to Brighton for more Pathways planning – we have FOUR editions of our Educator Pathway Weekends coming up! Info here.
FAC Artist Day
It’s time for another FAC Artist Day! Back to Manchester to once again team up with Sound Roots and present an edition of the Artist Day alongside English Folk Expo. Please do spread the word. Info here.
Who can you boycott?
Given how many artist boycotts I’ve reported on in recent years, I thought Alexis Krauss’s post this week explaining why it can be so hard for many artists to cut ties with businesses whose practices they find concerning was both interesting and important. Here’s my CMU report on it.
Comedy stats
On the rare occasions that I get bored of music industry stats, there’s now an annual helping of comedy industry stats for me to enjoy. The results of the latest UK Live Comedy Sector Survey were published last week and here is my TW News Briefing on them.
Future Leaders
Fun day in rainy Leeds with the brilliant participants on Launchpad’s Future Leaders programme discussing the ins and outs of running music-maker businesses – complete with a few (almost) brand new slides (OK second outing). Now back to (also rainy?) London…
Heading to Leeds
Heading to Leeds in LNER seat D27, which is no Avanti seat H02, but then nothing is, because – as everyone knows – that’s the best train seat there is. But it’s pretty good, and I am in first class at lunchtime, which means they’re going to serve me a lunch I won’t eat, so that’s nice.
Careers Day in Chichester
Spent a few hours today at Chichester Creative Industry Careers Day, delivering a speedy Pathways Into Music workshop, and also answering all and any questions students had about music careers. Well, Phil and Matt did a bit more of that than me. Lots of great questions asked. And duly answered, of course.