According to Willie Ryan - lawyer and artist representative - the big name invitees are already getting their schedules and felt-tip pens out.

“I was with Mike Smith from Warner/Chappell last night who’s been on SoundCloud and has a couple of acts he particularly wants to see,” he divulges. “Rob Stevenson is so excited he’s flying over from New York for five days; a huge undertaking from somebody of his standing. Our expectations have been exceeded in terms of who’s coming.”

Resumes Shane Dunne, one of the forces behind Indiependence: “Being able to walk up to somebody like Rob and say, ‘Hi, I’m so-and-so, can I have a quick word?’ is a massive deal for a young act or somebody running their own label. Whether you’re into A&R, sync-ing, management, live or the tech side of things, there’ll be somebody’s ear to bend!”

“The exchange of knowledge works both ways,” he continues. “We have interns coming in and they’re teaching me stuff about meta-data and how we can promote events better through social media. Anybody who says ‘I know it all’ in this business is likely to come a cropper.”

​Already announced for the Music Cork Showcase are:

Fangclub, Lyra, Le Boom, Ailbhe Reddy, ​Alex & Echoes, Barq, Cry Harridan, Super Silly, Little Hours and Rob Burch and final acts still to be announced.

In addition to this, there will be opportunities for attendees to network with some of the industry's top minds on the Music Cork Pub Crawls, at a networking breakfast and during Friday's Networking Day Trip.

Tickets for MusicCork start at €105 for earlybird passes, and €155 for Delegate passes. See musiccork.com for more details.

Speakers for this new event will include:

Labels:
-Darcus Beese, President of Island Records
-Rob Stevenson, Executive Vice President of Republic/Casablanca
-Mike Smith, MD Warner Chappell

Agents:
-Geoff Meall, Head of UTA (Muse)
-Steve Zapp, ITB (Biffy Clyro)
-Josh Javor, X-Ray (Coldplay)

Publishing:
-Martin Toher, B-Unique
-Tommas Arnby, Locomotion