The Mercury Prize has never strayed from the capital until now. In October, the prestigious industry ceremony will take over Newcastle’s Utilita Arena.
One of the leaders who’s helped steer the move? Mick Ross, the driving force behind Newcastle-based music development agency Generator, who tells me via video call that this is just the beginning.
“It’s a massive coup as it’s the ceremony’s first time out of London. They’re trusting us with it. We’re doing a full region-wide fringe programme, bringing some massive names into the region,” he tells Prolific North.
“It puts a massive spotlight on here. And let’s just see where it goes after that. It’s another pin in the map. The problem is, then we’ve got to get The BRIT Awards!”
READ MORE: Mercury Prize to leave London for first time – and it’s heading to Newcastle
As part of Prolific North’s Creative Powerhouse campaign series, Ross explains how Generator has long been nudging the North East’s creative industries centre stage, whether that’s through partnerships or making deals with major industry heavyweights.
It follows the MOBO Awards’ arrival in Newcastle earlier this year, and a flurry of major-label partnerships that are reshaping the North East. With Mercury Prize soon to be heading North too, it’s just the latest milestone in a campaign to prove that the UK’s music industry no longer begins and ends with London.
Behind the scenes, there was “a lot of lobbying” and collaboration between Generator, industry partners, local organisations and combined authorities to bring these major events to the region.
“We have been making the case that this is a great place to make music, do events, to stay and develop the music sector,” Ross explains. “We did the MOBOs earlier this year and the team smashed it out of the park. Well done to the city and the wider partners who were involved in it. But we’d never seen the likes of The BRIT Awards or Mercury Prize here before.”
A music economy on the rise
The numbers tell their own story. According to UK Music, the North East saw music-related visitors rise from 500,000 to 714,000 between 2023 and 2024. Industry jobs almost doubled in the same period, from 1,700 to more than 3,000, with Gross Value Added (GVA) leaping from £186m to £364m.
READ MORE: Unveiling Prolific North’s deep dive series into the North’s creative industries
“The stats show a phenomenal increase,” Ross explains. But he’s keen to point out there’s plenty of work still to be done beyond bringing major events to the North East.
Since 1991, Generator has quietly been working to lift barriers and support budding artists, producers and creatives into successful careers.
“We’ve still got grassroots venues making only £3,000 a year, if they’re lucky, on average.
“Those engine rooms, or those business incubators as you’d call them in digital and tech, are the small venues. The rehearsal rooms. The small studios. The music hubs and youth clubs. They are your incubators for your top-level talent.”
Without those grassroots venues, he says the industry will be left with people who already have “financial support in some way” who will “then move away”.
“We’ve got to be able to support people young, and give them that full pathway.”
Ross’s determination is rooted in his own story. Growing up in a working-class, single-parent family in Washington, Sunderland, he knows first-hand the barriers faced by aspiring musicians outside the capital.
“I wanted to make sure people had the opportunities I didn’t,” he says.
Reflecting on his own school days, he praised his “wonderful music teacher” for spotting his musical talent and giving him an opportunity, which he says “a lot of people don’t have in state schools”.
READ MORE: BRIT Awards: Glitz, glamour and the sickening class divide in the UK music scene
That encouragement led to a 25-year career where he toured with indie band Frankie & The Heartstrings and had a top 40 album, to producing and managing artists, and he’s even run his own studios and record label.
He acknowledges the barriers that still need to be lifted today for aspiring working-class creatives, and that’s reflected in the figures. 17% of those working in the music industry were educated at fee-paying schools, according to UK Music data. That’s more than double the 7% of the general population.
North Shields’ indie star Sam Fender also criticised the industry for being dominated by privately educated artists while working-class talent struggles to break through in an interview with The Sunday Times.
“You cannot underestimate the importance of what he’s saying,” Ross says. “Sam has done a huge amount for the region, spotlighting it and shouting about its talents. The realisation with these big economic figures, you’ve got to support the engine rooms of that talent.”
And he’s determined that those opportunities in the North extend beyond the stage. Ross has also sat on a number of all-party parliamentary groups for music education and worked alongside the likes of the Ed Sheeran Foundation, Warner and Youth Music, lobbying for that change to education and skills in the music industry.
“Looking at the current courses available in the region, there isn’t a dedicated music school like BIMM, WaterBear, ACM, or The BRIT School. We don’t have one. The provision that we have, I think Newcastle and Gateshead College do a great job, but we can always go further.”
“We’ve been working with both of them to try and get industry more embedded.”
Since he came to the post as CEO three years ago, Generator has been on a mission ever since to start “knocking on all the doors at all times” and make the organisation more industry-focused.
READ MORE: Sam Fender among backers of Generator and The Glasshouse’s Newcastle Gateshead Music City
“We’ve never been devoid of talent. We’ve always had phenomenal musical talent here. What they haven’t had is the team around it. And over the past three years, we’ve been working with people over at Warner, Universal, Music Managers Forum, Music Producers Guild, all of these great institutions.”
EMI North, Warner Music UK and a new Northern Music Export Office
Major industry players are increasingly taking notice, and investing, in the North East. One of Generator’s most significant partnerships came with Universal Music UK’s EMI North.
“We were exploring a couple of joint ventures, recognising that there wasn’t a major label based in the region or joint ventures at the time. We felt like the best route was to partner with EMI North and ensure that there would be jobs available,” he says.
“A big part of what we wanted from that deal was we needed a couple of jobs in the region, so the label is run, administered, and everything from the vision and creative output is done from the Generator office.”
It led to the creation of Interval Records, a joint venture label founded in partnership between EMI North and Generator, to foster and boost regional musical talent.
“Universal have been phenomenal to work with. Sometimes artists or people in the industry aren’t fans of major labels, but it plays a part and my experience of the major labels is they have been incredibly supportive of underrepresented talent.”
Then came Warner Music UK. A chance meeting with chief executive Tony Harlow, who Ross first met after signing a record deal in Australia 15 years ago, sparked a conversation about about the North.
“We got talking about how I thought the North East was a real sleeping giant in terms of musical talent, what we could do with developing professional skills, and how hard-working, driven and collaborative the people here are. I asked if there is any way we can work together to expand those opportunities, and over the past two or three years, that’s what we’ve done.”
READ MORE: Warner Music to open major North East studio
That relationship has grown from internship schemes and conferences into something much bigger, as Warner Music UK plans to open a major new studio facility in the heart of Newcastle, which is due for completion by the end of the year.
“We’ll continue to work with them as much as possible. They’re a phenomenal team in the UK office. Tony’s one of the biggest advocates in the country for decentralisation of the industry. He fully believes in more opportunities and changes to education.”
But there’s even more on the horizon for the North more widely. At SXSW earlier this year, plans were announced for a new Northern Music Export Office, supported by Tees Valley, Liverpool City Region, and the North East Combined Authorities.
The aim is to help musicians and music professionals from the North of England grow their international presence and it’s an initiative that’s even attracted the backing of Sam Fender.
“It’s massive and it’s something that’s never been done before,” Ross says as Generator will be supporting its development, although final details are yet to be released.
“We need more things like that. We need to change the status quo completely. We’ve got to be really bloody bold, to be honest. We need to break more talent. The more talent we break, the more we’ll be recognised as a serious music region, which I think we are.”
Passionate about music, Ross explains how it is the thread that weaves through the screen industry, games sector and creative industry more widely.
“With the expansion of the screen industries here, Alison [Gwynn, chief exec] from North East Screen is going to want companies to come in and use writers for music and editing who are based in the North East,” he says. “She’s super passionate about the same thing — retaining talent and giving as many opportunities for them to thrive.”
READ MORE: Vision to unleash the UK’s potential as a “creative superpower”
It’s part of the wider One Creative North initiative, a pan-Northern push to grow the creative industries through better access to finance, skills, R&D, and infrastructure.
“We’ve been part of the consultation and driving it forwards. From a creative industry point of view, there’s crossover with literature, music, screen, games and visual arts. It is rightfully going to be one of the key priorities and economic drivers for this country to get back on its feet over the next 10 years.”
As for Generator’s hopes for the near future, Ross wants the North East and Tees Valley to be seen as “the place to make music in the UK outside of London”.
“We’re going to have the Warner facility, an expanded relationship with EMI North, Universal. But what we really need to do is ensure that that money keeps getting invested in the sector, supporting more businesses to start up in the region, and create that bigger ecosystem, ensuring that that grassroots support is done and launch the Northern Export Office.
“We’re always trying to push for more and push for bigger opportunities and more jobs into the region. So more of the same but bigger!”
