Ryan Farley
RYAN FARLEY (UK)
I’m Managing Director of Cooking Vinyl Publishing – a London-based music publishing business connected to the Cooking Vinyl record label (Passenger, The Prodigy, Nina Nesbitt).
My career has focussed on working directly with talent and helping them develop successful careers of their own. I started out interning in London with stints at Radio X, BBC Radio 1, Columbia Records, RCA, Polydor Records, SuperVision Mgmt and Steve Budd Management. During this time I was also managing artists – developing their brand, release schedule, live shows and industry profile. Following this I was asked to book and tour-manage a rock band around the UK & Japan for 18months.
Once back in the UK, I joined Warner/Chappell Publishing as a talent scout, earning promotion to A&R Manager within 18months. Songwriters I had signed had cuts on six UK No.1 albums, with worldwide sales totaling over 7 million records. These included Madeon (Lady Gaga, Ellie Goulding, Porter Robinson), Starsmith (Ellie Goulding), Wolfgang (now known as Max Wolfgang), Cold Specks, Hannah Yadi & Olivia Sebastianelli.
Whilst at Warner/Chappell I started a club night in East London called Knew Knowledge to promote the exciting new talent I was discovering. Artists to have performed live included Jacob Banks, Krept n Konan, Riz MC (Riz Ahmed), George The Poet, Sinnead Harnett and Shystie.
I also mentored songwriting and production students at London’s Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, Academy of Contemporary Music and Westminster University.
After leaving Warner in 2014, I developed the Knew Knowledge brand into a management and consultancy business and worked with the likes of F Block Studios & Publishing, A-List Management, Boy Wonder Publishing and Saulty Songs, and held artist development consultancies with Montana, Matt Linnen, Denmark’s Wafande/Black Dylan and Nashville artist Sarah Darling, who’s album Wonderland I A&Red and led to her first UK Country Album Chart #1.
Throughout my career I have developed strong international contacts, most recently as Managing Director of Cooking Vinyl Publishing, joining in summer 2018. Here, amongst other responsibilities, I manage a diverse song catalogue of over 5,000 titles and in the past 24months have sourced and negotiated a raft of new sub-publishing and licencing agreements with international partners – overseeing a complete modernization of our publishing business. with a new focus on pro-active A&R and writer development, I work directly with talent including The Waterboys, The Orb, Avelino, Lucy Spraggan, Raf Riley, July Jones, Robbie Jay, Jacob Attwooll & Matty Benbrook, amongst many others, helping to shape and guide their songwriting careers.
I also currently serve on the Board of IMPEL (a digital licencing collective of independent publishers) and am a member of the PRS Dance Music Committee and the Music Publishers Association Futures Group
