“I think I'm a representative of a new wave of the industry,” said Emily Braham, speaking to Music Week backstage at the Music Week Awards.
It was a big statement.
The Yo&Co leader had just won the Manager Of The Year trophy, and was followed into the winners room by representatives from Capitol UK, who won the A&R award, and Sony Music Publishing, who retained their Publisher Of The Year crown. Later, Polydor Label Group would giddily descend to reflect on winning the Record Company category.
Braham and her team are responsible for steering the career of Olivia Dean, who represents a common thread between each aforementioned company. Calls of congratulations to Braham from beaming Capitol president Jo Charrington and Sony Music Publishing’s Tim Major during our interview served to underline the incredible impact Dean has had.
Braham has been working with Dean for 10 years, since discovering the singer as a BRIT School student. Among their many achievements since include No.1 success for her second album The Art Of Loving (which has 586,558 sales to date, according to the Official Charts Company), a recent sold out run of shows at The O2, not to mention Dean becoming the first British female artist to achieve three simultaneous Top 10 hits since Adele in 2021.
The morning after our interview, Dean would tick off a 10th week at No.1 with Rein Me In (1,582,258 sales), her monster collaboration with Sam Fender, while The Art Of Loving was still nestled in the Top 5.
Emily Braham with Yo&Co colleague Sarah Howell (left) and Music Week Awards host Harriet Rose (right)
“Thank you so much, it's quite a feat!” beamed Braham as we sat down. “I've worked really, really hard for 15 years to try and be the best, so it's nice to be recognised as the best.”
“I think it's validation,” she continued. “I take a lot of pride in what I do. I spent a lot of time learning my craft and I've set out to do it in a meaningful and intentional way that has the artist's wellbeing at the forefront. Creativity leads always. Trust your artist, trust the process. It's taken me a while, and not everyone's always agreed with the way I've done things, so it's nice that you guys now agree with me!”
Below, in our first interview since our Olivia Dean cover story last year, Music Week quizzes Braham on her landmark achievements as a manager and the mechanics of her unique bond with Dean.
Can you shed any more light on what you mean by people not always agreeing with the way you’ve done things?
“I don't think it's really about disagreement necessarily. I think I've just taken a different approach at times, and sometimes that's having to have a defiant opinion that goes against the norm, that in some worlds doesn't seem that crazy, but in a music industry that's very stuck in its ways, it does feel like you're stepping out of line. I have a very amazing team around me that allows me to be brave and allows me to make big decisions.”
What’s the secret to success with building out your team in terms of partners at labels and other companies?
“I think everybody has their own agenda, and that's nothing to disregard or disrespect. You've got to choose your people really carefully. We were really lucky in finding Mike [Ajayi] and Jordan [Jay], who originally signed Olivia [to AMF]. Then Jo coming to EMI was an absolute game changer. I've admired her for years. She's a hero of mine and she embodies everything that I admire about an exec. She's emotional and decisive. She's opinionated, she's creative, and she listens, she cares about what Olivia wants, and she cares what I want. And we're a real team, with Tom Paul [MD, Capitol], Jo, Jamie Ahye [head of pop marketing, PLG]… It's a really tight unit and it doesn't feel like them and us. That was always something that was really important to me, because there does seem to be that divide sometimes with artists and labels. I never wanted that. So it was really important for us to create a dynamic where it was collaborative, and it felt like a team. It's about including people, hearing people out, understanding where they're coming from, but ultimately having a shared vision and goal.”
Do you feel like you've been doing things differently to your peers as a manager?
“I think I'm a representative of a new wave of the industry. The world has changed. It is far more integrated and tactile, you can't hide in so many places. The audience is smarter than us a lot of the time, and managers and labels are having to be more emotional and dynamic. And I think that is what the new wave are doing. They're thinking about feeling and collaboration and what experience is, rather than just sales. I don't think I'm alone in that, I've just been successful in it, and I think lots of other people will be very successful, too.”
Olivia and I push each other, and we slow each other down. We care deeply for one another
Emily Braham, Yo&Co
Reflecting on your own path to this point – how easy or hard is it to break through as a manager? How open are the pathways?
“It's not easy. I think I had a very lucky entrance into the industry, my step mum knew a manager, and I just cold emailed him, and he took me on as an intern. I swept the floors, made teas and just made myself visible. I did that for six months, then I got a job. I was very intentional about spending the time to learn, I wanted a breadth of experience. I think if anyone wants any advice, it would be to get as much experience and as many different experiences as you can. I worked in the indie sector. I worked with writers and producers. I then worked in pop, with groups, with solo artists, men, women… That was really, really important for me, and that is my greatest asset, my experience. And then it’s my intuition. You have to be authentic to yourself and what you feel is right, and lots of people will try and tell you what is right. But only you really know. You've got to work so hard. I work all day, every day, and I have done since I was 20. It's not a joke.”
Can you expand on what you mean?
“It's such a responsibility. You're taking care of a human being. A human being and their brain and their business. And so I take it very seriously. I care deeply for the people I work with, clients and teams. But, most importantly, it is about being kind and having fun. It's actually not that deep! But yeah, just be good, be excellent, and care, really care.”
The relationship between manager and artist is obviously so important – how do you reflect on the one you have with Olivia?
“We're true business partners. On day one, we sat in a cafe at Sony, I was working at Black Butter at the time, and I said to her that, ‘success is not just you, and it's not just me, it's everyone around us.’ We have a shared ethos, we have shared goals. We push each other, and we slow each other down. We care deeply for one another. It's a business partnership, she is across everything, I'm across everything. It's a true 50/50. We are like a hive mind. We've collaborated for 10 years and we speak every day.”
It's really important that the UK is at the forefront of the conversation on the global market, because we produce amazing songwriters and performers
Emily Braham, Yo&Co
Do you ever fall out?
“No, we don't fall out. We disagree, for sure. And that's important, disagreement is the evolution of thought. That's important. But often we come round to each other's viewpoint, and that's really special. I think both of us are very stubborn, but also open to learning, and understanding each other and what is necessary. But it's just true collaboration and communication, constant, constant communication. We've got each other through a lot outside of music. This is our entire lives, we really, really love it. The team, too. We hang out all the time, every day, and we're not sick of each other! [Laughs]. It's really special.”
Olivia has been a flagbearer for a new wave of domestic breakthrough talent. As a manager, how does it feel to be working with an act that is so important, not just to Universal, but the UK industry as a whole?
“It's so important. For me, Olivia represents what is good about Britain, and I've always wanted her to be a role model. I'm so proud of the woman that she is. And when me and Dickon [Stainer, CEO & chairman, Universal Music UK] first met, we had a whole conversation about being proud of our country. The UK has become a bit of a dirty word, and patriotism is definitely a dirty word, but if we can be proud of anything, it's our music exports, and I feel like we lost our way for a while. It's really important that we're at the forefront of the conversation on the global market, because we do produce amazing songwriters and performers. So it was definitely intentional, and when [Universal] had Lola Young, Sam Fender, The Last Dinner Party and so many artists breaking through, it was really gratifying when everybody started succeeding at the same time.
“That's really important as well. It's not just Olivia's success, it's Lola's success, it's Jade’s success… I'm really proud, looking at our industry and what's coming through, and I hope it inspires generations to come, not only from a performing perspective, but for the people behind the scenes as well. It's really important that people understand what managers do, what agents do, what promoters do, what A&Rs do… Every cog is integral in the system. So I think we can be proud as a country.”
Relive the Music Week Awards with our report from the night here.
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