Industry news & advice blog

There are many people in this world who think dipping your finger into as many pies as possible makes you as interesting and successful as those who are diehards in their industry.  The problem with this is, many don’t follow through with a project that is not their primary career or interest, and as a result a damaging effect can be made, particularly in the music industry with promoters and wannabe managers losing interest in bands and artists far too quickly.

This though, definitely does not apply to multiple pie prodder and adopted Mackem Rob Deverson. With a successful background in the energy business Rob takes an ‘if its broken, I must fix it’ attitude to everything that he approaches in life. This ethos has led to a number of ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ projects in the North East, one in particular which has seen Rob emerge as a key player in the unsigned music scene. On appointment as chairman of Ashbrooke Cricket Club, Rob made it his priority to save the club from its financial peril and in doing so created one of the most exciting, up and coming festivals in the UK.

SPLIT festival has been running successfully since 2009 and, with only two years under its belt, has already gained a reputation for, not only being a festival to watch, but also a platform for many unsigned acts in the region.

As if that wasn’t enough, Rob has decided to take SPLIT’s ever-growing name and use it to branch out into management for those most promising acts in the North East. Speaking to Rob, in a not-so-glam café in Sunderland city centre, pretty much summed up what this guy is all about; less of the dress up, more of the ‘let’s get down to business’ attitude.

As a spin-off the company has a responsibility to uphold the key concept of the festival, the promotion and protection of local bands:

“This is basically about providing a pathway for up and coming unsigned bands and giving them a platform to move onto bigger and better things outside of Sunderland. Working so closely with bands through SPLIT Festival I realised just how fragmented the music scene is in the North East, and I didn’t understand why somebody wasn’t doing something about it, so I am!”

With Sunderland’s own ‘The Generals’ first to sign up, ideas are in the pipeline to expose and provide support to other bands and this isn’t just your average promoting. One of the most interesting ideas is the refurbishment of a small van converted into the SPLIT Personality Tour Bus, a transport haven for those acts who can’t afford to travel to venues and locations out of their reach.

The most encouraging and rare feature of SPLIT Management is the openness of those involved to allow bands they work with to have the freedom to fly the nest if a bigger and better opportunity comes along. A healthy foundation to start off on, hopefully one day these emerging acts will return to the North East as headliners of SPLIT Festival!

www.splitfestival.com