Winning a LIVEtime Achievement award is no small feat. 

In fact, it’s the highest honour that can be bestowed by the LIVE Awards. It represents a lifetime of often dogged and tireless work to make the music industry a better place. 

Previous winners include Phil Bowdery, Executive President of Touring International Music, Live Nation, Kanya King CBE, founder of the MOBO Awards, and Stuart Galbraith, CEO of KMJ Entertainment Group.

This year, we’re proud to announce that the recipient of our LIVEtime Achievement award is Emma Banks.

Emma Banks has had an exceptional career as an agent, and she's now co-head of Creative Artists Agency (CAA)'s London office and co-head of its international touring. Her roster includes some of the biggest names in music, from Florence + The Machine to Katy Perry, Red Hot Chili Peppers to Muse. Over the last 20 years she's helped grow CAA London from a team of five into hundreds. We spoke to Emma about her decades in the industry, how she's seen it change and what she'd tell her younger self. 

Hi, Emma! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. The LIVE Awards are all about celebrating and protecting the live music industry. What’s something that excites you about live music? 

Music is a connector. When people gather to listen to live music, whether it's in a stadium for 100,000 people or in a pub room for 15, that shared experience is very special. 

Singing along with your favourite artist, even when you get all the words wrong like me, is exhilarating. The feeling you get from experiencing live music is hard to replicate. We all need to live in the moment more, and live music gives us that experience. 

“We all need to live in the moment more, and live music gives us that experience.” 

What’s a way that you’ve seen the industry change for the better during your career? 

When I got my first job in the music industry, there were very few women in positions outside of secretarial roles. Some of the interview questions I got asked back then would be tribunal-worthy today! In live music, there was virtually no one for me to try and emulate. 

It's taken a while, but we are now in a far better place with that. It’s a highly competitive business to get into, regardless of who you are, but I think that the industry is now much more aware that everyone needs to be ‘in the room’ and so women are getting opportunities that really were not available to them years ago. 

We can’t sit back and be complacent about it, there is still work to be done, but there is certainly improvement. 

What’s something in your career you’re most proud of?

I am proud that a girl from Bedfordshire who had absolutely no contacts in the music industry has managed to stick around for this long and work alongside many of the best artists in the world. I am also really proud that over the last 20 years CAA in London has done so well. We started with five people and now it’s hundreds across multiple departments, all doing great work for a list of clients that are best in the world. I am so lucky to work with a team of people who are exceptional at their jobs and are also exceptional at being great people. I love going in the office every day just to be with them. 

The cost of doing business as a touring artist is so high that clearly just making the sums work for new artists is really hard.”

You've spent decades helping artists go from small stages to arenas. What obstacles do you think are getting harder for new artists trying to break in today to traverse?

I know this gets discussed ad nauseum but the cost of doing business as a touring artist is so high (fuel, lodging, equipment, etc.) that clearly just making the sums work for new artists is really hard. 

At the bottom end of business, when shows are small, it's hard to make ends meet for anyone. 

I think if you are starting out in the business now you need to be more strategic than ever as to how you spend your money and how you can earn money. Selling merchandise is clearly important and I want to thank and congratulate those venues that are allowing artists to either sell their merchandise commission-free or for a very minimal charge as that can be game-changing when it comes to the finances on a tour of the UK. 

Don’t overplay, at whatever level you are working. Leave some demand in the market and you can go back again. It takes a moment for word to spread about the hot new artist and so you need to give some room between shows to gain new followers and have the existing fans come back. 

Ultimately, music is a very busy space. There are so many people putting music out that you have to be very, very good and you also need to be lucky. You can control some of it, but the luck is a tricky thing.   

I would also say that sometimes changing stuff around a bit can be beneficial – there are plenty of artists who tried and didn’t get the success they wanted but then re-thought it, got a different set up or whatever and suddenly it worked. If you love performing then don’t give up but maybe consider other ways of presenting yourself. 

You’ve had an incredible career, winning Agent of the Year ten times, being named Woman of the Year in 2007, and featuring numerous times in Billboard’s International Power Player list - and that’s not even mentioning the incredible slate of artists you’ve represented. What advice would you give your younger self? 

I am not sure what advice I would give my younger self because everything I have done has contributed to make me the person I am today. If I had taken different decisions, who knows what would have happened – it's the "Sliding Doors" moment.

I was probably too obsessed with work and maybe my personal life suffered, but I will never know what might have happened if I did it differently. I would maybe suggest that younger Emma enjoys the moment a bit more and doesn’t stress too much about the uncontrollable stuff.

Ultimately, I would probably not change anything – it's been pretty good and I did it my way!