Few musicians bother to pull back the curtain on how concert ticketing actually operates, let alone pick a public fight with the corporations running it. Robert Smith spent a good portion of the last two years doing precisely that, and the live sector took notice. This November, Smith will be recognized alongside songwriter Jordan Rakei at the 2026 Artist and Manager Awards, the annual London event organized jointly by the Featured Artists Coalition and the Music Managers Forum.
Scheduled for November 18 at the Bloomsbury Big Top, the ceremony plans to hand Smith its Fan Champion Award. The recognition follows a prolonged push by The Cure frontman to protect ticket buyers from exploitative box office practices during the band's Lost World Tour. In 2023, Smith took on Ticketmaster directly after discovering that ancillary service charges had eclipsed the face value of his band's tickets. Calling the markup sickening, he refused to let the platform quietly pocket the difference. Smith voided over 7,000 tickets that had appeared on secondary exchange platforms and leaned on the company until it agreed to issue small fee refunds back to verified buyers.
His campaigning did not stop once those tour dates wrapped up. By 2024, Smith turned his attention to dynamic pricing schemes, dismissing the model as a scam driven by corporate greed. He also gave his public backing to the FanFair Alliance, urging the UK Government to follow through on promises to ban ticket touting and place strict legal caps on resale prices. David Martin, chief executive of the Featured Artists Coalition, noted that Smith cut through years of industry talk with a direct, uncompromising stance, delivering tangible relief to concertgoers and forcing corporate executives to modify how they operate.
Rakei will accept The Artists' Voice Award during the same ceremony, picked out for his willingness to speak plainly about the hurdles of keeping an independent career afloat. While industry discussions often gloss over the financial toll of writing and touring, Rakei has regularly addressed those challenges. He has spoken candidly about navigating relationships with record labels, managing persistent money concerns, and coping with the daily labor required to stay viable.
Instead of keeping those insights private, Rakei routinely passes what he has learned on to early-career musicians, using social media channels and digital masterclasses to offer practical guidance. Martin highlighted that Rakei's transparency arrives at a time when creators face intense commercial pressures, with his open discussions and collaborative spirit creating a valuable support system for newcomers trying to build durable careers.
The evening will also celebrate Portishead, Raw Power Management, and Jamie Cullum alongside Rockstar Management. Meanwhile, the Entrepreneur Award is earmarked for The Quietus, which established itself as the first employee-owned music management company in the world. The company maintains an active schedule, handling approximately 250 live performances every year in addition to running album releases, physical print publications, catalogue reissue campaigns, and documentary films.
One prize still up for decision during the event is Manager of the Year. The shortlist features Emily Braham of Yo and Co Management for Olivia Dean, Connor Hunnisett of Jigsaw Music Group for Ren, Phoebe Abu-Gold of Up Close Management for Pinkpantheress, and Owain Davies of OD Management for Ben Howard and Sam Fender. For Smith, the November gathering arrives in the middle of active touring commitments across the UK and Europe with The Cure, a run that recently saw Eden Gallup step in on bass when his father Simon Gallup fell ill ahead of three dates.
The gathering at the Bloomsbury Big Top brings together figures working at opposite ends of the trade, from arena headliners dismantling ticketing abuses to working songwriters demystifying the day-to-day balance of artistic survival.
