When Antonia LeVay sat down with Sage Todz, one of Wales’ favourite rap artists, he was wearing another of his hats, Artist Manager at Cardiff youth organisation Sound Progression. Cue insight into the biz as it stands in 2026.
In the margins of the Welsh music scene, artists are navigating the difficult reality of turning talent into a sustainable career, and people like Eretoda Ogunbanwo ‐ known to most as north Walian, Cardiff-based bilingual drill MC Sage Todz – is offering them assistance and knowledge.
“My role is essentially artist management,” he says, of his recently announced position at youth music charity Sound Progression. “But less on the creative side. They’ve already got their sound. What I do is help with the business.”
At Sound Progression, Todz works with entry-level and aspiring artists, helping them navigate an industry that often feels deliberately opaque. From booking shows and negotiating fees to setting up PRS and PPL, understanding royalties, structuring social media strategy, the unglamorous but essential scaffolding that keeps a career upright.
“These are things I didn’t know when I started,” he says. “I learned by making mistakes. Sometimes expensive ones.” When he saw the role advertised, it struck a nerve. “I thought, if I can stop someone else losing out the way I did, that’s important.” It’s mentoring, but not in the traditional sense. He won’t tell you how to write a hook. He’ll tell you how to invoice properly.
For all the talk of empowerment in the digital age, the independent music industry has very few standards. Unlike many sectors, there’s no fixed baseline for what artists should be paid, agreement on travel costs, or benchmarks for contracts and royalty splits.
“When I first started getting booked, I didn’t know what to charge,” Todz says. “Is £50 okay? Should they cover travel? You just don’t know.” He turned to the Musicians’ Union, one of the few bodies offering guidance, but even that, he explains, functions more as suggestion than enforcement. In other industries, even freelancers operate within recognised frameworks. In music, especially at grassroots level, it’s often guesswork. And guesswork, in contracts, can be costly. “If you’re not business-minded, you can get lost,” he says. “No matter how talented you are.”
Compared to cities like London, Manchester or Birmingham, Wales lacks the layered infrastructure that turns momentum into longevity. “In those cities, if you build yourself to a few million streams, you’ll get snapped up,” Todz says. “There are managers, A&Rs, sub-labels and real support systems.” Major players like Sony Music have established pipelines elsewhere. In Wales, that pipeline thins dramatically.
Media organisations such as the BBC try to bridge the gap, but that’s not their primary function. Wales, unlike Scotland and Ireland, doesn’t have its own regularly updated national chart, so if an artist dominates locally there’s no formal mechanism recognising that achievement. “That prestige matters,” says Sage; “it validates success.” And in an age where discovery happens algorithmically, editorial playlists are prime real estate, but Spotify’s dedicated Welsh playlist hasn’t been meaningfully updated in years – filled with legacy names like Duffy and Tom Jones, rather than a reflection of current talent.
Wales suffers from what Sage calls a “missing middle.” Artists can sell out grassroots venues, but jumping from 1,000-capacity rooms to arena scale is a cliff edge. “You’ve got small venues, and then [Cardiff] arena,” he says. “There’s not much in between.” Beyond the capital, Swansea and Newport maintain pockets of activity, but in Sage’s old home of north Wales, opportunities shrink. Add in limited public transport and late-night travel challenges, and touring domestically becomes a logistical headache.
Then we get to the uncomfortable maths. Streaming has democratised distribution, but it’s also devalued music. As Sage points out, “A million streams, if you own everything, might make you about £3,000.” In major-label scenarios, artists may only receive a fraction of that. Touring has become the primary income stream, even for established names.“ Only the top 1% can live off streaming alone. We see the success stories, but we don’t see the 10 failures behind each one.”
His solution? Direct-to-consumer models, physical releases, merch and ownership. But above all, realistic expectations. “You have to do music because you love it,” he says. “Almost everyone I know works another job. We do music because we need to.”
Despite the critique, Todz isn’t cynical. He believes change is possible. Manchester has built infrastructure, Ireland has, Scotland has, why not Wales? “I think some of it has to start at governmental level,” he says. “Boards, panels, people whose only purpose is to push this cause.” Joined-up, long-term strategy, rather than scattered funding and isolated projects which disappear when grants dry up. In the meantime, roles like his at Sound Progression matter: plugging knowledge gaps and teaching artists how to survive long enough for opportunity to find them.
Info: soundprogression.co.uk / Sage Todz on Instagram
words ANTONIA LEVAY
