The one-day music conference takes over Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter on Thursday September 24th, with 28 sessions and registration opening August 19th.
Output Belfast, Ireland’s largest one-day music conference, returns to the Cathedral Quarter on Thursday September 24th for its biggest edition yet, once again free to attend.
This year’s opening keynote brings together Tom Kiehl, Chief Executive of UK Music, Catherine Martin, Head of Policy Ireland at the Ivors Academy and former Irish Minister for Culture who introduced the Basic Income for the Arts pilot in 2022, and David Martin, Chief Executive of the Featured Artists Coalition. Kiehl called it a privilege to be invited to address the conference, and said he was looking forward to working with delegates on the big issues facing the sector.
The full programme runs to 28 sessions across the day, covering everything from producer pay to branded partnerships. Among them:
- CMU presents How Music Producers Get Paid In 2026
- Screen Composers Guild of Ireland presents Composing for Television Drama
- Beyond Skin presents Championing Afghan & Iranian Women Artists and Indian Classical Music
- Inflyte presents How Electronic Music Breaks in 2026: From Demo to Dancefloor
- European Guild of Music Supervisors presents Everything You Wanted to Know from a Film and TV Music Supervisor But Were Afraid to Ask
- A Scott Cohen Q&A on the past, present and future of music
- Jameson presents Branded! How Music Artists and Brands Can Work Together
- Musicians’ Union presents How to Plan and Fund a Tour workshop
- Frequency Finder presents Breaking into Live Events: The Jobs Behind the Show
- PRS for Music presents Europop! Writing and Performing for a Eurovision Hit, with panellists including Eurovision winner Dana
- An Emotional Rodeo: Inside the Music World of Janet Devlin
New for 2026, the conference also adds a music and technology gear expo, featuring Audient mixing consoles, audio interfaces and microphones, Lowden guitars, and a Dolby Atmos listening experience running on a full 7.1.4 speaker system.
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Registration opens Wednesday August 19th at outputbelfast.com, where the full programme also drops the same day. A closing keynote announcement is expected in early September.
The conference is presented by Belfast City Council/Belfast City of Music and programmed by Score Draw Music.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
