Martin Atikins

Bitter Jester Music Festival Judge

Martin Atkins is the definition of entrepreneurial activity in cultural arts endeavors. His 40+ years in the music business span across genres, borders and industries. He is a British-born musician, producer, session drummer, documentary filmmaker, DJ, and father of four known best for his work in the industrial music scene.

Martin was a member of Public Image Ltd (with John Lydon, aka “Johnny Rotten”) and Killing Joke. He founded industrial supergroup Pigface, which has had an ever-changing line-up over the years with Martin being the sole performer involved with the project from day one.

Over the years he has been a contributing drummer for Nine Inch Nails (for which he has a Grammy for “Wish”) and Ministry.

Martin is the owner of The Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music in Chicago, Invisible Records (est. 1988), the author of Tour:Smart, Welcome To The Music Business...You’re F*cked!, Band:Smart, and is the Music Industries Co-ordinator at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.

A bit of a Deeper Dive:

After playing drums in a variety of English bands, Martin auditioned for and subsequently joined Johnny Rotten’s Public Image Limited in 1979. His first contribution to the band was cowriting and performing on the song “Bad Baby” for the revered Metal Box LP. After touring the world with P.i.L and contributing to several more studio albums Martin left the group in 1985. Over the next five years, he played with and managed Killing Joke and toured with Ministry. In 1990, while on tour with Ministry, he formed his own band, Pigface. He also appeared in the Nine Inch Nails “Head like a Hole” video. 

Martin began working on the business side of music in 1988 when he formed Invisible Records and then Mattress Factory Studios in 1996. Over two decades Invisible has released over 350 albums and has had placements spanning from the original Miami Vice to Showtime’s Queer as Folk to Robert Altman’s The Company.

Atkins wrote his book Tour:Smart in 2007 and has since spoken around the world at major industry conferences, recognized universities, and nonprofit organizations. His distinguished speaking resume includes: SXSW, Warped Tour, CMJ, New Music Seminar, Unconvention, NAMM, By:Larm, Dfest, USC, Drexel, Virginia Commonwealth University, Full Sail, Weiden + Kennedy, Chicago Cultural Center and many more.

As a teacher at Millikin University in Decatur, IL, Martin acts as the Music Business Program Coordinator, leading courses on Touring, Advanced Entrepreneurship, Artist and Event Management, and Online Marketing.

When he’s not teaching, you can find him on the road, promoting with his third book, Band:Smart, consulting with artists and organizations, or working on his next book, Memories: My Time In and Out of Public Image Ltd.

Whatever the future of the music business is, you can pretty much bet that he’ll be in the middle of it!