Crawl launches selection awards |
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NORTH LONDON festival Gaymers Camden Crawl has launched an awards scheme, from which eight winners will be picked to perform at the 1-2 May event, and receive prizes such as cash, equipment, recording studio time and equipment.
Entries to the Emerging Talent Awards will be whittled down to 45 acts by online public vote. Categories include Best New Band, Best New Solo Artiste, Best Live Act, Best Song, DIY Award and the People’s Choice Award.
Seven winners will be decided by a judging panel made up of music industry people, media partner Rockfeedback and festival staff. The final spot will be picked by online votes.
(See the full story in Issue 121)
LSC reserves slots for the unsigned |
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ONE HUNDRED out of the 450 live performance slots at Liverpool Sound City (LSC) have been reserved for artiste without a record deal, with 50 specifically reserved for artistes based in the North West.
Acts wishing to participate need to do so via Sonicbids before the 15 March deadline.
(See the full story in Issue 121)
Seminar to help build infrastructure |
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WELSH ACTS and managers looking for advice on improving live activities can find help at a free seminar.
Getting The Gig is organised by the Welsh Music Foundation (WMF) and the Musicians’ Union (MU) and features panellists such as Probation Management’s Martin Bowen – who represents The Automatic – and artistes Matt Cohen and Christopher Rees. The final speaker – a promoter – is yet to be announced.
(See the full story in Issue 121)
Golden opportunity in Coventry |
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UNSIGNED ACTS in the Midlands are being invited to enter a new battle of the bands contest which offers prizes including rehearsal and recording studio time, 100 copies of their EP or album pressed and a promo photo shoot.
Organiser Jay Turner, of Too Late For Thursdays Promotions and Management, is hoping up to 48 bands will enter the competition, which will take place at The Golden Cross (cap. 150) in Coventry, over 12 weeks from 5 June.
(See the full story in Issue 121)
NXT feature
Nice work if you can get it
Over the past five to 10 years, festivals large and small have realised the importance and value of featuring the best, often local, unsigned bands somewhere in their programmes. For some, it’s an investment in the future, while for others it’s part of the attraction. Louis Pattison reports.
For the last four decades, the UK festival season has grown from a handful of relatively casual events into an industry in itself, with a turnover of multi-millions of pounds and hosts of highly paid headline acts.
But as the landscape has grown to also include all manner of niche and boutique festivals, so too have opportunities multiplied for smaller artistes to get in on the action.
“With festivals like Reading [cap. 84,000] and Leeds [ ???? }, people aren’t necessarily there to see unsigned acts – they’re there for the big names,” says Helen Chalmers of the Scotland’s Wickerman Festival, which stages its ninth festival near Kirkcudbright in July.
With tickets going for an online price of £85 and a capacity of just 15,000, Wickerman pulls a family crowd more inclined to, as Chalmers puts it, “have a wander”.
Last year’s it balanced sets from The Human League and Billy Bragg with smaller acts programmed across seven distinct musical areas. These included the 500-capacity Solus tent, featuring new and unsigned Scottish talent, and the Acoustic Village, which hosted Sweet Billy Pilgrim, later nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.
This year, Wickerman is hunting for a soundtrack to their TV campaign, with the band who composes music which best captures “the feel and spirit” of the festival booked to play the Summerisle main stage.
(See the full story in the current issue) |
