PRS for Music collect and distribute money on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers, for the use of their musical compositions and lyrics. PPL collects and distributes money on behalf of performers and recording rightsholders (e.g. record companies and self-releasing artists) for the use of their recorded music when it is broadcast or played in public.
Both PRS for Music and PPL are dedicated to championing their members’ rights and supporting UK music.
The two societies work to ensure those who write, perform, compose, own or publish music are fairly paid for their work. For that reason, we have chosen to team up and curate a stand-out panel at Liverpool Sound City 2020. On Friday 1 May from 12:10 to 12:55 pm, Oli and Rob from Marsicans will join us to discuss everything you need to know about being #OnTrack with your
career and the practicalities involved.
Whether you are already a member of PRS for Music and PPL, or thinking of becoming one, come and visit us at The British Music Experience to find out how to make the most of your membership and how integral your royalties really are.
We are kicking off the festival with a drinks reception at Chapters of Us and would love to see you there!
As with previous years at Sound City, 2020 sees students and alumni from BIMM Institute - Europe’s most connected provider of music education – joining a brilliantly eclectic line-up of artists.
With eight campuses throughout England, Ireland and Germany, and with its northern-most campus in the heart of Manchester, BIMM is home to an array of success stories including high profile artists such as Fickle Friends, Pale Waves, James Bay, George Ezra, Black Peaks and Fontaines .D.C.
Here’s what you can expect from BIMM Manchester artists appearing at Sound City this year.
The soulful acoustic stylings of this twenty-year-old singer songwriter from York draw comparison to the likes of Jake Bugg, David Gray and Noel Gallagher, and have been earning him a reputation as one to watch out for in 2020. Lewis’ debut EP, 2019’s ‘I Bicker, I Mend’ tells coming of age stories with lyrical poeticism far beyond his years.
These self-dubbed ‘Queens of Sassy Rock’ are causing a heck of a stir on the live circuit with their riotous blend of 70’s punk riffs and dance rhythms. Their debut single ‘Unknown’ serves up lashings of glam rock attitude delivered with wild abandon and recalls The Runaways at their glorious peak.
Delivering husky vocals with a soulful UK RnB flavour, this promising young artist has already received much-hyped radio play from the likes of BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Introducing, and NTS Manchester. Her latest single ‘te extraño, pero…’ has amassed nearly 200,000 streams on Spotify alone!
Cerys Eless
This versatile young artist’s budding career is already imbued with promising highlights including live dates in 2019 at Focus Wales, Gwyll Arall, Fresh On The Net Live. Her song ‘Overdose’ recently reached the finals of the UK Songwriting Competition in the ‘Under 18s’ category.
With a blend of avant-garde spoken word poetry and alternative indie rock instrumentation, this Manchester-based quartet are anchored by the impassioned lyrics and dynamic delivery of frontman Spencer Mason, whose style echoes the likes of fellow wordsmiths Kate Tempest and Ghostpoet.
With a growing selection of epic pop songs under their belt - including the brilliant new single ‘Dysphoria’ - and having already supported the likes of Blossoms and Courteneers live, Manchester quintet Valve have been described as “one of the best upcoming bands of 2019” by Natalie Eve-Williams of BBC Introducing. Miss them at your peril!
We are proud to announce the 12 talented acts who Sound City will be offering 12 months of music artist support too. Catch them at Sound City 2020!
The 12 artists named for the 2020 programme are The Mysterines, Tomike, Nikki & The Waves, The Sway, Podge, Lizzie Ross, Molly Green, Daddy. Including Leeds College of Music students; L’nee Golay and Weezy Jefferson. Plus Levi’s Music Project 2019 alumni Lydiah and That’s Juvey?.
The programme helps artists with recording and releasing music; funding; tour management; marketing and PR; personal development; and the transition to treating their band and brand as a business.
You can see them live across the Sound City weekend! Join us.
Leeds College of Music is delighted to return to Sound City for the fifth year running! Chosen by the team at Sound City, five LCoM artists will perform across a range of venues at the festival on Saturday 2 May 2020.
Our partnership with Sound City is just one example of the many and varied performance opportunities available to LCoM students.
Here’s a bit more about the artists selected for this year’s line-up….
L’nee Golay
L’nee’s music is a rich blend of all things wonderful: a bit of soul, a bit of hip-hop, and a sprinkle of singer-songwriter vibes all mixed up to create one beautiful sound. Her recent single Options, featuring producer Psalmist Music, was on five major playlists on Apple Music India, including A-List Pop, Today’s Hits and Best of the Week. Her forthcoming single Never Loved Somebody Like You was featured on the new hits Amazon Prime TV series Made In Heaven.
Weezy Jefferson
Weezy Jefferson’s music takes a contemporary approach to Hip Hop using intricate lyricism and wordplay. Weezy has appeared across a range of different platforms, such as BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1xtra and has been play-listed as BBC Introducing’s Track of the week on BBC Radio 1.
Her Tilted Moons
HerTiltedMoons is an eerie music project by Venetian singer-songwriter Cecilia Nicolè. Cecilia has always been immersed in a musical environment and she began studying the violin at age 5, wrote her first songs at 14 and began gigging in Italy straight after high school. With her music being influenced by British bands and singer-songwriters, in 2018 she moved to Leeds. Her song Dead Poets has been featured on BBC Music Introducing.
Alleyways
ALLEYWAYS, the Leeds based Pop-Indie outfit bring their alternative stance on pop culture to the new indie generation. Their punchy tunes, brought to life by frontman Dougie Turner’s electric presence, weave a spell over the tight groove provided by bassist and producer George Barwick. Saxophonist, Stu Whyte, adds an extra dimension to the sound that is completed by the glittering funky guitar of Ben Clark. The band have supported the likes of Fickle Friends, King No One, Glass Caves and Cassia, and have been featured on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Introducing.
MOAN
Sheffield’s very own answer to conscious hip-hop, reminiscent of the melancholic vibes of Loyle Carner and the attitude of the 4 Owls, on stage MOAN hit you with raw chemistry and compelling storytelling, drawn right out of their very own lives. Fresh from their first festival circuit supporting KRS ONE and Riot Jazz brass band, MOAN make music for the people and represent this hard, mislead modern way of living.
The 2020 Sound City line-up features an impressive list of headliners, including Friendly Fires, Pale Waves, Marika Hackman and LCoM alumni band Marsicans.
Find out more about studying at Leeds College of Music.
Will you be joining us for the weekend? Attending Saturday for Friendly Fires, The Blinders, Louis Berry, The Mysterines and more? Or attending Sunday for Pale Waves, Marika Hackman, The Snuts, Tim Burgess, BC Camplight or more?
Day and weekends tickets are now on sale, grab yours today.
We are delighted to announce the latest acts joining the Sound City 2020 lineup. With new headliners Friendly Fires - we can’t wait for them to bring the dance-infused indie party down to the Baltic Triangle.
Alternative songstress Marika Hackman and one of Scotland’s best new bands The Snuts also stop by, with Louis Berry, Bad Sounds, Spector and Marsicans all appearing across the weekend.
The introspective songwriting craft of BC Camplight will be on full show, whilst jangle-pop purveyors SPINN will bring the sonic sunshine down on Liverpool.
All this plus 100s more at Sound City 2020!
Day splits/tickets coming Friday - last remaining Early Birds available here
#LetsStartAFuckingRiot
For more information click here.
Have you entered our Ultimate Christmas Competition yet? Grab your Sound City 2020 tickets before 9am on December 20th and you could all of this 👇
2 X Kendal Calling tickets
2 X Bluedot Festival tickets
2 X Off The Record tickets
2 X Liverpool Sound City 2021 tickets
2 X The Lathums tickets for Sold Out Wigan show
2 X Jamie Webster tickets for Sold Out Liverpool show
1 X Bella Union merch bundle
Enter now 👉 https://bit.ly/SoundCity2020 ❄️ 🎅 ❄️
All previously purchased Sound City 2020 tickets automatically entered!!
The first wave of acts have been announced for Sound City 2020, the UK’s leading independent festival and conference for new music.
We are proud to unveil the incredible Pale Waves as our first headliner for next year. One of the biggest names in Indie Pop, their gothic edge makes them one of the country’s most unique and exciting bands.
Also announced is Tim Burgess. Frontman of The Charlatans, he takes to Sound City as one of the finest songwriters the UK’s ever produced. The Blinders make their return after performing the set of the festival in 2018, and Stealing Sheep will also grace us with their mind-melting experimental pop.
The band on everybody’s lips The Lathums will also appear, alongside The Lottery Winners, Jamie Webster and The Mysterines.
The true value in Sound City however is in the talents you may be yet to hear. Now is the perfect time to get to know all of the 20+ artists announced so far with our Official Spotify playlist, which will be updated regularly from now until the festival.
Tickets are on sale tomorrow from 10am here.
This week marks the start of MaMA Festival & Convention! France’s leading music industry gathering, over 5000 industry professionals partake in 3 days of panels and workshops, sharing their insights and experiences.
Now in its 10th year, MaMA has a reputation for being at the forefront of innovative and collaborative thinking in an industry marked by constant transformation.
By night MaMA becomes a huge urban festival, taking over Paris’ Pigalle District to showcase the talents of over 120 French and International artists.
For more information visit: https://www.mamafestival.com
We have been nominated for UK Festival Awards ‘Best Small Festival’ and ‘Best Metropolitan Festival’ for Sound City 2019 and the voting lines are now OPEN. Vote here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ukfa2019.
Thank you to everyone who attended Sound City 2019 and made this year an unforgettable experience across the three days! We took over the Baltic Triangle with 300+ artists from over 26 countries with one of our most diverse lineups to date.
We proudly showcased incredible acts such as Loyle Carner, Mabel, Confidence Man, 草東沒有派對 No Party For Cao Dong, slowthai, Stella Donnelly and many many more who made Sound City 2019 one of our best years.
Sound City is where many artists perform for the first time and 2019 created great opportunities for emerging acts around the world to meet the music industry and make huge steps in their career. Not only do we put on an insane party across 3 days, we also deliver year after year an impressive lineup bringing the very best talents to Liverpool.
Winning either of these awards would be massive for us and a huge achievement for us and the city we love! Let’s do this, vote for us today! (Deadline 25th October)
Big thank you to Arts Council England for their continued support and funding!
Apply today for more information on how to secure your place: http://soundcitytraining.co.uk.
Applications for your act to take to Sound City 2020 this 1st - 3rd May are now open!
Your act could play amongst the very best breakthrough acts from the UK and all across the globe right in the heart of Liverpool.
Apply today to play at the UK’s leading festival and conference for new music and take to the renowned venues of Liverpool, home to the Cavern and music legends such as The Beatles.
Be like other musicians who have applied through Apply to Play, such as; Ed Sheeran, The 1975, Florence and the Machine, Stormzy, Grimes and many more…
What you waiting for? Be discovered by over 10,000 attendees and key industry figures.
Apply today on Gigmit here.
INES#talents #creativeeurope
We had hundreds of applications from bands up and down the country wanting to be a part of Sound City Korea 2019 and we can now proudly announce who will be joining Zandari Festa lineup with bands from across the globe.
Sound City is proudly working alongside Arts Council England and Fred Perry subculture to showcase the very best of UK’s talent right now at Zandari Festa. Zandari Festa takes place from the 26th - 29th September and has over 15,000+ music festival attendees and 3,000+ industry delegates taking to 22 music venues. Sound City help UK acts break into the Asian market to accelerate their profile worldwide. With the help of Arts Council England, it allows Sound City to continue to work in partnerships on such fantastic opportunities. Sound City is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
We are delighted to be taking over 7 impressive acts; The Sherlocks, Wooze, Too Many T’s, TxT, The Tea Street Band, Scarlet & Two Weeks In Nashville.
Discover the acts by listening to our Sound City Korea 2019 playlist: https://spoti.fi/2Z8kaKQ
Help Musicians UK is an independent charity which aims to make a meaningful difference to the lives of musicians. For nearly 100 years, the charity has provided a broad spectrum of help, support and opportunities to empower musicians of all ages, at any stage of their career, from times of great need to times of opportunity. The charity is uniquely placed to take a holistic approach, offering a lifetime of support when it’s needed most, to make a meaningful difference to the lives of musicians across the UK.
Help Musicians UK’s integrated programme offers Creative Development and Health & Welfare services, advocacy and initiatives around issues that affect musicians, such as mental health, hearing health, career progression and more. The charity builds strong, collaborative relationships within the music industry, the health sector and beyond, with a research-led approach that creates a rich evidence base from which to share insights, knowledge and best practice, influencing and improving working conditions for musicians across the sector.
Find out more: https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk
If you have performed on or own the rights to a recording, have written a song, or composed a piece of music, you could be entitled to royalties. This may be when the recording is used in public or broadcast on TV, or if your composition is played live or streamed. How to ensure you receive and maximise these royalties was the subject of a Sound City panel earlier this year with The Magic Gang and music licensing companies PPL and PRS for Music. If you missed it, here is an introduction to each company and how you can start earning royalties through them. PPL and PRS for Music both license the use of music and collect royalties in the UK and around the world, with each company representing different rights-holders:
PPL collects and distributes money on behalf of performers and recording
rights-holders (e.g. record companies and self-releasing artists) for the use of their recorded music when it is broadcast or played in public. These are not just well-known names; they include session musicians, orchestral players, self-releasing artists and small independent record labels. It is free to join, so it is best to become a member as soon as you have performed on a recording or are planning to release a recording.
PRS for Music collects and distributes money on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers for the use of their musical compositions and lyrics. This includes when they are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, reproduced, played live, or used in film & TV.
It is £100 to join as a writer and £400 to join as a publisher, so you should join as a member when you expect your royalty income to exceed these amounts.
You can be a member of both, or just one, depending on the types of royalties you are eligible to receive. For example, if you are a backing singer on a recording but do not have writing credits on that same track, you are eligible for royalties through PPL as a performer. However, if you wrote (or contributed to the composition of) that song and sung on the recording, you would be eligible for royalties as a performer and composer through both PPL and PRS for Music. Finally, if you own the copyright to the recording, you would also be eligible for recording rightsholder royalties through PPL, or mechanical and/or performing royalties through PRS for Music and MCPS.
Each organisation collects in the UK and abroad (through agreements with royalty collection companies in other countries) ensuring you are paid whenever your music is used around the world. This is important as your music may build a fan base outside of your home country. You need to give PPL or PRS for Music the right for them to collect internationally for you, which can be done when you join.
Both PPL and PRS for Music are here to support the UK music industry and do more than just collect and pay out royalties. Each supports the PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development. The foundation has supported over 6,700 new music artists and projects since 2010. The Magic Gang has been one such recipient, receiving money from the International Showcase Fund to perform at Canadian Music Week in Toronto. PPL also gives back to the industry by supporting a number of other initiatives, such as the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine, The BRIT School, Music for Youth and Nordoff Robbins.
The two organisations support their members by representing their interests at
Government level and influencing policy to ensure best value for their rights,
providing music business education so that members can carefully and successfully manage their rights, and invests in new technology to advance the way intellectual property is remunerated.
For more information and to join PPL or PRS for Music, visit their websites.
PPL / PRS For Music
They are here to support you in your career and make sure you get paid.
Sound City will land in Ipswich on Friday 4 October for a one-day music industry conference and multi-venue festival – the first of its kind for the town.
Sound City Ipswich is a partnership between the company behind the famous Liverpool Sound City, Out Loud Music and the team at The Smokehouse music venue in Ipswich, with support from Arts Council England, Ipswich Borough Council and the University of Suffolk.
The new Sound City event will bring Ipswich to life with an evening of musical programming, fringe events and street food.
Ticket holders will be able to gig-hop between The Smokehouse, Manor Ballroom, Corn Exchange and Corn Hill, taking in the best of local, regional and national talent.
The Sound City Ipswich music industry conference will showcase the area as a destination for artists, labels, booking agents and other industry figures. It will provide opportunities for the local community to meet with industry professionals who will attend from across the UK to take part in the talks and networking sessions.
BBC Introducing in Suffolk will host a free to attend stage at the festival.
Visit www.soundcityipswich.co.uk to register your interest as tickets go on sale at 10am Friday.
We are beyond excited to share with you our Keynote speaker who will be joining us at Sound City MCR as a part of Distractions; Limina Immersive’s CEO Catherine Allen. Limina Virtual Reality Theatre screens creative & cultural virtual reality to the public all year round. Limini’s business clients include Google, Telefonica and The Oscars.
Allen’s work is known for bringing immersive technology to the broader public. Catherine’s work has shaped the VR sector and has recently been recognised by the Marie Claire Future Shapers awards. Including receiving a BAFTA in 2014 for her contribution to the Disney and so many more notable achievements to date!
We can’t wait to have Catherine Allen join us at the Science and Industry Museum next Friday. Be sure to join us https://bit.ly/SoundCityMCR.
This year we have teamed up with Pride of Liverpool where exceptional acts such as Little Boots, Saara Aalto, Katy Alex & more will be taking to the Barclays Bank stage on the 27th July.
We are beyond delighted to be a part of Pride of Liverpool where we can showcase the very best diverse local and international acts but also celebrate yet another fantastic event which makes Liverpool the great city that it is. ❤️
Apply today to a be a part of Sound City Korea 2019 where we take artists from all over the UK across the globe to showcase the very best emerging talent! Closing date is midday on July 12th http://www.gigmit.com/liverpool-sound-city
