Visit their website here: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/

Visit their website here: https://www.bpi.co.uk/

Visit their website here: https://capll.co.uk/

PRS Foundation has for 25 years invested in the future of music – funding new music and supporting careers from the grassroots up. Since 2000, PRS Foundation has given more than £50 million to over 9,000 new music initiatives. 7 out of the last 8 Mercury Prize winners had received PRS Foundation support (including recent winner Sam Fender) and the charity has supported BRITS, RPS, AIM and Ivors Award-winners.

PRS Foundation supports outstanding talent from all backgrounds, covering the whole of the UK and all genres, with grantee success stories including Little Simz, Wolf Alice, Dave, Years & Years, AJ Tracey, Anna Meredith, Yola, Glass Animals, Ezra Collective, English Teacher, Sarathy Korwar, Floating Points, Nadine Shah, The Fanatix, Imogen Heap, IDLES, Kae Tempest and Kojey Radical.

Widely respected as an inclusive, collaborative and proactive funding body, PRS Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity through direct grants to music creators and through support for pioneering organisations, including venues, festivals, promoters and other talent development organisations. PRS Foundation founded the Women Make Music fund, co-founded global gender equality initiative, Keychange and most recently launched the POWER UP initiative to tackle anti-Black racism in music. www.prsfoundation.com

Visit their website here: https://www.sae.edu/gbr/

Visit their website here: https://www.tunecore.com/

Visit their website here: https://www.keychange.eu/

Asian Tones is thrilled to be back for our second year at Liverpool Sound City, continuing our mission reshaping line-ups across the country, challenging industry norms, and building community through music. With the Asian population constituting approximately 10% of the UK, we believe it is time that this starts to be reflected in the UK music scene. We’re on the way, but there is plenty more to do! Festivals such as Liverpool Sound City are the perfect space to start, with their verve for championing emerging talent.

The partnership last year was built around having musicians of Asian heritage from across different genres integrated into the festival’s main line up, rather than a separate showcase stage. This year is no different. While Asian Tones’ founder, Anna Hazarika, believes in the importance and necessity of the community having their own spaces – these events are still segregated from the wider general scene. There is much fantastic talent from the Asian community across all genres, who deserve to be included and considered in these line ups in their own right. Free from the bias of heritage, because the music itself is great.

This year we are proud to be showcasing 2 artists, Marli and Xyzelle., based in Liverpool and surrounds. You can find them playing in the Spanish Caravan on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

marli - Filipino-born, British-raised 24-year-old marli is a hyper/pop, R&B artist - infusing self produced garage beats and k-pop ‘ear candies’, with layers of vocal stacks. Her debut single ‘selfish’ is the beginning of her digital diary, her ‘electronic fairytale’.

Xyzelle. - Born and raised in the slums of the Philippines, the now Manchester based (via Bristol) Alt RnB artist is fusing soul with the swagger of hiphop. The First Gen immigrant discovered her songwriting skills and found the stage at 16 years old. Since then, not only has her songwriting and vocal abilities gracefully matured but she has also cultivated her own brand advocating for self love and confidence. Garnering comparisons to Jorja Smith, Lauryn Hill with the soul of Amy Winehouse, xyzelle delivers a unique sound that is effortlessly relatable.

For Asian Tones, the remainder of 2025/start of 2026 saw the platform able to support artists out of London, running shows in Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton and Reading thanks to support from PRS Foundation x Arts Council Early Career Promoter fund; as well as a collaboration in Guildford. As well as behind the scenes holding conversations with venues, promoters and bookers to continue to conversation of genuine inclusion of the Asian community in the UK live scene.

About Asian Tones

Championing Asian heritage in the music industry through Discovery, Advocacy and Connection.

Asian Tones champions and celebrates those with heritages from across West to East Asia regions within the music industry. The platform aims to shatter stereotypes and bridge the gaps between genres, languages and sub regions – evolving the definition of what being an Asian in music entails beyond the stereotypes. Representation is step one, genuine integration into the wider industry is the goal. In the UK, Asian Tones also have a strong focus on supporting and developing our community in the live scene, particularly at grassroots level. Over 5 years, Asian Tones has hosted/collaborated on 30+ shows to date with 100+ artists on our stages, featuring genres from pop, punk to desi to country and much in between.

Visit their website here: https://bundobust.com/locations/liverpool/

Visit their website here: https://www.cavernclub.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorR2oJKwunBL7Mm0CNowQLJEYB9Nu8xjrQCTEk3ayfoY9gUXonR

Visit their website here: https://completemusicupdate.com/

Visit their website here: https://www.gigseekr.com/uk/en/

Visit their website here: https://www.hope.ac.uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ug26_lateapply&utm_content=brand&utm_id=lhu008&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23539284661&gbraid=0AAAABBYW9CAJDBKL0TTLfT08rmS-p68aI&gclid=CjwKCAjwtcHPBhADEiwAWo3sJr5hUV_87Z5udABNzIC9DbvkJIUnaWGx6VlXV1mbHoYzskHdbI9cCBoCSaIQAvD_BwE

Sound City has selected four fantastic artists from Leeds Conservatoire to perform at this year’s festival; the tenth year in a row as part of an ongoing partnership. To mark this milestone, as well as the conservatoire’s own 60th anniversary, sessions have also been added to the Sound City+ Conference schedule.

On Friday 1 May, staff member Keith Ayling (Professor of Songwriting) and Mica Sefia (2022 Popular Music graduate; now a Project Lead for Black Lives in Music, backing vocalist for Corinne Bailey Rae, and recording artist in her own right) will appear in several sessions at the conference discussing the value of the conservatoire experience, both from a Leeds perspective and in collaboration with representatives from The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).

Fiercely independent and with an unmistakably northern attitude, Sound City consistently programmes the most exciting and innovative acts. The four Leeds Conservatoire artists selected for this year’s festival as part of the partnership, and highlighted below, are MYER, Roscoe, Grace Georgia and Grace Price. All four will perform on Saturday 2 May.

Visit their website here: https://www.libertymusicpr.com/

Visit their website here: https://www.offaxis.co.uk/

Visit their website here: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/

Visit their website here: https://prsfoundation.com/funding-support/funding-music-creators/next-steps/ppl-momentum-music-fund/

The Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMA) recognises the best new Scottish music, shining a spotlight across an eclectic range of contemporary music genres.

Throughout the year, SAMA also host key events including a two-day music festival in Paisley, Scottish Showcase at Liverpool Sound City, plus host PITCH - Scotland’s conference of hip hop and underground culture. SAMA also delivers international showcases at New Skool Rules, Pro Weekend Fest, CRANIUM, and FOCUS Wales, supporting Scottish artists on a global stage.

Now in its 17th year, SAMA has championed a diverse roster of award-winning talent, including Brògeal, Bemz, Taahliah, Hannah Laing, AISHA, The Snuts, Gerry Cinnamon, Mercy Girl and Theo Bleak.

SAMA are heading back to Sound City this year and are proud to be presenting Acolyte, Martha May & The Mondays and Mercy Girl in The Jacaranda on Friday 1 May, from 18:00 - 21:00!