LN’s Ones To Watch programme expands to Singapore
Live Nation’s global artist discovery platform Ones To Watch is launching in Singapore following its success across Australia, New Zealand, Mainland China and Hong Kong.
First launched in the US in 2017, Ones To Watch is dedicated to introducing new artists and their music to fans via exclusive interviews, playlists, live performances, and other creative music content.
The platform has previously helped kickstart the careers of global acts such as Halsey, Dua Lipa, Lany and Yungblud.
“The launch of Ones To Watch Singapore will play a vital role in launching world-class Singaporean talent onto an international stage”
“The launch of Ones To Watch Singapore will play a vital role in launching world-class Singaporean talent onto an international stage,” says KwangHwa Ngiam, MD of Live Nation Singapore. “The programme provides these emerging artists the opportunity to connect with music fans and leverage Live Nation’s global network to develop their professional careers within the music industry.”
Ones To Watch Singapore will kick off with a live showcase event on 26 September at SCAPE, featuring performances from emerging Southeast Asian talent Soph T (Singapore), J.M3 (Singapore) and Muzza (Malaysia), as part of the All That Matters conference and festival.
The scheme will also continue to work with up-and-coming talents to encourage career growth and fan connection.
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Live Nation launches Hong Kong discovery platform
Live Nation is launching its global online artist discovery platform Ones To Watch in Hong Kong.
First launched in the US in 2017, the initiative has also run in Australia, New Zealand and China, and is designed to showcase emerging local talent with the support of Live Nation’s global network.
Ones To Watch introduces new artists to fans globally via exclusive interviews, playlists, live performances and other creative music content, and has helped progress the careers of Halsey, Dua Lipa, Lany and Yungblud, among others.
“The Ones To Watch programme plays an important role in Hong Kong by providing a platform that focuses on the professional development of homegrown acts”
“At Live Nation we are committed to supporting emerging local artists, bringing the best new talent to Hong Kong music fans,” says Live Nation Hong Kong MD Joanna Yuen. “The Ones To Watch programme plays an important role in Hong Kong by providing a platform that focuses on the professional development of homegrown acts, providing them with new audiences and launching them on to an international stage.”
Ones To Watch Hong Kong hosted its first live showcase event at the inaugural 852fes Awaken Festival at the AsiaWorld-Expo from 12-14 August. The collaboration stage featured emerging domestic acts, including Ng Lam Fung, Chanka, Lowa, Cath Wong, Jamie, Michael C and Lil’ Ashes.
Ones To Watch Hong Kong will continue to work with up-and-coming local talent to encourage career growth and fan connection.
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Roundhouse Rising offers £1 tickets for under 30s
London’s Roundhouse has announced a partnership with Vice Media Group for the Roundhouse Rising Festival 2022.
The five-day emerging music event will take place at the 3,000-cap Camden venue from 4-8 October, with £1 tickets available across all shows to people aged 30 and under in response to the cost of living crisis.
Vice will curate the festival’s opening night, with the first names to be confirmed including Brooklyn multi-hyphenate artist and creator Talia Goddess, multidisciplinary artist Loshh and vocalist India Shan, who was handpicked from Roundhouse’s Resident Artists programme.
“Rising Festival is where Roundhouse comes into its own, as a home for incredible music experiences and also a world-class creative programme for young people,” says Roundhouse head of music Lucy Wood. “Rising develops, platforms and celebrates talent of the future, and I’m excited that Vice’s involvement will amplify this. We do a lot of excellent things at the Roundhouse, but this is definitely my favourite.”
As part of the new link-up, Vice’s music channel Noisey will also profile a number of Rising Festival’s featured artists as well as publishing additional editorial coverage across a range of Vice platforms.
“Vice is synonymous with finding new voices and providing a platform for diverse communities and individuals,” says Nadja White, chief marketing officer of Vice Media Group. “We are delighted to be working with Roundhouse to support the next generation of artists, providing a global platform for new talent and bringing in new audiences through our award-winning content.”
Roundhouse Rising’s subsequent three nights will be curated by BBC Music Introducing, Risen and Shesaid.so
The subsequent three nights at Roundhouse Rising 2022 will be curated by BBC Music Introducing, multi-venue London-based festival and club night Risen; and Shesaid.so, a global community connecting women, gender minorities and allies in the music industry.
The festival is also partnering with Deaf Rave which provides entertainment with music, sign song and visual performances to an all-inclusive audience, globally and across the UK. Line-ups to be confirmed.
Featuring across all Rising Festival gigs will be Beat Blocks. Beat Blocks is a haptic flooring system that takes input from any audio source and creates felt vibrations and audio output to give people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing a new way to experience gigs.
Running since 2011, Roundhouse Rising Festival offers a creative programme of performances, workshops and access to industry events and traineeships, supporting new and emerging artists as well as young people looking to progress their careers in off-stage music roles.
Over the last decade, it has hosted early-career performances from the likes of Little Simz, Jacob Banks, Greentea Peng, Kojey Radical and Kokoroko.
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Hard Rock launches Undiscovered concert series
Hard Rock International has teamed with not-for-profit organisation Playing for Change to launch a new global concert series for emerging talent.
Undiscovered Powered by Hard Rock runs from 12 May to 30 June and will see 50 local bands play 50 days of music at 20 Hard Rock Cafe locations throughout Europe, North America and Asia.
The series will highlight artists including the Playing for Change Band, Los Pinguos, Don Vito, Bikram Sambat, Modjorido and Whiskey 6, who will also have an opportunity to showcase their memorabilia at their local Hard Rock Cafes. Guests are invited to catch the concerts live and make a donation in support of local artists worldwide.
“We continuously strive to serve as a home for emerging artists worldwide on their journeys as performers”
“We’re thrilled to partner with an exceptional organisation like Playing For Change to kick off our Undiscovered concert series that gives deserving local artists a global stage to showcase their incredible talents,” says Keith Sheldon, president of entertainment for Hard Rock. “As Hard Rock Cafe continues to build affinity with the music community that has support our brand for over 50 years, we continuously strive to serve as a home for emerging artists worldwide on their journeys as performers.”
Playing For Change was founded in 2002 with the intention of using music to help break down boundaries and overcome divisiveness. It has produced more than 400 videos, recorded over 1,200 musicians in 60 countries, and reached over two billion viewers through music videos, performances and school programmes.
Participating Hard Rock Cafe locations include Barcelona, Kathmandu, Bali, Boston, Miami, Hollywood Blvd, Paris, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Bucharest, New Orleans, Key West, Johannesburg, London Old Park Lane and Piccadilly Circus, Tokyo-Roppongi, New York, Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis.
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UTA launches Hear This showcase series
UTA has announced the launch of a new curated live series, Hear This, in the UK to showcase emerging artists on its roster.
The inaugural event, which will take place at The Grace in London on Tuesday 10 May, will focus on R&B and soul, with performances by Claudia Valentina, Menlia and Tolü Makay for an audience of carefully selected industry figures and new music fans.
The series is designed to provide early amplification for hotly-tipped acts in the early stages of their careers. Future events, set to take place every three months, will continue to spotlight the most vibrant emerging talent, genres and cultures surrounding the international agency’s London operations.
“The true strength of an agency is measured equally by its ability to develop new talent, as it is in elevating established acts”
“The true strength of an agency is measured equally by its ability to develop new talent, as it is in elevating established acts,” says Rebecca Prochnik, UTA’s director of growth and strategy for UK Music. “The more we proactively cultivate spaces for showcasing the artists, scenes and cultures that we’re most excited about, and the more we work on bringing game-changing opportunities to the table, the better equipped our new artists are for success.”
Tickets for Hear This are priced at £6 plus booking fees. Industry figures are invited to reach out to UTA with guest list requests, although availability is limited.
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EAA launches Europact scheme for emerging artists
The European Arenas Association (EAA) has launched the Europact programme, introducing branded live performance spaces for showcasing European emerging talent across EAA member arenas.
The initiative is part of the EAA’s strategy to support current European Commission initiatives that aim to build and strengthen the music industry across the continent.
Europact, a self-funded programme, will first be launched as a pilot scheme across a limited number of arenas. The spaces will offer opportunities for undiscovered artists to make themselves known to EAA member audiences.
An EAA spokesperson tells IQ the space dedicated to Europact performances will depend on the arena: ” If the artist can carry it there may be opportunities for an opening mainstage exposure, otherwise the space may be in lobby or bar areas,” they say. “Other multi-day events may also offer a platform.”
“The European Union is dedicating large amounts of resources to the European music sector in recognition of its talent potential and creative capacity and we are delighted to be able to offer our infrastructure and know-how in order to support these efforts,” comments John Langford, who was named EAA president in October.
“We have created Europact in order to contribute to building a sustainable European talent pipeline”
Olivier Toth, CEO of EAA member arena Rockhal (6,500-cap.) in Luxemburg, adds, “We have created Europact in order to contribute to building a sustainable European talent pipeline and to encourage the distribution of new music across national borders. Our aim is for the initial pilot scheme to become an established and recognised industry platform able to offer opportunities to young artists for many years to come.”
The EAA’s 35-arena strong portfolio includes venues in 22 countries, which collectively host over 2,500 events annually and attract 20 million fans a year.
Live music was the driving force behind the success of European arenas in 2018, as explained in IQ’s recent European Arena Yearbook, produced in partnership with the EAA and the UK’s National Arena Association (NAA).
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Irish, British acts top preliminary ETEP results
Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. and south London group Black Midi lead the way in the first results of Eurosonic Noorderslag’s (ESNS) European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP), with ten and seven festival slots booked respectively.
ETEP aims to promote European music across the world, supporting the booking of emerging European talent at festivals in 37 countries. Two months on from the 33rd edition of ESNS, promising acts from the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belarus and Belgium have all secured multiple festival shows.
51 out of the 129 Etep festivals have released some line-up information, with 143 ETEP shows already confirmed across festivals including the Great Escape (20 ETEP acts), Ment Ljubljana (6 ETEP acts) and Lollapalooza Berlin (5 ETEP acts).
“ETEP selection results are always a surprise – no-one can predict the ten most booked acts,” says Robert Meijerink, head of programme and programme manager of European talent at ESNS.
“The first results prove that festivals across the world are interested in putting on a wide variety of different styles and genres by European artists”
“I am really pleased to see how ETEP is helping the circulation of European artists in the live sector already so early in the year. The first results also prove that festivals across the world are interested in putting on a wide variety of different styles and genres by European artists,” adds Meijerink.
The initiative enjoyed a record-breaking festival season last year, with ETEP acts playing 457 shows at festivals around the world. British indie band Superorganism finished the summer at the top of the leaderboard, playing 20 gigs in total, beating the record set the previous year by London post-punk band Shame.
Since launching in 2003, ETEP has facilitated 4,144 shows by 1,531 acts in 37 countries. The programme has helped to initiate successful careers for artists including Calvin Harris, Franz Ferdinand, James Blake, the Kooks and the XX. More recently, ETEP has supported the first international shows of acts such as Idles, Aurora and Dua Lipa.
A list of the ten most booked ETEP acts so far can be found below:
1) Fontaines D.C. (Ie) – 10 shows
2) Black Midi (GB) – 7 shows
3) Flohio (GB) – 6 shows
4) Pip Blom (NL) – 5 shows
5) The Murder Capital (Ie) – 4 shows
6) Iris Gold (Dk) – 4 shows
7) Yegor Zabelov (By) – 3 shows
8) Whispering Sons (Be) – 3 shows
9) Lewsberg (NL) – 3 shows
10) Whenyoung (Ie) – 3 shows
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Liveurope seeks new venue to join its platform
Music venue platform Liveurope is calling for aspiring memberships, with applications open to eligible European venues wishing to join the network. From the applications, one venue will be selected to join the platform.
Launched in 2014, Liveurope is an initiative supporting venues in their efforts to promote emerging, non-national, European artists. The platform offers financial support to member venues based on their booking of suitable acts, creating the opportunity for more artists to tour internationally.
Coordinated by Brussels-based concert venue Ancienne Belgique, the Liveurope network currently consists of 14 venues across Europe. Member venues are selected based on their dedication to booking European talent, as well as their professional infrastructure and international reputation.
The platform is looking for a fifteenth venue to join its network as an aspiring member. Venues can apply via an online application form, given certain geographical, structural, programming and communication criteria are met.
“We want to recognise the quality of Europe’s most progressive concert venues,” says Dirk De Clippeleir, managing director of Ancienne Belgique.
“By welcoming an aspiring member to our platform, we are expanding the opportunities for more emerging acts to break into international European live music scenes”
“By welcoming an aspiring member to our platform, we are expanding the opportunities for more emerging acts to break into international European live music scenes, as well as increasing the possibilities of professional collaboration between our members.”
Aspiring members are honorary members of the network and receive an observer status in the platform, as well as being first in line to become full members when the project’s budget allows.
Other benefits include receiving the Liveurope quality label, participating in meetings and workshops and exchanging information and good practices with the rest of the network. Aspiring members are not eligible for funding from the Liveurope bonus mechanism.
The selected venue will be announced at MIL Lisbon International Music Network, taking place from 27 to 29 March 2019.
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TM shares hotly tipped live acts for 2018
Ticketmaster UK has named seven emerging artists it’s tipping to make waves in the live world in 2018.
The company’s New for 2018 list is curated by its UK artist services team, which has worked on more 600 tour campaigns in the past 12 months, and features acts from across the musical spectrum.
The class of 2018 are:
- Pale Waves
- Sigrid
- Tom Walker
- Yxng Bane
- Alma
- Li’l Xan
- IAMDDB
“We’ve worked with some huge artists this year, including Liam Gallagher, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, who have all been massive tours for us,” says Ticketmaster UK chief Andrew Parsons. “But maybe even more exciting has been the new acts we’ve started working with. To see the fans that artists develop even before they’ve received any substantial media exposure is always incredible. It’s testimony to quality of their music and their ability to put on a show.
“We love being part of an artist’s live career from the very beginning. The acts playing upstairs in pubs today could be those headlining O2 Academy Brixton or even The O2 tomorrow, and it’s vital that Ticketmaster lends support and guidance to these emerging artists.”
More information about the seven acts is available on the New for 2018 website.
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AEG backs new online pop talent search, Emerge
Promoter AEG Presents is one of a quartet of big music-biz names lending their support to Emerge, a new US talent contest launched by Atlantic Records and label services company Artist Partner Group (APG).
AEG joins Spotify, management company Deckstar (Culture Club, Blink-182, Steve Aoki) and digital agency Deutsch in an “unprecedented effort to find young artists with star potential, wherever they exist across the continent”. Entries are open to people aged between 13 and 19 who are residents of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec), with the winning artist(s) given a recording contract after being selected Atlantic’s A&Rs.
Atlantic/APG say the social-media driven search, which is looking for “exceptional teen pop/R&B talent”, is the first time a “music company, live concert organisation, management company, marketing agency and digital music service have joined forces to both discover and provide world-class opportunities to emerging talent”.
It follows the launch last month of a new joint venture between German promoter FKP Scorpio and a number of management companies, which is similarly focused on breaking new artists in Europe.
“Emerge is all about breaking the barrier to entry for outstanding young artists,” says Artist Partner Group founder and CEO Mike Caren (pictured).
“Getting heard in this business shouldn’t be about who you know, but who you are as an artist”
“Getting heard in this business shouldn’t be about who you know, but who you are as an artist. This campaign isn’t about industry relationships or market research, but about creating a new channel from performer to label, combined with the expertise of our friends at AEG Presents, Deckstar, Deutsch and Spotify.
“We’re all looking forward to uncovering amazing talent in unexpected places, and creating once-in-a-lifetime shots at superstardom.”
“We’re super excited to partner with all of these amazing companies that together embrace all aspects of an artist’s career,” add Atlantic Records’ chairman and COO, Julie Greenwald, and chairman and CEO, Craig Kallman, in a joint statement. “This is a talent search for the digital age, designed to find distinctive voices with huge potential.”
Complete details of the contest and instructions on how to enter can be found at www.atlanticrecords.com/emerge.
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