PPL is proudly supporting a series of key events in the UK music industry calendar this month: Liverpool Sound City, FOCUS Wales and The Great Escape. These events – alongside others such as Scotland’s Wide Days – bring together new talent, music professionals and audiences to explore what it takes to build a career in today’s industry.
Across these events, PPL is hosting panels, supporting artist showcases, and offering practical guidance to help performers and rightsholders grow their careers.
Liverpool Sound City
Liverpool Sound City is known for spotlighting emerging talent across local and global scenes. Alongside live showcases in venues across the city, its industry conference Sound City+ is a platform for knowledge sharing and welcomes performers and leading executives from all over the world.
This year, PPL and PRS for Music co-hosted a panel called ‘Get Played, Get Paid! Making Money from Your Music’. The panel focused on building a sustainable music career and understanding how revenue is generated when your music is played.
Leo O’Brien, PPL Member Development Manager, joined the conversation alongside singer-songwriter Lusaint, a PPL Momentum-funded artist whose music has garnered support from the likes of Jack Saunders and Sian Eleri on BBC Radio 1, and her manager Robert Davies.
PPL also supported a live showcase at this year’s event in partnership with PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music a talent development. The show featured performances from four artists from across the UK who have received funding through PPL Momentum Music: Pixey, Chiedu Oraka, Tonia and Aderyn.
FOCUS Wales
In Wrexham, FOCUS Wales celebrated its 15th year with over 250 performances. As well as live music from the likes of Sprints, Nova Twins, L E M F R E C K and more, the festival held a wide-ranging conference with experts from all sectors of the music industry.
PPL hosted two panels at this year’s festival. The first, ‘PPL Presents: Data vs Record Sales’, was chaired by our Member Development Manager Davy Wales and explored the shifting balance between data gathering and fan engagement when it comes to artist campaigns.
The second was a joint panel with PRS for Music, titled ‘Dance Dance Dance to Radio – Making Radio Count’. Chaired by PPL Events Manager Claudia Afranie, the panel – including voices from Radio X and BBC Radio Wales – looked at how artists can make radio part of their release strategy and harness it to build an audience across broadcast and digital platforms.
PPL also partnered with PRS for Music to support two artist showcases. Performers included Adjua, Mari Mathias, EYE, Mellt, Factory Set, and Catrin Finch & Aoife Ní Bhriain.
The Great Escape
Since 2006, The Great Escape has grown to become one of the UK’s most impactful festivals for new music. The event showcases 550 emerging artists from all over the world in venues across Brighton and hosts a packed conference programme. At this year’s event, which runs from 14-17 May, PPL is involved in both.
PPL is supporting a showcase hosted by iluvlive, a live music and talent development not-for-profit organisation, through our funding programme PPL Giving. The showcase features performances from rising talent Jerub, DeeRiginal, Olympia Vitalis and The Voice finalist STORRY.
Also at the festival, PPL is taking part in a Licensing Masterclass. Leo O’Brien and PPL Member Relations Coordinator Esther Bolaji will share guidance on rights, royalties and sync opportunities. Esther will also interview Rue Gumbochuma, Associate Music Supervisor at Leland, to give attendees a closer look at how sync decisions are made.
Sarah Wall, Senior Events & Partnerships Manager at PPL, said: “It is important for PPL to be a supporting presence at some of the UK’s key music conferences and showcases for new music. FOCUS Wales, The Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City programme a staggering array of talent spanning many genres, alongside panels and workshops crucial to development in the industry.
“We collaborate with these events in order to reach music creators and professionals, giving them a hefty dose of PPL intel as they build the foundations of their careers and understand the revenue streams (and funding options through our friends PRS Foundation) which will help them hone and sustain their craft.”
Check more upcoming events PPL are supporting and attending here
