Month: May 2014

Belfast to host a new week-long programme of musical activity from 12-16 November

Belfast, 15 May 2014 – A special week-long music programme called Sound of Belfast will take place across the city from 12-16 November 2014, announced the music organisation Oh Yeah today.

Belfast’s flagship music centre has teamed up with a number of leading music organisations to coordinate a week of live performances, industry workshops with music experts from Belfast and London, talent development sessions for aspiring artists, and community music initiatives to support the city’s bustling music scene.

The programme is being supported by the BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) – the organisation behind the annual BRIT Awards. Other supporters are Help Musicians UK (the leading charity for musicians) and First Music Contact with input from Queen’s University Belfast and Belfast Metropolitan College.

Sound of Belfast will highlight the creative potential of the city, its flourishing music scene and its important connection with many other business sectors. It will provide a unique opportunity to learn about the country’s musical heritage, network with industry professionals, meet other music fans and celebrate homegrown talent.

Members of the public can look forward to a number of events, including:

• The Northern Ireland Music Prize – which honours and celebrates the very best of Northern Irish musical talent.  Successful finalists will be hoping to take home the coveted prize won last year by Bangor’s Foy Vance (Joy of Nothing).  The Northern Ireland Album of the Year will be decided by an Academy of local media and industry professionals following live performances by the shortlisted acts at the Mandela Hall, Belfast.
• Scratch My Progress – the finale of Oh Yeah’s core talent development scheme supported by Arts Council Northern Ireland and PRS for Music Foundation and sponsored by Invest NI. The EP launch and graduation gig will see a number of talented artists across all genres take to the stage in the Cathedral Quarter.
• Breaking Bands – Oh Yeah’s popular showcase sponsored by Matchetts Music will return to spotlight the best of Belfast’s emerging talent.
• Volume Control – an all-ages gig delivered by the teenage mentoring programme will take place to celebrate the fifth birthday of this innovative programme supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the PRS for Music Foundation.
• Urban Affinity – a community festival funded by Children in Need which provides young people from disadvantaged areas the opportunity to display their skills in urban music.
• Getting To Know – an opportunity for aspiring musicians to get up close and personal with well-known songwriters through interviews, live performances and audience critique. Previous artists in this popular series have included Tim Wheeler from Ash, Soak and Duke Special.
• Over The Hill – an Arts & Older People initiative which features live music and a workshop for the older generation of music lovers.

Additional music industry programming will be offered in partnership with the Dublin-based organisation, First Music Contact.  The focused line-up of events will include:

• Sound of Belfast at HMV – a Sound of Belfast showcase of prominent Belfast bands supported by the UK’s much-loved music retailer, HMV.
• Ask the Professionals – a number of professionals from the worlds of radio, TV, bookers and festivals will take part in a panel to answer questions on touring Ireland and much more.
• Meet the Industry – a number of opportunities for speed-dating sessions with music industry managers and executives.

Talking about the exciting week ahead Angela Dorgan of First Music Contact said:

“It’s great to be working with Oh Yeah again. I would like to suggest a number of collaborations with First Music Contact.”

Voicing industry support for the initiative, BPI’s Head of PR Lynne McDowell added:

“The UK’s creative industries are a growing sector and music, in particular, holds enormous potential for economic growth, business development, tourism and community engagement in Northern Ireland.  We know that Belfast is bursting at the seams with promising songwriters, artists and performers and we believe that there has never been a better time to focus on turning that buzz into a sustainable business.

“Sound of Belfast is an opportunity to once again put Northern Ireland on the map for music and BPI is delighted to be supporting Oh Yeah’s exciting programme of events.  We hope that creative businesses, music fans, and aspiring artists will come from all over the country to meet us and enjoy what the week has to offer.”

More events will be announced in the coming weeks.  To find out more about the programme, please visit www.ohyeahbelfast.com

This months ‘The Acoustic Yard’ on Tuesday 27th of May in Matt Molloy’s Westport will feature three unique singers and three unique songwriters. The monthly IMRO supported event is filmed by the newly launched IrishTV and showcases the best of songwriters not only in Ireland but around the world.

Gerry Creen is acknowledged as one of Belfast’s finest singer songwriters. Having lived all his life in the city Gerry emerged from it’s vibrant folk scene of the 1960s and 70s sharing stages and billings with some of the worlds finest songwriters including Nanci Griffith, Paul Brady, Ralph McTell and Tom Paxton. A great exponent in the art of finger picking with a voice and melodies to match. His classic song ‘A Rose By Any Other Name’ which was written in 1977 during the darkest days of the Troubles is considered by many as one of Irelands leading Peace Anthems. It has been recently re-released on CD along with his wonderful new CD ‘Hindsight’.

Mike Langley was recently proudly inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2012. A superb guitar player and evocative lyricist and the son of legendary country songwriter Jack Langley also a hall of fame inductee. Mike lived and toured in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Germany, France and the UK in the mid-eighties playing at international jazz and folk festivals and recording movie soundtracks. He moved back to the USA in 1997 and formed his independent record label Orange Carpet Music whilst playing with his late brother Jon in The Langley Brothers Band. A regular visitor to these shores and has written a lot of great songs that invoke the spirit of the West of Ireland.

Siobhan O’Brien has a strong connection with Matt Molloy’s as she has performed as a guest vocalist with ‘The Chieftains’ at Boston Symphony Hall. Her third album ‘Songs I Grew Up To’ features Paddy Maloney (The Chieftains) on her versions of ‘Long Black Veil” and “Lakes of Ponchartrain. Siobhan from Limerick is also a niece of Brendan Bowyer of ‘The Royal Showband’ and has performed for Bob Dylan, Christy Moore, Donovan, The Cranberries, Damien Dempsey, Sharon Shannon and Paul Brady. Her solo work incorporates traditions of American song, including folk, blues, country and Irish traditional music. In recent years she has toured extensively in the USA performing with The San Diego Symphony in California and appearing recently on the popular ‘Ginger TV’ in New York City promoting her latest CD simply called ‘Siobhan O’Brien’.

Doors open at 8.30 so come early to avoid disappointment.If you would like to perform at ‘The Acoustic Yard’ or require further information please email David at theacousticyard@nullgmail.com

New music start up, Music Gateway, has just launched a brand new design along with feature improvements to their unique business platform which helps connect music professionals worldwide. The design overhaul has been driven by customer feedback and data and covers the aesthetics of the site as well as its core functionality.

New features include the opportunity to add music whilst pitching for project work, simplified project creation tools and full Soundcloud integration.

The platform now allows users the ability to rearrange audio tracks, easily edit track names and play music through the redesigned music player, saving time and creating a better workflow. The new centralised mail and notifications system enables users to specifically see unread messages within any area of the site and archives old messages when projects are completed. The direct and easy navigation breaks down the messages into workspace and projects, creating an effective timesaving tool. Overall, the platform has become much more streamlined and easy to navigate by primarily focusing on improving the users’ experience.

To find out more about the benefits of using the platform visit www.musicgateway.net.

Music Supervisors and Publishers Look To Unsigned Only Artists for Songs for Film, TV, Ads, and Video Games

May 12, 2014, Nashville, TN – – Unsigned Only Music Competition announced today the launch of a special promotion, “Screen Shot,” geared toward the placement of music in film, TV, advertising, and video games. “Screen Shot,” sponsored by Radio Airplay, offers the opportunity for artists to have their music heard by some of the top music execs who are looking to place music in various projects. Artists can submit their original songs from May 12-23, 2014 on the Unsigned Only website at

A select group of finalists will be chosen, and their songs will be made available to almost 1,000 industry contacts who are looking for music for upcoming projects. Additionally, one overall winner will be selected and awarded $1,000 courtesy of Radio Airplay, plus 4,000 Radio Airplay credits, promotion on Radio Airplay’s social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, and an artist spotlight feature in their blog and newsletter reaching over 200K members. All songs entered into “Screen Shot” will also be entered in Unsigned Only 2014, and all entrants will receive 100 free spins on Radio Airplay for each entry. The winner of “Screen Shot” will be announced in August, 2014.

Most importantly, the overall winner will get the opportunity to directly network with a group of execs who specialize in music placement. They include: Alec Sharpe (Shine America); Ani Johnson (Monomyth Media);Chip Miller (Desert C.A.M. Studios, Inc., Winmill Films LLC); Cindy Badell-Slaughter (Heavy Hitters Music Group); David Weiss (The SongHunters); Evan Stein (Experience Music Group); Jamie Sparks (Kicksta Music Group); Jennifer Taunton (Level Two Music); Jessica Cole (Lyric House); Karyn Rachtman (Mind Your Music); Linnette Harrigan (Linnette Harrigan Media); Michelle Bayer (Shelly Bay Music); Michelle Silverman (Modern Planet); Pat Weaver (Discovery Network); Rebecca Rienks (E! Entertainment | NBCUniversal); Richard Kirstein (Resilient Music); James Michael Kempter II (JMKconnections); Velma Barkwell (East End Music); and more to be announced.

Unsigned Only’s directors, Jim Morgan and Candace Avery, state, “Music placement in film, TV, ads, and video games can be a significant revenue source for musicians. Not only can it be a huge boost for an unsigned artist’s career in terms of increasing exposure to a mainstream audience, but it can also increase revenue through upfront money, license fees, and performance royaltes. We want to create opportunities in this field for unsigned artists, and this is this is why we have created “Screen Shot.” We are very excited to introduce this new component of Unsigned Only.”

Unsigned Only 2014 is an international music competition designed for solo artists and bands who are unsigned to a major label record company or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or imprints. Unsigned Only is looking for outstanding, talented artists: a band, singer, or solo artist…a newcomer or veteran…raw or polished – the gem that needs to be discovered. The Grand Prize winner in Unsigned Only receives $10,000 cash,merchandise prizes, and the opportunity to directly network with and be mentored by some of the music industry’s top label executives.

Judges include: John Oates (Hall & Oates); 3 Doors Down; Neon Trees; David Crowder; Rosanne Cash; Craig Morgan; Delbert McClinton; Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC); Of Monsters and Men; 3 Doors Down; Black Francis (Pixies); Aaron Shust; G. Love; Jason Gray; Dustin Lynch; The Mountain Goats; Alt-J; Mike Posner; Rapsody;Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone); Josh Jackson (Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Paste Magazine); Chris Richards (Pop Music Critic, The Washington Post); Lucy Jones (Deputy Editor, NME); and Michael Hann (Music Editor, The Guardian).

www.unsignedonly.com

Mentors include:

Monte Lipman (Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Republic Records); Jeff Castelaz (President, Elektra Records); Seymour Stein (Chairman, SIRE Records and VP of Warner Bros Records); Pete Ganbarg (Executive VP/Head of A&R, Atlantic Records); Mike Elizondo (Sr. VP of A&R, Warner Bros. Records); Tony Kiewel (VP of A&R Sub Pop Records, Hardly Art, Sub Pop Publishing); Allison B. Jones (VP of A&R, Big Machine Label Group); Josh Bailey (Sr. VP of A&R, Word Label Group); Kim Stephens (President, Forward Entertainment and A&R/Capitol Music Group); Lenny Santiago (VP of A&R, Roc Nation); Dino Paredes (Sr. VP of A&R/GM, American Recordings); and Evan Peters (Director of A&R, Virgin Records).

Garageland are delighted to announce the biggest and most exciting run of the legendary Garage Gigs to date with a ten week run at Dublin’s Andrews Lane Theatre.

The Garage Gigs Series 40 sees Garageland forge a number of new partnerships and breakthrough opportunities for independent artists in Ireland, hooking up with the American based web channel GoIndieTV, to create a series of ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ style live shows, while also partnering with the brand new online platform IndieMusic.ie which has already been described as ‘…the sharpest new tool in the Irish musicians toolbox.’

Since 2000, Garageland has been providing a first stage or helping hand to over 2,000 bands including the likes of The Script, Ham Sandwich, Ryan Sheridan, Delorentos, Royseven, and many more

Artist already confirmed for The Garage Gigs Series 40 include…. Red Empire, Still Room, Legion Of Ape, Darragh Cullen, The Juice, My Pyrrhic Victory, Shove, Renton., The Crossfire, Cavaliers, Saints Boulevard, Mount Hollow, The Klares, as well as some extremely special guests who will be peppered throughout the series!

After every show will be the brand new IndieMusic.ie Club featuring some very well-known indie DJs – expect plenty of Irish Artists to feature.

The Shows start on Thursday 22nd May and run every Thursday until Thursday 24th July. Doors 8.00pm Admission 10.00 euro

There are still limited places left for independent bands and artists, they should visit www.garageland.ie asap.
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Garageland supports and is supported by Hot Press Magazine, IMRO, IRMA, RAAP, IndieMusic.ie and Go Indie TV

Dublin, 06th May 2014: Bluestack Records and First Fortnight, Ireland’s mental health arts festival, today announce a special Irish album aimed to get people talking about mental health as part of this month’s Green Ribbon campaign.

There Is A Light features 20 Irish and international acts, including Choice Music Prize nominees O Emperor, Si Schroeder, Windings and Crayonsmith.

The album is now available in a variety of digital formats from Bluestack Records Bandcamp page – http://bluestackrecords.bandcamp.com/album/there-is-a-light

An exclusive launch gig featuring There is a Light artists will also take place in Whelan’s, Dublin on Thursday May 29.