New Showcase Festival In Manchester

While in the day, Manchester’s Methodist Central Buildings will host a music conference “featuring the new guard of the music industry – label and publishing A&R, agents, bloggers and promoters,”an announcement reads. From afternoon, 30 emerging artists will perform in six venues: Night and Day, The Castle, Gullivers, Soup Kitchen, Aatma and Ruby Lounge. The artists, who are selected by industry professionals, have to match two criteria: having been together less than 24 months and not yet released a debut album.

The lineup will be kept secret until 24 hours before the event.

“We’ve taken the unusual step to not release a lineup until the event is nearly upon us. For most emerging artists a captivating live performance comes well before they have the opportunity to step foot in a professional recording studio – we want to capture the thrill of seeing something truly special and new on stage for the first time with no preconceptions,” said Andy Smith, Director of From The Fields, the company behind Kendal Calling and Bluedot.

Louder Than War founder John Robb said that, “as a music fan who listens to new music all the time and loves the way music culture has fast forwarded into the 21st century I am thrilled to be part of this new music conference that puts Manchester back at the centre of UK music.”

Tickets are priced at £16.50 for the live bit, while delegates, who want to also attend the day conference pay £35.