PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development, announces today that the three Yorkshire based artists to receive PPL Momentum Accelerator talent development grants, in partnership with Music:Leeds’ Launchpad and supported by Arts Council England are:
- English Teacher – support will go towards recording and marketing
- Harkin – support will go towards recording and marketing
- Simeon Walker – support will go towards PR, marketing and video production
Selected by a network of industry experts, the three artists each receive grants of up to £5,000 to develop their careers and continue building momentum to the get to the next vital tipping points in their careers.
PPL Momentum Accelerator funding supports exciting artists with a growing fanbase, currently working to establish a music industry team, while the full PPL Momentum Music Fund support is for those artists with a team already in place and at a tipping point, ready to take the next step in their careers.
The next deadline to apply for PPL Momentum Accelerator Yorkshire will be announced soon and the next deadline for the PPL Momentum Music Fund support is 16th November 2020 at 6pm. Applications can be made via the PRS Foundation website.
This targeted Yorkshire edition of PPL Momentum Accelerator is in partnership with Music;Leeds’ Launchpad who offer opportunities and support for emerging artists, musicians, producers, bands, composers and industry professionals in the Yorkshire region. Throughout 2020, Launchpad is directly supporting 46 artists with a combination of live opportunities, recording support and one-to-one industry advice & mentoring.
Joe Frankland, CEO of PRS Foundation said: “Congratulations to all three talented Yorkshire based artists receiving our PPL Momentum Accelerator support. It is important now more than ever to ensure that exciting UK music creators building their careers and fanbases have access to this type of targeted support. We’re delighted to be partnering with Music:Leeds and again with Arts Council England so that we could bring our PPL Momentum Accelerator to the talented music creators in Yorkshire. We’re excited to be building on the programme and our relationship with PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Partner organisations across the UK to continue to invest in talented music creators outside of London with varied and targeted support.”
Samuel (Whiskas) Nicholls, Founder & Director of Music:Leeds said, “It’s brilliant to be able to provide this boost to these artists based across Yorkshire, enabling them to make the most of the opportunities available to them, and make their next release have the impact they deserve. In combination with our Launchpad support and top level PPL Momentum funding, this will help generate a huge impact for the profile of artists in the region going forward.”
Managed by PRS Foundation, the PPL Momentum Music Fund initiative awards grants of £5,000-£15,000 using funds from PRS Foundation, PPL, Creative Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland. Spotify, the official digital partner on the fund, contributes additional funding and a reward package containing exciting promotional opportunities and a close working relationship between Momentum artists and the Spotify team.
This new partnership with Music:Leeds’ Launchpad and PRS Foundation’s PPL Accelerator targeted support for Yorkshire has been made possible thanks to support from Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Leeds 2023, arts@leeds, and PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Partner network. You can find out more about Launchpad here.
From April 2013-March 2020 (Years 1-7), Momentum supported 390 artists and invested over £3.74m into new music. Based on the 5 Years of Momentum Report (2013-18), this means Momentum has:
- Supported 225 albums
- Over 260 UK Tours and over 1,400 live dates
- Generated over £18m for the UK music industry and UK economy.
PRS Foundation and Arts Council England initiated The Momentum Music Fund in 2013. Arts Council England originally established the need for this specific fund and supported the programme from 2013-18.
For a full rundown of all the artists supported so far see: http://prsfoundation.com/funding/momentum-music-fund/momentum-artists.
Listen to the latest Momentum supported artists on the Spotify Momentum playlist here.
About PRS Foundation
PRS Foundation is the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development. Since 2000 PRS Foundation has given more than £35 million to over 7,300 new music initiatives by awarding grants and leading partnership programmes that support music sector development. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, PRS Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity – from composer residencies and commissions to a network of talent development partners and showcases in the UK and overseas. www.prsfoundation.com | @PRSFoundation
About PPL
Founded in 1934, PPL is the UK music industry’s collective management organisation (CMO) for over 110,000 performers and record companies. They license recorded music in the UK when it is played in public (shops, bars, nightclubs, offices etc.) or broadcast (BBC, commercial radio, commercial TV etc.) and ensure that revenue flows back to their members. These include both independent and major record companies, together with performers ranging from emerging grassroots artists through to established session musicians and influential festival headliners. PPL’s public performance licensing is carried out on PPL’s behalf by PPL PRS, the joint venture between PPL and PRS for Music.
They also collect performance rights internationally when music is played in public and used on TV, radio and some online streaming services, as well as for private copying. This is achieved through their network of over 95 agreements with CMOs around the world. International revenues are an increasingly important revenue stream for performers and recording rightsholders – since 2006 they have collected £429.1 million.
In 2018 they collected £246.8 million while also distributing money to 105,192 performers and recording rightsholders.
About Music:Leeds:
Music:Leeds is is a not-for-profit organisation established to act as a single, centralised point of contact that will coordinate activity to support, promote, develop and grow music-based activity within the city and wider region, across any level, medium, genre or pathway. They established Launchpad in 2019, an emerging talent development program that offers opportunities and support for emerging artists, musicians, producers, bands, composers and music professionals throughout the Yorkshire region. In 2020, as they began to work across a wider area, they launched Music Local to support and develop place-based music support systems and infrastructures, tailored to the needs of individual music communities beyond it’s hometown.
About Arts Council England:
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. By 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk
Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council has developed a £160 million emergency response package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19
