Industry news & advice blog

We’re fairly sure you must be more than familiar with our Spotlight blog by now – a monthly injection of the finest new music from our members that we feel compelled to spread the word about. 

Being a new year and all, we thought it an ideal time to recap on some of the tastiest talent featured in Spotlight over the past 12 months and see how they’re getting on now. We were chuffed to discover that some fantastic exposure and opportunities have come their way since we last wrote about them and the Spotlight blog has truly acted as a stepping stone to greater things! Hurrah!

Of Empires
Fusing retro rock ‘n’ roll with current day swagger, Of Empires’ sound, not to mention their dapper appearance, is guaranteed to turn heads. Since we included track ‘Gimme What I Need’ in our October blog, the Brighton four-piece have had an exhilarating journey. Crowned as MTV’s Brand New Unsigned winners for 2015, The Unsigned Guide couldn’t be happier to hear the band learnt about the opportunity through our very website:

“You’re the reason we entered in the first place. Found it on your brilliant website. Incredible resource. Thank you so much for your support!”

Gathering glittering reviews across the board and popping up on many ‘ones to watch’ lists, it certainly appears that Of Empires are poised for big things this year. They recently released new single ‘I Want You To Get Mad’, the video for which is being aired on the MTV Rocks playlist right now. We recommend you get your radar locked on Of Empires.

Wyldest

2014 was a pretty fun year for Wyldest and their distinctive hazy, dream pop sound has carried them to new heights. Being selected to play at Green Man Festival 2014 catapulted them into the public eye and many new music blogs were keen to sing their praises, including The Line of Best Fit. 

A week before their slot on DIY Magazine’s all-dayer alongside Jaws, Deers and Flyte, their single was picked up by Huw Stephens and spun on BBC Radio 1. They finished off the year in the studio with Guy Fixsen (My Bloody Valentine, The Pixies, Slowdive) where they recorded their first double A-side release, due for release on February 23rd. 

2015 could be set to top the previous year; just a few weeks ago the London trio played The Line Of Best Fit Five Day Forecast with Woman's Hour and were championed in the new music section of The Telegraph. 

Fickle Friends
Last April we came across Fickle Friends’ song ‘SWIM’ and were instantly smitten. In the following months the new wave pop monarchs performed at The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Beacons Festival and Secret Garden Party, and reaped much love across the radio airwaves and the web. 



Pitchfork, The Hype Machine, The Line Of Best Fit and The 405 all sang the praises of ‘SWIM’, and Billboard even championed it on their ‘2014 Indie Rock Playlist for Pop Fans: 15 Songs That Could Have Cracked Top 40.’

Perhaps storming the charts will become reality for the band in 2015. This week they play BBC Introducing’s event at KOKO in London, but other exciting plans in the pipeline include supporting Saint Raymond on tour and even jetting over to Texas for SXSW. 

Hana
Featured in our July Spotlight blog with perfect pop track ‘I Don’t Want To’, the highlight of 2014 for Hana was undoubtedly being the youngest artist to feature on BBC Introducing and be playlisted nationally as their ‘Artist of the Week’ in December. This rounded off a fantastic year for the Welsh singer songwriter who performed at Swn Festival and supported The Hearts in Newport to a sell-out venue. 

With opportunities to work with producers and writers on new material flooding in, 2015 could be on track to surpass the past 12 months for Hana. Through The Brits and the Big Music Project she will perform at the O2 Indigo in February and is currently in talks with publishers and labels. 

And now she’s set up her own small home studio, we’re sure we’ll be hearing plenty more music from Hana in the coming year. 

Desperate Journalist
In April 2014, we were extremely excited to feature Desperate Journalist, whose dark indie musings were already finding favour with radio DJs and music blogs. Since then the North London four-piece have been playlisted on XFM, plus graced stages at Truck festival in Oxford and London Calling festival in Amsterdam.

Probably most exciting of all is their signing to Fierce Panda in the UK and Minty Fresh in America. Last week their self-titled debut album was released and has already been on the receiving end of rave reviews including this from The Quietus. Watch this space!



James Holt
James has had an extraordinary time since his song 'Whatever Happened to John?' featured in our March 2014 blog. Firstly, the track was earmarked by none other than Brian Eno via the NOISE Festival who commented: “Brisk, funny, exciting. Great drumming. This track feels fresh and exciting to listen to." Considering James recorded and produced the song entirely himself, we can see why he was blown away by such an accolade. In September he went down to the Houses Of Parliament for the launch of the festival.

On top of this, the song received much radio airplay last year. It was selected for Tom Robinson’s BBC 6Music Introducing Mixtape, plus James was invited to play live sessions for BBC Introducing Manchester. Gigs and festival performances also played a large part of James’ 2014 and in November he was involved in a unique artistic residency with Everything Everything at the Manchester Central Library, organised through Brighter Sound. Making up part of a select group of young, emerging musicians (who had never met previously), they were asked to work together to produce a piece of music throughout the week and do a performance in the library on the final day. 

Currently studying for a Masters degree in Music Composition, James also plans to release his 6 track EP 'In the Face of It All' in March. He certainly seems to be making the most of all experiences that come his way, we look forward to hearing more from him in 2015.

Alicia Catling
2014 was a strong year for female singer songwriters on our Spotlight blog and Alicia Catling’s eerily catchy dark folk sound definitely caught our attention back in July. 



The video for featured track ‘Plants’ went on to premiere via Clash Magazine and drew praise from new music blogs galore. After rounding off a fantastic gig season; highlights being supporting All American Girl at Underbelly Hoxton and headlining at The Finsbury, Alicia has been locked away writing and working on new material with Nick Hodgson, ex-drummer of Kaiser Chiefs. We can’t wait to hear the audio delights they’re creating.

High Tyde

Since our Spotlight feature on High Tyde last March, the fresh-faced and even fresher sounding Brighton chaps started to release a lot more music, all received with rapturous approval. Their EP 'FUZZ' is out on March 9th and the first song released, 'Feel It',  was put on the BBC Introducing nationwide playlist and hit over 200,000 plays on SoundCloud. The second single from the EP ‘Talk To Frank’ was released earlier this month and premiered on Clash Magazine. Since then it’s been spun by the likes of Huw Stephens and Phil Taggart.

Last year saw the four piece play shows supporting Eliza & The Bear, Little Comets and Flyte. On the live front, 2015 already holds two sold out shows. High Tyde plan to unveil more great gigs and festival slots over the coming months, so keep your eye out if you want to catch them in intimate surroundings before it’s too late.

Pony & Trap


This duo caught our attention back in September 2014 with their combination of punchy pop and punk rock. Since then they’ve ventured out on their first headline tour ‘Musketour 2014’. They also performed for music industry and fans alike at Norwich Sound & Vision Convention, plus London’s Radar Showcase, sponsored by Music Week, ILUVLIVE and MusicConnex. 

The single we featured ‘Time To Engage’ is now being used by ASOS for some of their online videos, and follow up track ‘Coming Over’ has also been used by global marketing company UMMW for all regional videos as part of their nationwide 2nd OpenCo Festival. Great exposure indeed! 

With more shows, festivals and new material in the pipeline, it’s no wonder Pony & Trap are excited to find out what 2015 holds for them. 


Ella On The Run
We loved Ella On The Run’s alt pop gem ‘Golden Boys’ when we came across it in February 2014 and it would appear that many others felt the same! Ella made it onto the Glastonbury Festival longlist and received numerous glowing reviews. Championed by the likes of M Magazine, Clash Magazine and even The Huffington Post, she also featured on the BBC Breakfast show with behind the scenes footage of her video shoot as part of their coverage on the age rating scheme for music videos. 

Gigs of note for Ella during the past year included opening for Hejiira and Dagny, both at The Old Queens Head. As for 2015, she will unveil the video for her forthcoming single from EP ‘Star Lion’ in February and plans to grace plenty of festival stages this summer. Watch this space!




I, The Lion
Energetic and awesome post punk trio I, The Lion revelled in playing to a rammed tent full of fans, singing their lyrics back to them, at 2000 Trees Festival last July. A chock-a-block year of touring, festivals, and a new single release followed for the Cheltenham band since we took a shine to their track ‘Icarus’ back in February 2014. 

Next week Kerrang! will be debuting the video for ‘Icarus’ on their site so keep your eyes peeled. As for the rest of 2015, the band will be releasing EP ‘Run’, recorded with Jason Wilson (You Me At Six, Fightstar, Reuben). In between hitting the road in March and a busy festival season ahead, they will be working avidly on their debut album and heading in the studio later in the year to finish it off. Sounds like a busy 2015 to us! 

How can I be featured in the Spotlight blog?
You’re probably asking yourself how you can get your music thrust into the Spotlight? We don’t blame you! Our Spotlight blog is compiled every month from fresh new music submitted to us and we want to hear from you! We select 5 of the best tracks from our members, so if you want to be in the running you’ll need to sign up to The Unsigned Guide then login to submit a track for Spotlight consideration to us. If you’re already a member and still not sure about how to submit your music for Spotlight, just give us a shout via our Contact page & we’ll help you out!

As well as being featured in our blog, your track will also be forwarded onto these music industry professionals including folks from Amazing Radio, Big Life Management, Club Fandango, Domino Records, The Fly, Memphis Industries, Rocksound, Skint Publishing, Sony Music, Spotify, Fake DIY, Transgressive Records and The Great Escape. View the full list of who listens to our Spotlight tracks here.