As the UK’s biggest unsigned live music competition, Live and Unsigned is the ultimate competition for acts and bands, says Future. Kicking off with the first regional heats in January, it culminates in a final at London’s O2 next summer where finalists will share the stage with acts from Live Fest, London’s biggest indoor music festival.
With £100,000 in prizes up for grabs including music equipment, a record deal, studio time, masterclasses and invaluable publicity across Future’s high profile music magazines and websites, Live and Unsigned offers a unique opportunity for acts and bands.
Adding an international dimension to the competition, there are also some fantastic festival slots up for grabs. Ranging from opportunities at Italy's Tour Fest, Supernova in Canada and Latvia's massive Summer Sound Festival to grass roots UK festivals such as Beach Break Live, Bearded Theory, Cock Rock, Norfolk Spectacular, OsFest and IVYLIVE, this is a chance in a lifetime.
Also partnering with Live and Unsigned are Blackstar Amplification, Natal Drums, Future Copyright, TC Electronic and TC Helicon who are providing some great competition prizes.
Live and Unsigned is open to all genres from rappers to metal and every act is auditioned live, with those who make it through to the later stages performing in front of industry judges at some of the UK’s most prestigious venues. Last year’s Judges who are set to return again include big names such as Radio 1 DJs Annie Nightingale, Tom Deacon and Daniel P Carter and Happy Monday’s star Bez.
Live and Unsigned’s Chris Grayston commented: “Last year’s partnership between Future and Live and Unsigned was a great success and this year is set to be even bigger! Future’s music magazines are world leading brands which are globally recognised and we share similar goals and ethos. We both want to work with the best unsigned musicians in the UK – and this makes for a fantastic, dynamic and strong partnership.”
Mia Walter, Group Publishing Director of Future’s Music portfolio, added: “We are delighted to announce Future’s partnership with the Live & Unsigned competition for a second year running. We are committed to encouraging more musicians, and as media partner we will use our portfolio of magazines, MusicRadar and our growing digital audience to promote this great opportunity and encourage musicians from all genres to take part.”
MusicRadar recently hit 1 million monthly unique users and is encouraging acts and bands to enter the competition via MusicRadar now. You can also keep up to date with the latest news from the competition on MusicRadar’s bespoke ‘Live’ channel, which features information about the competition, live gigging content, ‘how to’ guides for acts and bands, as well as constant updates and information as the competition progresses.
