b-side Competitors

From its small beginnings organising a showcase for Liverpool bands at SXSW in Austin, Texas in 2007 Sound City has gone on to become one of the UK’s most significant music industry events. The first Liverpool Sound City Conference and Festival took place in 2008, Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture. It took place over two days in small number of venues culminating in a headline set by The Wombats in St Georges Hall. It went on to become an annual event and quickly established itself as the Sound City UK’s leading Independent Festival for Emerging Talent attracting key industry figures to its conference and making a name for itself as a showcase for up and coming talent. Early festivals featured then relative unknowns such as Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Laura Marling, and Jake Bugg amongst many others. The festival garnered a reputation for memorable gigs like The Kooks at St Luke’s Church (known locally as the bombed out church) and for converting industrial spaces into unique pop up venues. The festival has always been supportive of the best local talent but has always featured a strong line up of talent from all over the world. Alongside the now well established Liverpool event Sound City has successfully exported the model of conference and festival to New York, Norway, China, South Korea and Dubai, providing a platform for British artists, particularly those from Liverpool and the North West. A partnership with major Chinese music and entertainment company Modern Sky has ushered new and exciting international opportunities for Sound City. Between 2015 and 2017 Sound City moved the festival outdoors on to Liverpool’s renowned waterfront with headline sets from the likes of John Cale and The Flaming Lips. In 2018 the festival has returned to its city centre roots with all gigs taking place in venues in the creative hub that is the Baltic Triangle. There is also much more of its original focus on showcasing emergent talent.

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We uniquely combine the UK’s deep expertise in arts and culture, education and the English language, our global presence and relationships in over 100 countries, our unparalleled access to young people and influencers and our creative sparkle. We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications. For more information, please visit: http://www.britishcouncil.org

We champion, develop and invest in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives. We support activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. 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 everyone 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.