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Regional artist development programme Merseyrail Sound Station is looking for aspiring musicians to take part in a series of workshops, masterclasses and mentorship sessions. 

The programme, a partnership between Bido Lito! and Merseyrail, is now taking submissions for its 2020 edition over at www.merseyrailsoundstation.com.

Merseyrail Sound Station was created in order to provide promising artists and bands with the opportunity to progress to the next stage of their career, by granting them access to leading music industry figures and also opening up opportunities for collaboration with their peers. Over the last two years, Merseyrail Sound Station has worked with four cohorts of local musicians, including luminaries such as Eyesore & The Jinx, Abby Meysenburg, Dayzy, Beija Flo, Yank Scally, Lydiah and Podge. In 2020, the programme will extend across the whole year, with additional workshops and mentorship, along with live opportunities at major events on the regional music calendar.

WATCH: Dayzy’s Merseyrail Sound Station Experience

“It has been incredibly encouraging to watch Merseyrail Sound Station develop over the past three years. The scheme has established itself as a key platform for supporting emerging new musical talent in the city region. The new project format, which will allow a longer period of mentorship for the artists taking part, will be a further step forward. 

These are challenging times for emerging musicians. Despite the fact that the music industry is more open and accessible than ever before, and artists have a whole raft of ways through which to connect with audiences, it is a daunting and challenging environment. 

Through working closely with our friends at Merseyrail, Sound Station manages to provide valuable guidance and direction for some of the most exciting local artists in navigating this new landscape. Long may it continue.”

Craig Pennington – Founder of Bido Lito!

The programme will be based around three core components -

Studio and Live Workshops  //  These sessions are all about developing valuable and practical music skills, particularly around song arrangement, composition and performance, challenging participants to think about new ways of working and developing their practice. Led by highly successful and experienced musical mentors from a variety of different genres, these sessions are designed to be productive and challenging for our participants.

Artist-Led Masterclasses // These sessions are all about fuelling aspiration and enabling artists to visualise a pathway to the next stage of their development through the experience of local artists who have enjoyed a good level of national and international success. The session is designed to enable quality peer-to-peer interaction. Questions and discussion areas concerning management, live booking, record labels, publishing, brand partnerships and engaging the press will all be explored.

Music Industry MOTs // These sessions are all about positive and constructive feedback for our artists, from a panel of highly experienced and esteemed representatives from the national music industry. These include record labels, publishing companies, PRs, industry bodies, booking agents and artist managers. This feedback and targeted advice will take place across a series of one-to-one sessions and a large group workshop. This will be an invaluable opportunity for our musicians to hear from key figures in the sector.

Following the structured programme of support, Sound Station artists will enjoy a range of Live Performance Opportunities, including the Sound Station Live festival at Liverpool Central Station, plus an exclusive opportunities to play at some of the leading music events in our region.

 

APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW

 

“We are very proud to be part of such an innovative project with Bido Lito!, supporting the next generation of musicians in Liverpool.

“Sound Station is a fantastic opportunity for up-and-coming artists to develop and grow as past participants have hugely benefitted from the programme.

“As a UNESCO Music City, it’s vital that Liverpool provides quality support to the next generation of musicians and it’s very pleasing to see Merseyrail Sound Station play such an important role in the region’s music eco system.”

Suzanne Grant  - Merseyrail Commercial Director

Over the course of the last two years, acts that have taken part in Merseyrail Sound Station have been recognised at a national and international level. Many of them are supported by BBC Introducing at a local and level and a number of Sound Station alumni such as Podge and Bill Nickson have picked up national press and radio support. Tierny recently supported Stealing Sheep on a run of local shows in support of their latest album and Eyesore & The Jinx recently performed at Eurosonic, which is Europe’s biggest live showcase festival for exciting new artists.

For this next cohort of acts, Merseyrail Sound Station are looking for talented local acts from across the Merseyrail network and region who have something special to share and feel that they need help to get to that next level. Sound Station welcomes acts from different genres. If this is you, please head over to the website and complete the application before Friday 21st March.