The Sound City festival taking place for the 13th time this May is one of the most important dates in the Liverpool city region’s music calendar.
The multi-award winning event to be held at the Baltic Triangle will see Friendly Fires and Pale Waves headline, taking place in 16 venues across the area including pop-up bars, clubs, warehouses, workshops and scrap-yards.
It’s been such a hit, other similar events based on the Liverpool concept have been launched around the world.
Sound City is a record label too - and its partnership with Modern Sky Entertainment - China’s biggest independent music company - means that no other music firm in the North has the kind of investment and international resource that the Liverpool firm can now offer.
Also renowned is the festival's business conference element - Sound City +, which hosts panels, workshops and ‘In Conversations’ with a wide range of industry professionals - this year to be centred around the British Music Experience inside the Cunard Building.
But what fewer will be aware of is the vast array of other business development schemes run by the company throughout the year - and that Sound City is actually “so much more than just the festival”.
These schemes, Sound City said, culminate in an "unrivalled contribution" to the development of creative businesses and artists across the North and beyond.
Here is a rundown of the other initiatives run by Sound City:
Sound City Music Entrepreneur Training Programmes
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Organisers say that through their Sound City Music Entrepreneur Training Programmes, they have to date worked with over 300 young people.
They are aimed at people wanting to break into the music business, who feel that formal education routes are not for them.
Each week, as part of the program, guest industry experts attend an in-depth Q&A giving valuable insights into pursuing a career in the music industry.
Liverpool City Region Business News
Sound City Korea
Since 2015, Sound City has hosted Sound City Korea, taking a cohort of artists to showcase at Asia’s biggest industry events Zandari and MUCON, in Seoul.
According to organisers, outcomes to date include Yorkshire band Fizzy Blood being signed to Korean label, Loverocks, and Liverpool’s She Drew the Gun being offered a licensing deal with Friendly Fire, USA. Deals to date are worth $50,000 and findings from the 2017 event suggests that $146,000 will be spent on artists performing at the showcase over the long term.
Sound City Surgery
Sound City Surgery is an artist development programme aimed at Liverpool and Manchester-based artists who want to create a step change in their career.
Sound City annually work with 10 artists on a 12-month basis, working with them to set goals and then to build towards measurable outcomes for their artistic and the industry elements of their careers.
Off the Record
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Launched in 2016, Off the Record is now an annual fixture in the music calendar, taking place in the Northern Quarter, Manchester and a counterpoint to Sound City, six months later in November.
The festival also recently sealed a fundraising partnership with CAPLL , hoped to increase investment in talent and development schemes.
Dave Pichilingi, CEO, said Sound City is about "so much more than just the festival".
He said: "We have always wanted to champion music and business talent from the North of England, with a view on trying to keep it here as well.
Dave said the business side of Sound City has seen the most growth down the years.
"When we first ran the conference, the first two years of Sound City was held at the Hard Day's Night Hotel. There were maybe 100 people attending for the business elements of it.
"Now, we bring in 2,000+ people just for the B2B elements of Sound City. So that's quite significant growth. Importantly, we know business happens during that time frame as well as great music."
In terms of plans for the future, Dave said Sound City wants "to keep doing what we're doing, and not to be Liverpool's best kept secret".
He said: "Sound City embodies how Liverpudlians like to travel around the world - that relationship with the water and movement.
“We want to do more and more internationally, and take our message globally, whilst at the same time, drive the message that our region has a lot of talent and is a great place to do business and a great place to live. There's no reason for you to go anywhere else.
"But we need more collaborative working between cities. Liverpool, Manchester and the towns in between were responsible for some of the greatest musical output the globe has ever seen.
"We throw a shadow over New York, we throw a shadow over LA, we throw a shadow over Tokyo, we throw a shadow over every other region in the world, really.
“In a lot of cases, we created the talent, but the money's gone elsewhere. So we should be looking at how we develop a strong ecosystem together to keep more of that money, creative talent and business here.”