Deezer and PRS for Music Foundation shortlisted for 35th Arts & Business Awards in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover – Digital Partnership Award

08 April 2014 - Press release

PRS for Music Foundation are delighted to announce that our partnership with Deezer on Momentum Music Fund has been shortlisted for the 35th Arts & Business Awards. 

Our working together for the Momentum Deezer App has been recognised as one of five top partnerships within the A&B Digital Partnership Award category for the innovative way in which the app has been used to enhance the work of both organisations and Momentum-supported artists. Arts & Business is one of the leading global experts in developing private and public sector partnerships with the arts.

Deezer partner with PRS for Music Foundation to provide additional financial and targeted promotional support to tipping point artists funded through Momentum Music Fund. The partnership demonstrates that collaborations between the arts and business sectors continue to drive and add value to new and exciting arts initiatives throughout the UK. 

As Christian Wolfenden, Chair of the Digital judging panel and Marketing Director at Paddy Power, said of the shortlisted partnerships: 

“We felt that all five did a really good job of using technology or, in some cases digital, to innovate the experience of the arts. We felt they all leveraged the partnerships well so they were equally balanced”.

Vanessa Reed, Executive Director of PRS for Music Foundation, said:

“I’m delighted that our partnership with Deezer has been nominated for an Arts and Business Award. The way that Momentum-funded artists have used our partnership with Deezer to increase their digital footprint has been a real inspiration. Collaborating with Deezer has also enabled PRS for Music Foundation to experiment with new approaches to stimulating talent and audience development that go beyond giving financial support. I’m sure this will inform our wider approach to supporting new music across all genres in collaboration with Arts Council England, other funding partners and promotional partners like BBC Radio.” 

Mark Foster, Managing Director of Deezer UK & Ireland, said: 

“We are delighted to hear that our partnership with PRS for Music Foundation has been shortlisted for this year’s Arts & Business Awards in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover. We feel passionately about supporting emerging artists through the Momentum Deezer App and Award and the digital opportunities that it provides. It’s great to see how the app and award can help provide a platform for independent artists to break through in a crowded market place.  Deezer will continue to support new music talent and help fans discover them with funding like Momentum.”

Winners of the 35^th Arts & Business Awards in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover will be announced at a ceremony on the 21^st May at BFI Southbank.  
 

Deezer & PRS for Music Foundation  

The two-year partnership between Deezer and PRS for Music Foundation stemmed from both organisations’ passion for artist development in a changing music industry, where artists’ digital know-how is crucial to their career development. The partnership focuses on PRS for Music Foundation’s Momentum Music Fund which has been set up in partnership with Arts Council England with public funding from the National Lottery. It offers career-boosting funding for artists who are ready to take their careers to the next level.

Deezer has contributed financially to this unique public-private initiative whilst also leading the creation of a strong digital platform which benefits Momentum funded artists and their fans.   The digital platform includes:  

• the Momentum Deezer app which is the first-ever digital promotional tool that PRS for Music Foundation has been able to offer musicians working in popular music who’ve been tipped for success by the Foundation’s independent expert panels 
• the Momentum Deezer Award which has encouraged music fans to help their favourite Momentum artists receive a further cash award by listening to, and sharing, an artist’s music via the app. Artists attracting the most streams of their tracks via the app are given these prized Deezer awards, handed out 4 times over 2 years. 

Both of these innovations have enabled PRS for Music Foundation and Arts Council England to offer professional development incentives as well as cash to the 34 artists who have been supported by the Momentum fund to date. Jaws, the first winner of the Momentum Deezer award, have had their first single profiled exclusively on the Deezer Player on clashmusic.com and 20% of their streams are now from international territories thanks to the co-operation of 50 Deezer editors around the world highlighting Jaws' music to local Deezer audiences. All of this demonstrates the importance of the app as a new digital platform that encourages artists to mobilise and galvanise new and engaged audiences.