PledgeMusic joins PRS's International Showcase Fund

20 May 2016 - Press release

The PRS for Music Foundation’s International Showcase Fund offers vital financial support for artists and bands who have been invited to play an international showcasing festival or conference. Set up in 2006, the fund helps artists take their first steps into the international market by enabling them to perform at key showcasing festivals and conferences such as SXSW , CMJ , Canadian Music Week, Womex, Eurosonic, Jazzahead, Reeperbahn, Icelandic Airwaves and many more — all of which attract thousands of people working in the music industry from every corner of the globe.

PledgeMusic have joined the PRS partnership, which also includes UKTI , British Underground, Arts Council England and The Musicians Union. At present the fund covers up to 75 percent of the cost of travel, visas, accommodation and living expenses, and PledgeMusic will offer applicants to the programme the opportunity to supplement their showcase funding with a stand-alone, direct-to-fan campaign.

As UK music travels the world – latest figures suggest nearly one in six artist albums sold in the U.S. last year (2015) were by British acts – the importance of international showcasing has never been higher. The spread of events covered by the fund has also never been larger in both geographical spread and genre type, with recent additions being the Folk Alliance International and Americana Music Association festivals.

At this month’s Canadian Music Week conference, the fund enabled seven UK acts to travel to Toronto and perform in front of hundreds of delegates. The PRS for Music International Showcase fund has been instrumental in helping hundreds of artistes to do their first shows outside of the UK and begin their international career. Click here to see some of the acts that have benefitted from the programme to date.

“PledgeMusic are delighted and honoured to be joining the prestigious PRS for Music International Showcase Fund programme alongside UKTI , British Underground, Arts Council England and Musicians Union," says Malcolm Dunbar, co-founder and President UK & Europe for PledgeMusic. "PledgeMusic’s remit from day one has been to help all artists grow and develop their careers as far and wide as possible, and this new partnership enables us to build on that.”