PRS Foundation announces Momentum Music Fund acts

18 July 2016 - Press release

Arts Council England confirms a further £1Million for PRS Foundation to continue running the Momentum Music Fund

• Spotify also extend their partnership with the fund for a further two years

• Latest 18 Momentum-supported acts announced today

• PRS Foundation announce results and successes from the first three years

• Previous beneficiaries include Years & Years, Ghostpoet and Låpsley

Arts Council England today confirmed a further £1Million of support for the Momentum Music Fund delivered by PRS for Music Foundation. This further funding allows PRS for Music Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development across all genres, to continue running Momentum for another two years. The fund, which first started in 2013, has invested in over 120 diverse artists which include chart topping pop band, Years & Years, breakthrough electronic artist Låpsley and the critically acclaimed Ghostpoet. Offering artists support at a crucial stage in their careers, Momentum enables artists to break though to the next level.  

To coincide with this, the Momentum Music Fund’s official digital partner, Spotify, has confirmed it too will continue its support as digital partner for the next two years.  Spotify’s additional funding contribution, reward package containing exciting promotional opportunities and close relationship between Momentum artist and the Spotify team, will continue to extend Momentum’s impact.

In addition to this PRS Music Foundation, Arts Council England and Spotify have announced today the latest list of artists to receive the coveted career boosting Momentum Music funding. From Mercury Prize nominee ESKA and Hull’s punk–rock LIFE, to the electronic duo Eli & Fur and singer-songwriter Azekel who has collaborated with Bristol trip hop group Massive Attack, the next 18 artists to receive Momentum funding are:

 Afriquoi

AZEKEL

Charlie Cunningham

Eli & Fur

Employed To Serve

ESKA

Flamingos

Hooton Tennis Club

Kagoule

LEVELZ

LIFE

ROM

Speech Debelle

Swindle

Ten Fè

This Is The Kit

Throwing Shade

Tom Misch

The outcomes from Momentum since 2013 speak for themselves. Every £1 invested by Momentum has generated £7.46 for the UK music industry. Momentum artists saw live audiences increase by 204% alongside their social numbers increasing, with Facebook Likes doubling and Twitter followers climbing by 74%. Since 2013, Arts Council England has invested £250k -£500k per year which, with additional funding from PRS Foundation and Spotify has enabled PRS for Music Foundation to support over 120 artists with Momentum funding.

Over the past three years, Momentum support has been given to artists across a broad range of genres with 20% going to alternative genres, 17% hip hop/rap/R&B/soul, 17% rock, 15% dance, 14% pop, 13% singer-songwriter and 4% folk. Since 2013, 72 new albums have been supported as well as 100 UK tours totaling over 650 UK live dates. 

Vanessa Reed, Executive Director of PRS for Music Foundation said, “Momentum’s impact over the past 3 years demonstrate that this is not only a hugely popular fund, but a transformational one, which is having a positive impact on the careers of over 120 artists. We’re delighted that Arts Council England continues to recognise the importance of this fund for independent music which we’ve been running on their behalf since 2013. Thanks to our shared belief in this partnership and with additional help from Spotify we’re looking forward to encouraging and supporting even more of the country’s diverse and talented artists to reach that next stage of their careers.”"

Bryan Johnson, Director, Artist Services at Spotify said, “We’re very pleased to confirm our continued support and increased investment into the Momentum Music Fund. Since coming on board a year ago, Spotify has been able to make a significant positive impact on the careers of those artists involved, both through our reward package and also by introducing their music to Spotify's global audience of highly engaged music fans. We look forward to working closely with this next round of artists and many others to follow.”

Managed by PRS for Music Foundation, the Momentum Music fund awards grants of £5,000-£15,000 using public funding from Arts Council England. For a full rundown of all the artists supported so far see here.  The next deadline for applications to the Momentum Music Fund is 9 August 2016 via the PRS for Music Foundation website. We are particularly interested in receiving more applications from outside of London.

Listen to the latest Momentum supported artists on the Spotify Momentum playlist here.