Soledad - platform for new music and journalism in Manchester - announce launch and Indiegogo campaign

23 April 2025 - Press release

SUPPORTING NEW MUSIC, ARTISTS & INDUSTRY IN MANCHESTER CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM FOR INDEPENDENT & ORIGINAL MUSIC JOURNALISM CONNECTING MUSIC LOVERS WITH THE NEW MANCHESTER MUSIC REVOLUTION 

- Soledad is a platform for new music and music journalism in Manchester 

- Filling a void for an independent new music press in Manchester that also creates a sustainable ecosystem for music journalists by actually paying them 

- Set up by Oli Wilson (founder of Beyond The Music and son of Tony Wilson), James Young (freelance journalist and poet), Charlie Stanley (social entrepreneur) 

- Weekly mail shot - gig listings so you are kept informed of the best places to go and see new music, and top lines of news pieces which you subscribe to access 

- Monthly subscriber newsletter: Live music reviews, artist and industry features - Subscribers get access to whatsapp community for posting videos from and attending gigs - Monthly podcast & TV show featuring live artists in the studio 

- For the 2.9 million Mancunians who have the best taste in music in the world 

- For the artists who need the platform 

- For an ecosystem which supports independent original journalism 

- Supporting a diverse range of music, artists and industry, featuring all genres and backgrounds 

- Subscription based model - accessible pricing - £5 per month standard - £10 per month premium tier gets you monthly limited edition physical print of gig listings, merchandise, exclusive tickets to events, podcast and show recordings. 

- All revenues go towards paying journalists and editorial staff proper wages and article rates 

- INDIEGOGO campaign launches on TUESDAY 22nd MAY - BUY YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW! And by doing so support the new wave of Mancunian musical and journalistic talent. 

- Four week campaign - raising £5k to cover the first 6 months of Soledad. With a £10k stretch target which would fund Soledad for 12 months. 

INDIEGOGO: https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/da82e54f#/

ASSET PACK: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/7/folders/1DzjIPcU2b8ywPOiFQHjoTESsYGvfm4w3
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/soledadrev/

FORMULARY FOR A NEW MUSIC JOURNALISM 

A few miles south of Soledad lies the death of the music press, a polluted river with unpaid interns and AI writing features, in the depths of the content mines that says nothing to you about your life. 

For the first time, it’s in our hands - this is music journalism for people who deserve it.

The revolution will not be covered in adverts for gambling companies or cookies. It will not have a hedge fund manager in control. 

It’s time for Manchester to reclaim what was ours in the first place. Soledad will cover what Manchester is truly about. Guitar bands exist but so does much more. This is for lovers of all genres and spaces. It’s time for the artists who deserve the exposure to get it and not be held up by suits and a broken ecosystem that starves creativity. Soledad will cover what Manchester needs to see. 

Journalism is a trade like anything else and music journalists should be paid. This will provide a platform for new journalists in Manchester as well as established ones who know the patch. 

We are not backed by a media empire or billionaires so we’re asking for support to get this exciting platform off the ground. 

By launch we’ll have eight reviews and two features a month, all stuff you won’t get elsewhere written by top writers. Some you’ll know, others you’ll get to fast. We think £5 a month for this is fair. There will also be a bonus £10 tier for extra content. 

So come and join us. Don’t let the others be in charge in their marble homes from which they rob the people of the world under the pretense of bringing them culture. 

Oli Wilson - co-founder of Soledad and Beyond The Music 

“We’ve had thousands of artists apply to play Beyond The Music over the last couple of years and what’s abundantly clear from working with them is there’s no regular, independent platform for music journalism that they can rely on to support and grow their careers. 

There’s also a huge audience of music lovers in Manchester, with the best and most diverse music taste in the world, and they want to know what the latest music is. It’s the question I get asked most “who’s good at the moment?” 

At the same time, there are so many good writers out there in Manchester doing brilliant things but they’re not getting paid enough (or at all) and, like a lot of the artists they’re writing about actually, they’re working two or three other day jobs in completely unrelated industries. 

So it just makes sense to make a platform for artists, for music lovers, and for people that want to write about it. This is a brilliant time in Manchester's music history, people might just not know it yet. But they should do. There’s more music than ever before waiting to be discovered. And beyond that venues, labels, promoters, Djs, studios that we want to shine a light on so I hope people will want to help us make this happen and make a subscription!” 

https://linktr.ee/soledadrev