Sam Nicholls

his chapter looks at how online music distribution platforms are evolving and how singer-songwriters can use them to maximise the revenue achievable through both their music and associated ‘experiences’. Direct to consumer sales, music streaming, subscription models and crowd funding offer fans different ways of interacting with an artist, while platforms such as Patreon, Kickstarter, Bandcamp allow artists to tailor these experiences to more effectively financially exploit their creative works. Kelly’s 1000 True Fans theory provides context to how an artist can build a strong connection with their audience and offer the most suitable product and model of distribution to maximise their income.

Over the last 5 years, fan funding has become a mainstream approach to financing and releasing new records, with X-factor artists (Janet Devlin) and major record label acts (Bring Me The Horizon) now using platforms such as Pledge Music to launch new music campaigns. Leeds has a history of artist run record labels, and since Pledge Music's inception a string of successful bands from the city have used the fan funding model to finance their releases. Using qualitative interview data, consideration is given to the effectiveness of the fan funding model on a release, how far the support of a local music scene can impact on the success of a campaign and the options available to bands once their campaigns have been completed. The study includes interviews with a wide range of artists; bands who have previously been signed (I Like Trains with Beggars Banquet), bands with major label options (Ellen & The Escapades) and new bands with small local fanbases (Kleine Schweine). This paper endeavours to weigh up the effectiveness of fan funding campaigns against artists’ own creative and financial expectations, as well as whether a local scene or support network has an impact on this – and if there is something in the River Aire specifically!

Leeds is one of the most attractive cities to live in, the fastest growing in the UK, with an established traditional cultural offering from organisations such as Opera North and Northern Ballet, alongside a growing portfolio of national significant events such as The Grand Depart and MOBO Awards. However, the cities popular music reputation has never benefited from a coherent identity as enjoyed by Manchester and Liverpool, and organisations, events and platforms for music development such as Yorkshire Forward, Breeze Festival and Bright Young Things have become defunct or extinct. In their place are a number of isolated organisations working within their own limited spheres; the library-service funded Studio 12 supporting young urban music; Festival Republic backed Leeds Music Trust and Chapel FM, focusing primarily on the eastern suburb of Seacroft. This presentation will look at the current infrastructure for supporting aspirational music creators and music professionals, and how it can be built-on and improved to facilitate a wider impact on individuals and the city’s cultural offering, now and in the future. Highlighting the stakeholders in the Leeds music scenes, the status of current working relationships and how existing models in other cities such as Generator (Newcastle) and Promus (Aarhus) can be used as case studies, it will present existing work currently being undertaken to create a network that will facilitate the development of the local music economy in collaboration with Leeds City Council and the cities bid to become European Capital of Culture in Leeds 2023.

This chapter discusses a range of strategies and initiatives that have been employed across the city of Leeds (UK) with a critical introduction of the ways in which models from other European cities, feedback and opinion from music professionals, consultation from government officials in Leeds and guidance documents from professional bodies and global consultancy agencies have been implemented in the development of the city’s dedicated and independent organisation Music:Leeds. The chapter discusses the strategies that have been implemented to stimulate music activity around Music:Leeds’ three core areas of activity: Creative Development & Business Growth; Placemaking & Tourism; Access to Music and concludes with an assessment of these strategic developments so far.

A groundbreaking study of music and musical history in Leeds. This is the first scholarly volume to focus on popular music in Leeds.