Emerging music talent in Leeds will always have good platforms to express themselves on along with the audiences to express themselves to. For example, if you want a stage and an audience, there’s the open mic night at Carpe Diem ran brilliantly by Lyrically Justified for over six years now. Many of my friends and acquaintances have performed there over the years and have had a ball of a time. There are also other open mic nights throughout the city such as Tuesdays at The Ship and Wednesdays at The Hop. I’m sure there’s a couple more jotted around the city centre but I’m certainly not aware of them because open mic nights aren’t well advertised.
If you want to get on the radio then you can get simply get in touch with Alan Raw who hosts BBC Introducing every week. Some of the best artists on his shows have gone on to do festivals, big and small. Hopefully we’ll see some of the emerging talent from Future Arts at these festivals next year after we impressed Alan with the tracks that have been produced in our studio. I’m also sure that he’ll champion every good song that comes out of Future Arts in the not too distant future.
Then, there’s online giging via websites such as YouTube, Facebook, Soundcloud and Twitter to name a few. I’ve had some success on YouTube in the past where at least two of my original songs gained an online audience of 500+. A number (about 4 or 5) of videos which feature me dancing each received 1000+ views so I definitely had the audience. The problem obviously was getting a break which is a problem shared by all emerging talent throughout this city. By getting a break I mean by earning a living from what we do as artists. For me personally, it’s just not feasible to be on the dole for many years and to continue pursuing a break in the entertainment industry as the process get more disheartening with every set back.
What’s really needed right now is lots of helping hands to lift at least one of our emerging artists from the fusion sessions at Future Arts into the capable hands of a top record label. We need a top record label to develop one of our artists into a nationally known star so that we as a city can live off that in the present. This is because at the moment we don’t really have an artist from Leeds who we can all relate to and has made it in the industry. There’s really no pathway other than hope for the best and if you’re lucky you might get spotted by someone who’s going to turn you into a superstar.
It’s just such a shame that at Future Arts we don’t really have the resources that a record label has to try and turn emerging talent into the next big thing. But hopefully within this decade that day will come when we will have the resources to produce an artist that will sell out the 13,500 capacity arena that’s been built in Leeds. This is because at Future Arts we are not all about getting as many youths through the door as possible and stating we’re a success for that reason. We want to be a success because future arts helped uplift disadvantage young people in better futures as opposed to just providing them a temporary distraction from their troubled lives.
Damon
Tags: Alan Raw, BBC Introducing, Breeze on Tour, carpe diem, future arts, leeds, Leeds Arena, Lyrically justified, MC, music, music production, performance, The Hop, The Ship, young people