Off The Record a new music showcase announced for Manchester in November

Off The Record 2016

Friday 4th November 2016
various venues, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M1 1JN, England MAP
from £16.50

Last updated: Wed 31st May 2017

New multi-venue music event Off The Record, has been unveiled for Manchester's Northern Quarter on Friday 4th November with a curated line-up of fresh new music acts. Off The Record is a new concept designed to champion and discover the very best in unsigned and emerging new music, whilst bringing together voices in the industry.

Brought together by Kendal Calling, Sound City and Bluedot who have teamed up with Louder Than War in launching the brand new emerging multi venue music event. There are no acts confirmed yet for 2016. The line-up won't be announced until 24 hours prior.

The event features a programme of industry talks and seminars during the day, and in the the evening over 30 emerging names play in the city centre across 6 venues all within walking distance, with the names picked out by over 30 curators including Guy Garvey, Tim Burgess, John Kennedy, Huw Stephens (pictured), and Lara Baker - with the only criteria being that the bands are no more than 24 months old and don't have a debut album to their name.

During the day at Methodist Central Buildings, Sound City and Louder Than War will curate a music conference featuring people from the music industry - Label and publishing A&R, agents, bloggers and promoters.

Andy Smith, Director of From The Fields (Kendal Calling and Bluedot) said, "Each curator will nominate the top three emerging acts that they believe will make the biggest impact on the national stage in the next 18 months. Their combined recommendations will see the most nominated 30 acts programmed to perform. And these will be NEW acts, acts which have formed within the last 24 months and yet to release an album. We believe that new music is at a creative high and we will prove it with this unique event.

"We've taken the unusual step to not release a line-up until the event is nearly upon us. For most emerging artists a captivating live performance comes well before they have the opportunity to step foot in a professional recording studio - we want to capture the thrill of seeing something truly special and new on stage for the first time with no preconceptions.

"The networking element of conferences is very important to me. The idea for Kendal Calling was formed at a music conference in Kendal back in 2005, and I've gone on to meet brilliant people at conferences as far apart as Brighton, Norwich and Halifax (Nova Scotia), some of whom have become very key members of our team. I hope the conference will prove a very useful gathering for Manchester and the North's music industry, whether aspiring or professional."

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A gig pass is priced at £16.50, which gives access across the venues and a Gig Pass/Conference Package is priced at £35.

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Venues include Night and Day, The Castle, Gullivers, Soup Kitchen, Aatma, Ruby Lounge, Methodist Central Buildings.

John Robb, Louder Than War, added, "As a music fan who listens to new music all the time and loves the way music culture has fast forwarded into the 21st century I am thrilled to be part of this new music conference that puts Manchester back at the centre of UK music. There is so much great new music not only to talk about and listen to but also to discuss how we get to listen to it and encourage it into the future."

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