Manchester music agency Sounds of Manchester (SoM) has launched a raffle to raise money to continue supporting local artists – and there’s tonnes of Manchester music memorabilia and merch up for winning.
A jack-of-all-music-trades agency, Sounds of Manchester provides local artists with affordable studio space, production services, videographers, and lighting and sound hire.
You name it, this lot can sort it out.
But before the pandemic, Sounds of Manchester was hosting events and putting on gigs around the city. Last year, they turned their attention to livestreams, as a way of keeping videographers, lighting and sound engineers, and of course artists in work throughout the pandemic.
Matt Jones, Director of SoM, told Audio why he set up the company in the first place and why it’s important to get behind the local music scene during these times: “I hate seeing people struggle when their music is outstanding. It really isn’t fair. Sometimes you look at a singer on the radio and think ‘if it wasn’t for money, they wouldn’t be where they are right now’ and that’s not the way it should be.”
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“Musicians struggle these days to get their music out there, even if it’s better than some of the stuff we hear on the radio on a day-to-day basis. That’s why we wanted to help.”
Included is everything you’d need to professionally record three tracks and film the BTS action too. But they can also provide full promotional material, and social media and marketing assistance.
Image: Will Francis/Unsplash
Matt says the low price doesn’t compromise on quality, though. Instead, they work with freelancers and college students to keep the costs low but the standard high, whilst providing everyone with the experience.
But in order to maintain these cheap studio packages, there needs to be a pot of money available for the future. Mainly, this will allow for new equipment, upgrades, giveaways and ensure they can still pay freelancers a decent cut.
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So, the team have set up a raffle to help raise a bit of extra cash to go towards the maintenance of Sounds of Manchester.
“The raffle was an idea that came to me during lockdown,” said Matt.
“[After] seeing people on Facebook raffling wax melts, candles, chocolate hampers, I thought ‘there isn’t anything like this for music fans’. So, we set out to contact some larger bands, artists, photographers, painters, DJs and loads of other industry professionals to see if they’d be in a position to contribute.”
SoM raffle prize
There are more than 30 prizes up for grabs, which have been donated by contributors such as Callow Youth, Shed Seven, The Lottery Winners, Trust a Fox photography and artist Frank Rimmer.
Tickets are only £1 – and you can buy as many of them as you like to maximise your chances of winning.
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The prize pot includes signed band memorabilia, tour tickets, prints, exclusive tour posters, limited edition vinyl, CDs and loads more.
So, go on what ya waiting for? It’s only a quid – you’d find that down the back of the sofa.
Audio
Olly Murs cancels Manchester gig after walking off stage six songs into huge arena show
Daisy Jackson
Olly Murs has now officially cancelled his show in Manchester tonight, a day after walking off stage just six songs into a huge arena gig.
The Heart Skips a Beat star had been performing in Glasgow last night when he abruptly stopped the show, apologised to fans, and left the stage.
The gig was cancelled around 30 minutes into his show, which is part of a huge UK arena tour that was meant to be heading to Manchester tonight.
A tearful Olly said that he was seeing a doctor last night and would update fans of the rest of his shows ‘as soon as I know anything’.
It’s now been confirmed that his gig at the AO Arena will not be going ahead.
Olly Murs said in a statement: “30 minutes into my set in Glasgow I lost my voice & unfortunately had to leave the stage midway through the show. This has never happened before and not something I take lightly.
“I’m sorry to all the fans who came out to the show last night and am forever grateful for your support.
“To everyone in Manchester and Birmingham I’m deeply sorry, but am unfortunately going to have to cancel my shows this weekend. I have contracted a respiratory infection and have been instructed to go on a strict 48 hour voice rest by the doctor to ensure no further damage to my vocal cords.
“I have been enjoying this tour so much, and am so sorry to let down my fans – but have to put my health first. I’m hoping to be fighting fit in a few days to finish this amazing 15 year celebratory tour with a bang.”
In a video he shared to Instagram last night, Olly Murs said: “Firstly I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I had to walk off after six songs and cancel the show. I’ve never done this in 15 years.
“Most of the time as singers you can kind of get through it if your voice isn’t 100% – I walked out tonight thinking my voice was great, I maybe felt a little bit run down but I didn’t think I couldn’t do the show. I wouldn’t have come out there otherwise.
“So to walk off after six songs, as I said, I’m so sorry. As you can probably hear from my voice, I just sounded rubbish and it’s unfair for you guys that spent all that money to come and see me. You deserve the best show and me being at my best, and I’m so sorry from the bottom of my heart.
“Hopefully I can recover from this.
“I’m actually going to see a doctor tonight which is great, so I’ll give you guys an update as soon as I know anything. Obviously I wanna try my absolute best to make these shows possible at the weekend.
“So yeah, so sorry for everyone tonight, apologies from the bottom of my heart. Gutted.”
Major star pulls out of Parklife festival due to ‘scheduling conflict’
Daisy Jackson
One of the biggest attractions of this year’s Parklife festival line-up has pulled out just weeks before the event.
Rising star and TikTok sensation Lola Young will no longer be performing at the huge Manchester festival.
She’s the voice behind ‘Messy’, that song you can’t get out of your head (or off your For You Page), and has already earned herself two BRIT Award nominations.
Lola Young was one of the biggest names announced on this year’s Parklife line-up, which has headline slots from Charli XCX, 50 Cent, Jorja Smith and Peggy Gou.
She was set to perform on the Saturday of the festival, taking place on 14 and 15 June.
But Parklife has now confirmed that Lola Young has dropped out of the lineup owing to a ‘scheduling conflict’.
In a post on Instagram they wrote: “Due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict Lola Young will not be performing at Parklife 2025.
“We would like to apologise for any disappointment.
“Full set times will be published at 5pm Tuesday 20th May on the PL25 App where we will also be announcing some surprise additions to the weekend in the run up to the festival.”
Parklife will be taking place next month in Manchester – you can keep up with the latest HERE and grab final tickets HERE.