The second round of Creative Wales’s Music Revenue Fund 2 is set to open next Monday, June 24, focusing on empowering music businesses in Wales. This initiative aims to provide financial support for projects related to new releases, live music promotion, music production for media use, and Welsh-language music.
Minister for Creative Industries, Sarah Murphy, emphasizes the significance of this funding round for the Welsh music scene:
“Today is a day to celebrate our thriving music scene. For a small nation, we can boast superb venues, festivals, promoters, studios, and record labels. Across the globe, people listen to Welsh stars – from established acts like the Manic Street Preachers or Funeral for a Friend to up-and-coming grassroots talent like Adwaith and Mace the Great. I’m committed to making sure talent across the industry – in Welsh and English – is nurtured, supported, and developed. So I urge businesses to apply for this funding and build on Wales’ reputation as a great place to make music.”
The fund, offering between £20,000 and £40,000 per project, aims to assist music businesses facing financial constraints in promoting live music, executing release campaigns, securing studio time, and hiring session musicians. This round continues to support a diverse array of contemporary music genres including electronic, hip-hop, indie and alternative, metal and punk, pop, and rock.
In the previous round, The Road Records, a rural label from Carmarthenshire, successfully utilized the funding to release the EP “Dharma” by the Welsh cross-genre folk duo, Samana. Franklin Mockett and Rebecca Rose, the duo behind Samana, transformed their rural smallholding into an artistic hub and label in 2019, and used the Creative Wales fund to bring their artistic vision to life.
Reflecting on their success, Franklin Mockett shared:
“Creative Wales’s Revenue Music Fund massively helped us to release the EP ‘Dharma’ in 2023. Since its release, it has gained such global attention that we expanded it into a full-length, eponymous album – cited by Mojo Magazine, Record Collector, and KLOF Magazine as an outstanding work, attaining 4/5 reviews and above across the board. Our band and label have gathered huge amounts of interest since then, and we are hitting the road this month with our sold-out immersive and magical ‘In Tune With The Infinite’ summer tour; an all artist-curated event, played in the round, that we are taking to a small number of unique spaces around the UK.”
The success of The Road Records and Samana showcases the profound impact of the Music Revenue Fund on the Welsh music industry. As applications open next week, Creative Wales encourages music businesses to seize this opportunity to further their artistic endeavors and contribute to the vibrant and diverse music scene in Wales.
For more music industry news, click here.