PRS for Music Foundation set up fund for new bands

New bands and artists like Iyes could benefit from the fund

The PRS for Music Foundation and the Arts Council England have announced a new grant to help new bands and artists.

The Momentum Music Fund is a two-year programme which launches on Friday.

It will award grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 to help develop careers.

Musicians are expected to come up with a business plan and to also have progressed to a certain point in their career before they will be considered for the cash.

Not a cash handout

Iyes are a band who are yet to release their first single or make an album, but their manager James Barton says they do have great potential.

"It suits bands like Iyes, who've started off," he said.

"They've got a certain degree of interest, they're showing commercial potential but they need a bit of support financially."

He agrees with the PRS for Music Foundation that record labels are no longer supporting artists and acts in the early stages of their careers well enough.

He says, instead, there is now an expectation for acts to have built up a large fan base, or even produced an album, before a label will show interest.

"An artist starting out can't do it for free," he said. "They've got costs, whether it's costs for marketing, costs for recording and hiring producers, costs for going out and playing live."

Vanessa Reed, chief executive of the PRS for Music Foundation, says this is not a "cash handout".

She says: "Momentum is a breakthrough moment for music in England, where its now harder than in many other parts of the world for talented artists to access finance."

Penny King is the director of music at Arts Council England and says there may have been a perception that the commercial music industry could support itself.

She said: "The research we've done has shown us that it's something that's really needed and overdue."

The first application deadline for the grant is 28 June.

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