No Signal, Sable Radio and Noods Radio among 31 organisations to receive funding from Youth Music

Youth Music this week announced the 31 recipients of its £2m Incubator Fund, a scheme that’s designed to help tackle inequality in the music industry.

A panel of 18-25-year-olds were commissioned by Youth Music to help allocate the funding to applicants.

Among the recipients were breakout radio station No Signal, a radio station made for and by Black Britons and whose staple show NS10v10 popped off during the first UK lockdown.

Other recipients of the funding include Leeds-based radio station Sable Radio, Bristol station Noods Radio, and London jazz group Ezra Collective to support their scheme to train Black women in behind-the-scenes music roles.

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The £2m Incubator Fund is designed to help music industry organisations harness the potential of diverse young talent, aged 18-25, in their day-to-day workings by offering grants of up to £30,000.

The Incubator Fund builds on Youth Music’s ‘A Blueprint for the Future’ report, published July 2020, which highlighted systemic issues leading to underrepresentation in the music industry. Among other things, the report found that people from lower income backgrounds are less likely to be earning money in the music industry than their wealthier counterparts (34% vs 55%).

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Matt Griffiths, CEO of Youth Music, has commented, ‘The organisations we’re funding are trailblazers in their own fields. They recognise the huge creative and commercial opportunities to be gained from nurturing the diverse talent that our music industry needs. We constantly campaign to rebuild a more inclusive music industry and our Incubator Fund allows us to propel the forward-thinking organisation sharing that vision.

‘What’s particularly special with our Incubator Fund is seeing individuals who kicked off their careers at Youth Music funded organisations (including Reprezent Radio and Tomorrow’s Warriors) now spearheading the changemaking projects that we’re funding, such as No Signal and Ezra Collective. That’s the long-term impact of investing in grassroots music.’

See a full list of the funding recipients below. Round two of the funding will be open for applications in December 2020, closing on Friday February 5 2021.

Full list of Youth Music’s Incubator Fund recipients, Round 1:

Nottingham Community Artist Network, East Midlands

Swell Music, East of England

Girls I Rate, London

Young Guns Network, London

Roadworks & Spiral Skills, London

Ezra Collective, London

Link Up TV, London

The Crib & AEI, London

No Signal, London

Tees Music Alliance, North East

Generator, North East

Kaleido Music UK, North East

Thirty Pound Gentleman, North West

Reform Radio, North West

Sound City (Liverpool), North West

Creative Crieff, Scotland

QM Records , South East

Palm Bay Music, South East

Platform B, South East

Saffron Records, South West

The Music Works, South West

Black Acre Records, South West

Noods Radio , South West

Forté Project, Wales

Swansea Music Art Digital, Wales

National Youth Arts Wales, Wales

Dontfret Media, West Midlands

Cafe INDIEpendent , Yorkshire & The Humber

Beats Bus Records, Yorkshire & The Humber

Young Thugs, Yorkshire & The Humber

Sable Radio, Yorkshire & The Humber

Jemima Skala is Mixmag’s Weekend Editor. Follow her on Twitter

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