the blog

Make, Do & Bend – the title of our Ideas Lab, yes, but also a good philosophy

Imagine the scene – 25 or so of Europe’s most curious and forward thinking composers, musicians and creative technologists, gathered together at NESTA HQ for a ‘nothing’s impossible’ day of plotting and conspiring, eating and drinking, thinking and doing. All in the name of exploring the next frontiers of live performance, and how digital technology […]Read More

Boomstand – the pop up sound system going places

Hwa Young Jung blogs on the latest outing of Boomstand, a pop up sound system developed during the hub’s Bring & Byte hack weekend in Hebden Bridge in May 2015. Boomstand is a sound system for public space. We install pop-up sound systems in public spaces for anyone to play music through and for musicians, poets, […]Read More

Get curious… Get Generous… Reflections from Venues Day Business Up, Be Inspired panel

Earlier this week I joined 300 other delegates at the Music Venue Trust’s second Venues Day, all of us enjoying the slightly weird experience of drinking tea in the Ministry of Sound bar at 10am on a Tuesday morning. And all of us clutching hot off the press copies of the GLA’s Rescue Plan for […]Read More

Social Media: how important is it, really?

Duel’s Jon Aitken  blogs on why social media should be a vital part of your start-up development Do you need a social media presence for your brand or product? Yes. The answer is always yes. What kind of presence can be a more difficult question, and one that revolves around several factors: the resources you have at […]Read More

Phrased & Confused is back! And Liverpool-bound…

It’s been a while, but we’re delighted to say Phrased & Confused, our Spoken Word and Music project, is back this Autumn after a couple of years R&R! We’ve teamed up with our friends at Unity Theatre in Liverpool to curate a P&C-influenced season of the very best mix of spoken word and music around. […]Read More

EventBox’s CEO Joey Baxter charts the process of bringing a new software platform to market

EventBox is a mobile app and website that lets you listen to gig listings to discover music events happening nearby.  It was supported to market through the hub’s Joining the Dots programme.  Here CEO Joey Baxter charts the process of bringing an idea to fruition. When we started Joining The Dots in March 2014, we had […]Read More

The #OneDayer – A Storify Summary

[View the story “The OneDayer: Finance, Technology and the Future of Independent Music” on Storify]Read More

Looking to the future of music, tech and finance: summary of the #OneDayer Insight programme

Alongside the main conference strand of the #Onedayer, the hub ran an insight programme – short presentations by experts in their own field which looked out into the future and shared (roughly!) five key ideas. Had an insightful & inspiring day @tweetsatthehub #OneDayer! Learnt about data, social future & remembering to make good music! Thanks […]Read More

‘Fresh ideas… knowledge, greater understanding, confidence and new people’ – what musicians will get from The One Dayer

the hub’s One Dayer – Independent Music, Money & Tech takes place in Camden on 1 July. In her latest blog, the hub’s Director, Julia Payne, talks about why the event is a ‘must go to’ event for musicians, songwriters and composers working in beyond mainstream music – and what they can expect to get […]Read More

#VoteForMusic: the sector speaks – postings from The Great Escape

At a packed session at The Great Escape on 15 May, I took to the festival stage, to announce the results of our #VoteForMusic campaign. Joining me on stage were the musician and dj Dan le Sac, Cooking Vinyl founder and chief executive Martin Goldschmidt, The Great Escape’s Martin Elbourne and Yellowbrick music’s Meredith Cork […]Read More