The Featured Artists Coalition and Amazon Music announce awardees for 2024’s Step Up Fund

The Featured Artists Coalition have introduced the ten awardees for 2024’s Step Up Fund, with Amazon Music. Examine them out beneath.

Established in 2022 to counteract the rising monetary and structural challenges going through upcoming, impartial artists within the UK, the Step Up Fund has to this point helped 31 artists by way of grants and mentorships.

Amongst earlier awardees are Amie Blu, Chalk, Cherise, Declan Welsh & The Decadent West, Elkka, Friedberg, Jalen Ngonda, Joel Culpepper and VUKOVI.

This yr’s awardees, who had been chosen by a panel of trade professionals, span a spread of genres together with pop, steel, hip-hop and R&B, and are drawn from throughout the UK. They’ll all obtain a grant of as much as £8,000, alongside mentoring, a one-year PRO membership to the FAC, a one-year subscription to Amazon Music and content material creation alternatives.

2024’s cohort is made up of Azekel, BEKA, Blair Davie, Soiled Good, Hana Lili, Lime Backyard, Olive Jones, ShaSimone, SOFY and unpeople. You may try their music by way of an introductory playlist here.

The fund will enable the artists to pay for issues to spice up their careers in music — together with recording and mastering prices, video creation, PR and advertising and marketing campaigns, showcasing and touring.

Brighton indie-rock band Lime Backyard, who’re among the many awardees, spoke to NME about their experiences as rising artists within the UK earlier this yr.

On receiving the award, they stated: “Awards like Step Up present important help for brand spanking new artists to develop sustainable careers within the music trade. For us, the prices related to taking part in summer time festivals, exhibits round Europe, and our first U.S. headline tour this Autumn are big monetary commitments.

They continued: “Having the funding help from Amazon Music and the trade help from the Featured Artists Coalition makes touring potential”.

The fund is open to artists aged 18 and above who’ve launched a minimum of three songs throughout the final yr, which will need to have a minimal of 15k streams per music or one music with 45k streams on a chart-eligible UK streaming service. Awardees should not have an ongoing settlement with a significant or giant impartial document label.

In an announcement, David Martin, CEO of Featured Artists Coalition stated he was “persistently impressed by the standard and the sheer quantity of artists who apply.”

“The UK clearly has no scarcity of expertise, and there may be evidently an actual want for extra of this type of focused funding, that may assist impartial artists realise their potential and construct sustainable careers,” Martin continued. “Due to the generosity of Amazon Music, the FAC’s Step Up Fund is taking part in an actual half to assist tackle that problem. I’m extremely happy with what we’ve achieved collectively in such a brief period of time, and sit up for seeing how 2024’s awardees progress over the following 12 months.”

Laura Lukanz, Head of Music UK, Australia & New Zealand, Amazon Music stated: “Teaming up with the FAC to help the Step Up Fund for a 3rd yr continues to be a spotlight of the yr for the group and I.

She went on to say: “The excellent calibre of functions we obtain yearly serves as a robust reminder of the immense pool of proficient artists we’ve within the UK. Making our alternatives is at all times a difficult course of. I can’t wait to see what’s subsequent for the ten artists receiving a grant every this yr.”