SYS 2023 winners No Windows. Photo credit: Euan Robertson.
- Prize fund worth up to £10,000 will support new generation of talent.
- Plus SAY Award reveal over 300 album submissions
- Apply now via www.sayaward.com.
A search for new Scottish talent has officially launched with the country’s national music prize, The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, opening applications for The Sound of Young Scotland Award.
Artists can apply for The Sound of Young Scotland Award for FREE via www.sayaward.com until midnight on Wednesday 21 August.
The next generation of Scottish talent can apply to win a funding package worth up to £10,000 to support the creation of their debut album, as well as gain the coveted title of the Sound of Young Scotland at this year’s prestigious SAY Award ceremony in Stirling. The award is supported by Help Musicians, the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative through Creative Scotland and Youth Music, with the aim of stimulating and supporting the future of Scottish music. The package includes; cash grants for studio/production costs, in-kind use of The Tolbooth in Stirling (inc. the studio, venue space for filming etc.), a performance slot at 2025’s SAY Award Ceremony, 250 vinyl pressings of their debut album from Seabass Vinyl and much more.
Plus, The SAY Award has revealed over 300 eligible albums have been submitted and are now being considered for 2024’s prize. Albums from artists including Mercury Prize nominated Barry Can’t Swim, Siobhan Wilson, The Snuts and more were submitted, with all 300 albums now being considered for Scotland’s national music prize and the £20,000 prize.
The Sound of Young Scotland Award is now in its fourth year, having supported and championed some of the country’s brightest emerging talent. Previous winners include LVRA (2021), Berta Kennedy (2022) and No Windows (2023). To be eligible for the award, artists must be: 18 to 25, have never released an album and be a ‘Scottish’ artist (born in Scotland, 50% of core members born in Scotland, or have made Scotland their creative base for the past two years). View full eligibility criteria and prize fund conditions at www.sayaward.com
The Sound of Young Scotland Award winner will be unveiled at the prestigious SAY Award Ceremony in Stirling’s Albert Halls on Thursday 24 October, alongside the winner of The Scottish Album of the Year Award and the Modern Scottish Classic Award. A limited number of early-bird Ceremony tickets are on sale now via www.sayaward.com.
Morag Macdonald, Youth Music Initiative Manager at Creative Scotland, said: “The Sound of Young Scotland Award is a life-changing opportunity that platforms Scotland’s most exciting young musicians while supporting one act to realise their ambitions of creating a debut album. With support from the Scottish Government, the Youth Music Initiative recognises the value and importance of this award in removing barriers to access for young people in music and take this significant step in progressing their career in music.”
2024’s funding package includes:
- Cash grants totaling £5,500 to go towards activities such as studio hire costs, session musician fees, equipment rentals and more.
- In-kind use of The Tolbooth’s recording studio in Stirling – up to 6 days recording time and 3 days mixing/mastering, or use of venue space for filming and photo requirements
- A performance slot at 2025’s SAY Award ceremony, one of the biggest nights in Scotland’s musical calendar, in front of industry professionals, journalists and music fans
- A bespoke art prize from The SAY Award Design Commission
- 6 hours of one-to-one business advice from industry experts, arranged via Help Musicians
- Online meet-ups with other Help Musicians’ awardees and industry guests, arranged via Help Musicians
- Invites to online peer drop-in spaces with other musicians, arranged via Help Musicians (optional)
- Access to a healthy practice session delivered by BAPAM, arranged via Help Musicians (optional)
- A run of up to 250 vinyl pressings of the album created via the prize; provided in-kind by Seabass Vinyl, Scotland’s first vinyl pressing plant.
The cash grants provided via The Sound of Young Scotland Award include support directly from:
- Help Musicians’ Next Level Award, designed to support musicians ready to pursue a career-changing opportunity.
- Youth Music’s NextGen Fund; designed to support early-stage musicians and wider music adjacent creatives to invest in their own projects and make their ideas happen.
- A cross-genre judging panel of 11 previous SAY Award nominees will review eligible Sound of Young Scotland Award submissions, whittling applicants down to five. The five finalists will be announced alongside The SAY Award Shortlist, before the judging panel reconvenes to choose the final winner.
The Sound of Young Scotland Award is supported by Help Musicians, the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative through Creative Scotland and Youth Music, with the aim of stimulating and supporting the future of Scottish music. Help Musicians is a charity for professional musicians of all genres, giving them the support they need at all stages throughout their career, whilst Youth Music is the country’s leading young people’s music charity, believing that every young person should have the chance to make, learn and earn in music. The Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative is administered by Creative Scotland and aims to provide access to music-making opportunities for children and young people who may not normally have the chance to participate. Together, the three organisations will support the delivery of this year’s Sound of Young Scotland Award; paving the way for future generations of Scottish musicians to thrive and contribute to the country’s world-class recorded output.
The Sound of Young Scotland Award winner will also receive a bespoke prize created by a Stirling-based artist via The SAY Award Design Commission. Expressions of interest for Stirling-based artists are open until Monday 5th August, with local creatives encouraged to design an award with sustainability at its forefront. To enter the Design Commision visit www.sayaward.com/designcommission.
The SAY Award is a Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) production. The SAY Award 2024 is delivered in partnership with Creative Scotland, Stirling Council, Stirling Alive with Culture, Seabass Vinyl, Ticketmaster, Help Musicians, HMV, FOPP, PPL, the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative, Youth Music and Music Declares Emergency.
The SAY Award’s charity partner is once again Scotland’s national children’s and young people’s mental health charity, Tiny Changes, set up in memory of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison to help young minds feel better.
Now in its thirteenth year, previous winners of The SAY Award include; Young Fathers ‘Heavy Heavy’ (2023), Fergus McCreadie ‘Forest Floor’ (2022), Mogwai ‘As The Love Continues' (2021), Nova ‘Re-Up’ (2020), Auntie Flo ‘Radio Highlife’ (2019), Young Fathers ‘Cocoa Sugar’ (2018), Sacred Paws ‘Strike A Match’ (2017), Anna Meredith ‘Varmints’ (2016), Kathryn Joseph ‘Bones You Have Thrown Me And Blood I’ve Spilled’ (2015), Young Fathers ‘Tape Two’ (2014), RM Hubbert ‘Thirteen Lost & Found’ (2013) and the inaugural winner Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat ‘Everything’s Getting Older’ (2012).
Early-bird SAY Award Ceremony tickets on sale now via www.sayaward.com. £18 + booking fee.
Background
SCOTTISH MUSIC INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION (SMIA)
The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) is a not-for-profit trade body and membership organisation which exists to strengthen, empower and unite Scotland’s music industry.
As a Creative Scotland Regularly Funded Organisation (RFO), we work to create and nurture an inclusive membership community which reflects the full spectrum of Scotland’s music industry. We give voice to our membership when speaking to Government, Parliament and development organisations, and we both produce and support projects and programmes that stimulate sustainability, domestic and international growth, development and innovation in Scotland’s music sector. Our services, projects and events are designed to strengthen and increase the value of Scotland’s music industry on the world stage: economically, socially and culturally.
For further information on the SMIA and its services, projects and events please visit www.smia.org.uk.
Keep up to date with the SMIA across our social media channels:
Twitter: twitter.com/TheSMIA |Facebook: facebook.com/TheSMIA | Instagram: instagram.com/the_smia.
CREATIVE SCOTLAND
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot.
Youth Music Initiative
The Youth Music Initiative is a music education programme with a vision to put music at the heart of young people’s lives and learning funded by the Scottish Government through Creative Scotland. Since its establishment in 2007 the programme has distributed over £159 million, transforming music learning facilities for children and young people across the country. You can find out more about the programme on the Creative Scotland website.
STIRLING COUNCIL
Stirling Council serves more than 94,000 residents and a thriving business community in an area that stretches from the scenic Campsie Fells to the vibrant city of Stirling and the outstanding natural landscape of the Trossachs. Stirling is steeped in history and will celebrate its 900th anniversary as a Royal Burgh in 2024. The nation’s most cherished landmarks are found here, including the National Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle, making Stirling alive with history and culture while a growing modern artistic scene nurtures new creative talent.
Equidistant to both Glasgow and Edinburgh, Stirling is ideally situated for business as well as a place to live, work, study and visit. Stirling has a strong reputation as a business and investment location and hosts some of the UK and Europe’s most innovative science and technology businesses, including Codebase, the UK’s largest Technology Incubator.
Stirling Council’s vision is to be a responsive local authority that works positively with employees, partners and communities to deliver on key priorities and ensure the best possible outcomes for everyone who lives in the Stirling area.
SEABASS VINYL
Seabass Vinyl is Scotland’s first vinyl pressing plant. We are an independent, family-owned business, manufacturing records from our factory in East Lothian, with an emphasis on quality and sustainability. We offer fair prices, short production runs and optimised production lead times. Our ambition is to become a valuable partner to the Scottish music industry and our local community.
TICKETMASTER
Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket marketplace and the global market leader in live event ticketing products and services. Through official partnerships with thousands of venues, artists, sports teams, festivals, performing arts centres and theatres, Ticketmaster processes 550 million tickets per year across 35+ different countries.
HELP MUSICIANS
Help Musicians is a charity that loves music and for over 100 years has been working hard to make a meaningful difference to the lives of musicians across the UK. It offers a broad range of help to support music creators in times of crisis and opportunity - ensuring musicians across the UK can achieve their creative potential and sustain a career in music.
HMV
HMV, for the fans since 1921. A leading specialist retailer of music, film, pop culture and technology products, with over 100 stores around the UK & Ireland offering a wide selection of new release and catalogue titles
FOPP
PPL
Founded in 1934, PPL is the UK music industry’s collective management organisation (CMO) for performers and recording rightsholders. We licence recorded music in the UK when it is played in public (bars, nightclubs, shops, offices, etc.) or broadcast (BBC, commercial radio, commercial TV, etc.) and we work to ensure that revenue flows back to both our own members and those of our international CMO partners. Our members include both independent and major record companies, together with performers ranging from emerging grassroots artists through to established session musicians and globally renowned artists.
PPL’s public performance licensing is carried out on our behalf by PPL PRS Ltd, the joint venture between PPL and PRS for Music. Through a network of agreements with other CMOs around the world, we also collect performance rights internationally when music is played overseas in public and used on TV, radio and some online streaming services, as well as for private copying. International royalties are an increasingly important revenue stream for performers and recording rightsholders.
In 2023, PPL paid out a record £279.6 million to more than 165,000 performers and recording rightsholders, the highest in the organisation’s 90-year history.
YOUTH MUSIC INITIATIVE
The Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative (YMI), administered by Creative Scotland, creates access to high quality music making opportunities, enables young people to achieve their potential in or through music and supports the development of the sector for the benefit of young people. In 2021/22, more than 362,483 children and young people from Scotland’s 32 local authority areas were given free access to music-making experiences. To find out more about the YMI programme please visit https://www.creativescotland.com/youth-music-initiative.
YOUTH MUSIC
Youth Music is the UK’s leading young people’s music charity. We believe that every young person should have the chance to make, learn and earn in music. Yet our research shows that many can’t because of who they are, where they’re from or what they’re going through. We leverage our insights, investment, and influence to build a national grassroots infrastructure that ensures the future of music is more inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible. Youth Music is funded thanks to the National Lottery via Arts Council England, players of People's Postcode Lottery and support from partners, fundraisers and donors.
MUSIC DECLARES EMERGENCY
Formed by a group of UK based artists and music industry professionals in London in 2019, Music Declares Emergency has now expanded to four continents and works with over 8000 declarers from all sectors and areas of the global music industry, placing music at the heart of conversation and action in relation to the climate emergency. Our work engages fans with the facts, develops messaging that cuts through the noise, works with artists to use their platforms, and encourages new business practice. Our ‘No Music On A Dead Planet’ message has been seen by millions and frames a community of music lovers dedicated to working with us and the movement to campaign for systemic change to deliver real action on climate. www.musicdeclares.net.
TINY CHANGES
Tiny Changes is Scotland’s first national young people’s mental health charity. We run projects with young leaders that help young minds feel better. The charity was set up in memory of artist and Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison. Through his music and art Scott made tiny changes that had a big impact on people from all walks of life. We believe that Scotland’s young people deserve great mental health, and we believe in their insight and innovation to make this possible. We exist to nurture the talent of young people to find solutions that work for them.
In four years, we’ve funded 69 innovative mental health ideas - from bubble therapy with refugees to peer-led crisis prevention cafe and d/Deaf youth wellbeing resources - supporting over 4,000 children and young people, with many of them leading change in their communities. Over the next three years we'll support young people to co-design and lead Tiny Changes projects, while learning as much as we can about our impact. Our two goals are to invest £1 million in young people’s mental health and to support 10,000 children and young people by the end of 2026.
Media contact
Colette Baptie | [email protected] | 07807 887 527