Glastonbury have announced details of their annual Emerging Talent Competition ahead of the festival’s 50th-anniversary this June. The contest gives acts of any musical genre the chance to win a slot on one of Glastonbury’s main stages.
Supported by PRS for Music and the PRS Foundation, the winners will also be awarded a £5,000 Talent Development Prize. Two runners-up will get a £2,500 Talent Development Prize and usually also end up with a spot on the festival’s line-up.
The competition is only open to UK and Ireland based acts, who can enter via this page on the Glastonbury website.
Entries are open for one week only from 9am Monday 27th January until 5pm Monday 3rd February.
Entries must supply an original song on SoundCloud alongside a video of themselves performing. 30 music writers will then help compile a longlist of 90 acts. Judges, including Glastonbury organisers Michael and Emily Eavis, will then narrow this down to just eight finalists.
Live finals in Pilton this April will decide the winner, though for the last five years, all eight finalists were offered a slot at the upcoming Glastonbury Festival. Singer-songwriter Marie White was last year’s winner who went on to sign with Decca Records and Universal Music Publishing Group.
Glastonbury Festival co-organiser Emily Eavis said: “It’s always such a pleasure to hear the latest crop of amazing, undiscovered music that’s out there. Over the years, the Emerging Talent Competition has helped us to unearth so many incredible artists from across the genres – dozens of whom have been given slots at the Festival. I can’t wait to hear this year’s entries!”
Amy Field, Senior Events Manager at PRS for Music said: “Performing at Glastonbury Festival is a dream for many new artists and this year is extra special due to it being Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary. PRS for Music is delighted to be partnering with Glastonbury Festival once again on the Emerging Talent Competition, an amazing initiative that brings new talent to the forefront and gives them an opportunity to perform at the best festival in the world. The competition is a highlight of the year for us and our members. I can’t wait to hear the music that this year brings.”
Joe Frankland, CEO of PRS Foundation said: “The Emerging Talent Competition is a unique opportunity that highlights the extraordinary phenomenon of Glastonbury Festival and the important role that it plays in the UK music industry. Some of our major success stories at PRS Foundation have been discovered at the Emerging Talent Competition final, including Flohio, She Drew The Gun, Izzy Bizu and Declan McKenna. With a prestigious slot at Glastonbury Festival and a talent development bursary, all of these artists have been able to get to the next stage in their career – there might even be a few future headliners in there! We look forward to hearing who comes forward this year.”
Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift were confirmed as the Pyramid Stage headliners for Saturday and Sunday before Christmas. Ahead of the announcements, Taylor Swift was the bookmakers’ favourite headliner while The 1975 were considered fourth most likely by Sky Bet.
In addition to Paul McCartney, Wolf Alice and Diana Ross are the only other artists officially confirmed for the festival’s line-up, though Mike Skinner and Carl Cox have ‘self-confirmed’.
Aerosmith appear to have self-confirmed by mistake in an email newsletter sent out to fans. Supergrass are strongly-rumoured after reforming in September to perform at Pilton Party, a ‘thank-you’ event for the local community organised by Glastonbury.
The 1975 named “headlining Glastonbury” as their ambition while featuring on Radio 1’s Future Sounds with Annie Mac last week, but said they’re “busy this year”, fuelling rumours the Cheshire band could appear in 2021.
Rumours of My Chemical Romance appearing have stepped up a gear after the band announced their first UK show since the band split in 2013 will take place just days before Glastonbury gets started.
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Glastonbury 50, the book commemorating the festival’s 50th-anniversary, was named as a ‘Book of the Year’ by The Times for 2019. It previously ranked third in the Sunday Times Bestseller List for hardback non-fiction books.
The book is authored by organisers Michael and Emily Eavis and contains hundreds of photos from the festival and celebrity contributions.
In an alternative chart released by Amazon, Glastonbury 50 placed 10th among all non-fiction books after its first week of sales. The book had recently sold out in some stores, but festival organisers confirmed today the second print run had now arrived and all stores should be restocked soon, if not already.
Glastonbury’s 50th-anniversary will take place at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset from Wednesday 24th to Sunday 28th June 2020.
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Image credits:
Anna Barclay
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