The Great Escape continues to be one of the world’s most important music festival for new music and once again we were there in numbers to get a first-listen to some of the hottest acts in the world and meet up with some of favourite partners. Here are our highlights from another stellar year in Brighton.

Ticketmaster New Music Showcases

Every week the Ticketmaster New Music channel introduces the hottest new live acts to thousands of fans and for the first time ever this year we showcased 12 of our favourite new artists at the Great Escape. Some incredible emerging talent including Scottish punks The Snuts, Japanese all-female 4-piece CHAI and Australia’s Confidence Man (pictured above) played across cross two packed out stages (Komedia Studio & The Dive Bar on the beach). Both venues were literally one-in one-out all night. Check out the full line-ups and galleries.

The Music Venues Trust Announce £1.5 Million Arts Council Funding

By far the biggest news of the weekend was an announcement from the Music Venue Trust at a party hosted by Ticketmaster. It was revealed that the MVT would receive a £1.5 million grant from the Arts Council England to continue and expand their tremendous work in protecting, securing and improving UK grassroots music venues. Live Nation followed up by announcing that Apprenticeship Levy funds would be used to support apprentices in grassroots music venues while Ticketmaster MD Andrew Parsons confirmed a brand new MVT donation option would be added to the Ticketmaster website.

Ticketmaster New Music Artist Hangout

In addition to our 2 stages Ticketmaster New Music also hosted a hangout area on the beach exclusively for artists. Over the course of the weekend even more of our favourite acts dropped in for a drink and other freebies. Fellow MVT supporters Jackpot Peanut Butter were also on hand to provide the best toasties we’ve ever tasted. Check out a collection of artist interviews from the Ticketmaster beach hut.

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Ticketmaster Explain What To Do With All That Data

Complete Music Update once again curated a conference that touched upon some of the most pertinent issues affecting the industry at the minute. Jon West from Ticketmaster’s International Artist Services team was part of the panel wrapping up the Friday morning session focused on music marketing. The panel were in agreement that ticketing can produce is some of the most powerful and indicative data available to artists and their teams while Jon was able to explain how Ticketmaster’s use of Affinity & Predictive Intelligence technology is able to introduce artists to thousands of new fans.

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