On the 4th November Manchester's Northern Quarter will host the first Off The Record a festival for emerging talent.  The event is the brainchild of three of the UK's best independent  - Kendal Calling, Sound City and Bluedot, together with Louder Than War..

The event will play host to a music conference curated by Sound City and Louder than War, it will feature label and publishing A&R, agents, bloggers and promoters, who inspire those starting out in the industry.

From afternoon until deep into the night, Off The Record Live will showcase performances by 30 emerging artists across 6 venues..

The artists performing are nominated by 30 national curators (including: Guy Garvey, Lara Baker, Elizabeth Alker, Huw Stephens, John Kennedy and Tim Burgess) each of which will put forward 3 hotly tipped emerging artists, defined as having been together less than 24 months and not yet released a debut album.

Andy Smith, Director of From The Fields (Kendal Calling and Bluedot) said

“Each curator will nominate the top three emerging acts that they believe will make the biggest impact on the national stage in the next 18 months. Their combined recommendations will see the most nominated 30 acts programmed to perform. And these will be NEW acts.. acts which have formed within the last 24 months and yet to release an album. We believe that new music is at a creative high and we will prove it with this unique event.

We’ve taken the unusual step to not release a lineup until the event is nearly upon us. For most emerging artists a captivating live performance comes well before they have the opportunity to step foot in a professional recording studio - we want to capture the thrill of seeing something truly special and new on stage for the first time with no preconceptions.

The networking element of conferences is very important to me. The idea for Kendal Calling was formed at a music conference in Kendal back in 2005, and I’ve gone on to meet brilliant people at conferences as far apart as Brighton, Norwich and Halifax (Nova Scotia), some of whom have become very key members of our team. I hope the conference will prove a very useful gathering for Manchester and the North’s music industry, whether aspiring or professional.”