{"id":19135,"date":"2019-04-26T11:02:57","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T10:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/?page_id=19135"},"modified":"2019-09-05T18:24:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T17:24:13","slug":"fsn-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/fsn-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"FSN 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 FUTURE SOUND OF NOTTINGHAM 2019 \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/1232858490223502\/\"><strong>FACEBOOK FINAL EVENT HERE.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>SO FAR<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>24\/06\/19 &#8211; The #FSN2019 Industry Professionals for the Final, have been revealed via the New Music Podcast.<\/li>\n<li>10\/06\/19 &#8211; The #FSN2019 Finalists have been revealed, via the New Music Podcast.<\/li>\n<li>27\/05\/19 &#8211; The #FSN2019 Semi-Finalists have been revealed, via the New Music Podcast.<\/li>\n<li>13\/05\/19 &#8211; The Industry Professionals for Round One have been revealed, via the New Music Podcast.<\/li>\n<li>29\/04\/19 &#8211; #FSN2019 is open, via the New Music Podcast.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>YOUR FINALISTS ARE<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>MOLLIE RALPH<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>JACOB FOWLER<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>REMY<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>DESENSITISED<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>DON&#8217;T FORGET RUPERT<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>NEAR MRS<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>EXCHECKER<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>ROCK CITY FINAL (7TH JULY 2019) \u2013 RULES<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FSN aspires to create for Notts musicians the opportunity to play in front of huge audiences, on iconic stages, in front of Industry Professionals that can help them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The voting process is quite complicated, there is method in the apparent madness though! Every rule is about trying to create as epic an experience as possible for the musicians taking part, hopefully the best gig of their lives, one that might even change their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s a mixed voting system, between audience vote and a \u2018Industry Professionals Panel\u2019 vote. This is an attempt to get the best of both worlds in terms of fairness and also to create a system that helps stimulate a vibrant gig for the musicians. We appreciate there is a risk we simply end up pissing off everybody.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>HAVING THE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL PANEL:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Addresses the natural numerical advantage of bands with audience votes, and so re-balances things a bit towards the solo artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Makes sure raw talent, yet to build any following, is recognised.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Gives you a chance to perform in front of well connected, Industry Professionals, who can help your career. On the Nottingham level this panel is huge, pretty much every major player in Nottingham is represented {the one exception is Dean Jackson from the BBC, who prefers to stay neutral (as we do, so we empathise)}. This in itself is a big opportunity regardless of the result. For example in both 2013 and 2012 FSN artists have so impressed the Industry Professional representing Splendour, that they have booked them for Splendour even though they didn\u2019t win (Sam Jones in 2013, Indiana in 2012). In 2014 two of the six finalists secured management from an Industry Professional, off the back of their performance. In 2015, one of the finalists secured management from an Industry Professional, off the back of their performance. In 2016 Lisa Hendricks played the FSN Final, in 2017 she was booked for Splendour by one of the FSN Industry Professionals. You get the vibe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those Industry Professionals are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Revealed on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/nusic-new-music-podcast-207-263-tracklisting\/\"><strong>this New Music Podcast.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our primary brief is to curate a panel full of the Nottingham residents most able to help our finalists. We also seek to ensure demographic diversity too. Our brief is to find:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Individuals who have a significant audience (which we define as thousands to tens of thousands) plus the freedom to give exposure to local musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Individuals with significant professional music industry connections, such that could lead to high profile gigs or even management\/ label introductions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 The majority of our Industry Professionals will have both.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; And this year we have added a new criteria &#8211; Industry Professionals who can advise you \/ help you with getting career-changing funding<\/p>\n<p><b>AUDIENCE VOTE:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Helps mobilise your fans. Knowing they can make a difference encourages friends, family and fans to come down and support, in the process creating a vibey crowd and better atmosphere for all artists. That\u2019s really key, it\u2019s a better vibe for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Ensures that talent talented enough to have built a following gets recognised. It is ironic when people moan, \u2018they only won because they have more fans than us\u2019, why do they have fans? A significant following implies you\u2019re creating music that is connecting with people. Our \u2018no covers\u2019 policy ensures good looks and the ability to play someone else\u2019s three chord hit is not enough.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>AUDIENCE VOTE METHOD<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 \u00a0Three announced \u2018audience votes\u2019 throughout the night via a decibel-o-meter on stage taking precise Db readings of audience volume level (from the same location). The thinking:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 A decibel-o-meter on the stage encourages the crowd to come to the front and get boisterous, not awkwardly stand quietly at the back like a school disco, creating a better atmosphere for all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Taking three \u2018audience votes\u2019 throughout the night ensures fans of all artists are encouraged to watch all artists thereby creating a better atmosphere for all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Having three specific announced (on the night) \u2018audience vote moments\u2019 means everyone will know when the vote is being taken and when to make extra noise for their fav. It also means at all other times they can get behind all artists not worrying about being seen as \u2018unfaithful\u2019! Creating a better atmosphere for all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We will announce these audience vote moments on stage, we will then read out each artist name and precisely measure the noise from the crowd for each artist. This will be done near the start at 7pm, near the last artist and one time at random.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Industry Professionals will be marking you out of ten on these criteria:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Stage Presence \u2013 swagger, presence, engagement with audience.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Raw Talent \u2013 as perceived by the individual Industry Professional.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Quality of Performance \u2013 in time, in tune, hitting notes etc<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Quality of Songs \u2013 as perceived by the individual Industry Professional.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Splendour Suitability \u2013 would you \u2018work\u2019 opening the main stage?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eight Industry Professionals scoring you out of 50, the top score and bottom score will be removed, the remaining six will form a score out of 300. We remove the top and bottom score to help ensure independence and fairness. We want our judging process to be impartial and independent. Striving for that over time we have realised it\u2019s IMPOSSIBLE to put together a panel of individuals with knowledge of the Nottingham Music scene who do not have connections with musicians in that scene, everyone has their favourites. By excluding the top vote you make sure any \u2018freak\u2019 50 out of 50 given to the act who features one of the panel\u2019s neighbour\u2019s sons girlfriends does not bias the result. By excluding the bottom vote you make sure any \u2018freak\u2019 0 out of 50 given to the act who features the bully of one of the panel\u2019s kids, does not bias the result.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each of the three \u2018audience votes\u2019 will be out of 50, scores will be allocated like this:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Highest Db \u2013 50<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 2nd \u2013 45<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 3rd \u2013 40<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 4th \u2013 35<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 5th \u2013 30<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 6th \u2013 25<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After three votes we will have a second score, out of 150, giving each artist an overall score out of 450. Needless to say the highest score out of 450 wins that main stage slot at Splendour.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Complicated yes, but all aimed at creating the best possible atmosphere for all, as well as seeking a winning artist talented enough to win the love of the Industry Professionals\u2019 and the people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Should there be a tie, the artist with the highest overall \u2018Splendour Suitability\u2019 score from the panel, becomes the FSN Champ. Should scores still be tied, the Splendour representative on the Industry Professionals panel, will cast the deciding vote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>FINALLY\u2026 Performance rules:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Be nice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Sets must be no longer than 15 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Sets may comprise no more than 4 songs. This was a change for 2018 (it used to be 3). Sets must still be no longer than 15 minutes, and this rule will be strictly enforced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 No covers. We roll with the Wikipedia definition: \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released song by someone other than the original artist or composer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 \u00a0You can swear if you wanna, but it probably ain\u2019t gonna help your \u2018Splendour Suitability\u2019 score.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Samples must not be so long they sound like covers, our broad rule of thumb is that a sample longer than four bars starts to raise eyebrows, longer than eight bars and we may well feel unable to allow it. Obviously the sample can be looped ad infinitum. Official Hip-Hop term that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If in doubt Chair of Judges Jackie P and Nusic Founder Mark Del will make final judgement call, where clarity is lacking due to no precise rule currently relating to the precise matter arising, decision will be made in the context of this question, \u201cdoes this align with the spirit of FSN?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For context a reminder of that spirit \u2013 to create for Notts musicians the opportunity to play in front of huge audiences, on iconic stages, in front of Industry Professionals that can help them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And be nice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>PRE FINAL PROMOTION<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We try hard to secure as many unique promo opportunities as possible for the finalists, in fact it\u2019s one of the big \u2018musician helping\u2019 features of FSN \u2013 musicians get a big boost in profile from all the promo that comes with making the Final. We treat all artists equally and offer all opportunities to all artists, whether they take up those opportunities or not is obvs up to them. In other words any significant differences you observe in artist promo levels will be down to the artists\u2019 level of proactivity and \/ or their strategy, some artists don\u2019t like doing promo, they don\u2019t feel it\u2019s part of their brand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other \u2018extenuating circumstance\u2019 is musicians from parts of Notts that have their own ultra local media outlets, places like Mansfield that have their own paper and radio station. Artists from those areas may secure extra promo from their \u2018home support\u2019, student musicians may secure support from student media etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>SEMI FINAL (ROUND TWO) RULES \u2013 THE PUBLIC VOTE<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast to Round One which was an Industry Professionals expert panel, the Semi-Finals are a public vote. We deliberately mix things up, an IP vote ensures new talent (that\u2019s really good) yet to build a fanbase gets a chance (as well as solo artists who often miss out in public votes simply due to there being less of them in the \u2018musical entity\u2019), a public vote ensures local musicians who have been good enough to build a fanbase get to acknowledge that, additionally the public vote is accompanied by a dedicated version of the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/category\/podcasts\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> NEW MUSIC PODCAST<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> offering the public an easy way to hear all the Semi-Finalists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The public vote is open from 11pm Monday 27th May through to 11.59pm Sunday 2nd June. It will be an \u2018open\u2019 vote (in that you can see who is winning) until 11.59pm Saturday 1st June. At this point, we intend to (technology allowing) make the vote private, this will drive the audience to the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/category\/podcasts\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> NEW MUSIC PODCAST<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (giving more exposure, to more musicians) where we will announce the results exclusively on Monday 10th June. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Re our musical inclusivity rules:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Solo artists. At least two solo artists must make the Final six. This would normally mean if four bands (definition = non-session musician featuring musical combos of two or more) take the top four places in the public vote then the 3rd and 4th place bands will be replaced by the highest placed solo artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Indi Rule means two artists are already in the Final, and this year BOTH of them are a solo artist (as defined below) &#8211; MOLLIE RALPH and JACOB FOWLER. Therefore the twelve artists in the Semi-Final vote will be competing for four places, with no impact from whether they are solo or a band.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our definition of a band (above) does allow for solo artists who are not playing solo. An act with more than one person playing on stage that is named after the lead singer (who writes their songs without contribution from any session musicians they play with), and in which the other musicians are effectively session musicians (and so are significantly less motivated to put the effort in to secure a Final place), is deemed a solo act. We\u2019ll be direct with you, this is probably the trickiest grey area to address in the whole of FSN. Over the years we have found this definition to be the best compromise, we know it\u2019s not perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Musical Diversity. Our musical diversity rules (which you can read about in full in the Round One rules) have proved effective in ensuring genres such as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHip-Hop, Grime, Soul, Reggae, World, (any form of) Electronic Music plus any genre related to these six musical families\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> made it into the Semi-Final in their own right. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rule states there must be at least two artists from these genres in the Semi-Final, four artists made it thru \u2018naturally\u2019, so the rule does not need to be applied this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Re our \u2018new talent gets the opportunity\u2019 rules:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Previous FSN Finalists \u2013 We only allow a maximum of two previous FSN finalists through to the Final. This year, there are no artists that have played the FSN final before.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 RE: \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No more than six artists who have already played Splendour (in previous years) can make it through to the Semi-Finals. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c \u2013 One artist in this year\u2019s Final, and two artists in the Semi-Final have played Splendour before \u2013 MOLLIE RALPH, who played Acoustic Rooms stage in 2018, DON\u2019T FORGET RUPERT, who played the Confetti stage in 2018, and&#8230;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Ben, from BENJAMIN ZIEC AND THE RAREBREEDS, was a member of FSN 2012\u2019s champs THE AFTERDARK MOVEMENT. Clearly that is more than four years ago &#8211; and as explained in the R1 section, this means he is now allowed to enter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>TRANSPARENCY DECLARATIONS<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There were several artists that would have required potential transparency declarations (ex-interns \/ ex-work experience etc), amongst the 75 entries. However, none of those made it through to the Semi-Final.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>CONFLICT OF INTEREST<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of June 2019 no one in the Nusic team has a potential FSN Conflict of Interest, with the following exceptions \/ clarifications:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part time Nusic Editor Sam Nahirny manages HASHTAGOBI, meaning Hashtag may not enter the Future Sound of Nottingham.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part time Nusic Editor Sam Nahirny is a professional music photographer, having photographed world famous artists such as J Cole, Wolf Alice and Stormzy. Sam offers a discounted service to Nottingham musicians which means he has photographed over 30 Notts musicians. Only one that he has worked with has made it into the fourteen. That artist is MOLLIE RALPH.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>THE VOTING SYSTEM<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the help of Leftlion\u2019s IT genuis Al, we have continued our attempts to make the voting system as rigorous as possible. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Continuing our developments last year, in 2019, the vote is a two-step system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means voters will need both a working email AND a UK phone number. Similar to if you have two-step authentication on your Gmail \/ Facebook etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have done this to make it as hard to cheat as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three ways people try to cheat\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People who already have several real email addresses of their own &#8211; humans, who through their different workplaces \/ creative endeavours, have multiple email accounts, who end up casting multiple votes, even though it is just one person. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018Hard labour cheating\u2019 \u2013 Humans spending time setting up new emails over and over again (hotmail etc), so they can cast extra votes. Again, even though it is just one person.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Errr, \u2018dark web\u2019 cheating \u2013 Humans bulk buying email addresses or quite literally buying the service of someone casting the vote on their behalf.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two-step process makes all three of these methods significantly more difficult to do (we wanna say impossible, but we\u2019re trying to be realistic). As even though lots of peeps have multiple emails, and \/ or can be bothered to set up multiple new emails, setting up multiple UK phone numbers, whilst possible, requires a lot more resource.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, whilst it does take approx 39 seconds longer to vote, we hope it\u2019s all worth it. This should ensure a just result. And a fairer experience for all the artists. Thank you to Al from Leftlion for all his help making this happen. x<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>THIS IS HOW TO ENTER ROUND ONE\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Pick your strongest, most appropriate, original track (no covers) and email it to us, one track only, along with confirmation of your \u2018Nottingham-ness\u2019 and that you are available to play on July 7th (Rock City Final) &amp; July 20th (Splendour).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 For full rules PLUS definition of NottinghamNESS look below at the rules. As Nusic is all about raw talent, we accept phone recordings if you do not have studio recordings yet. But if you do have studio recordings, send us those.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Email that MP3 or phone recording with Subject Title \u201cFSN ENTRY\u201d, confirmation of availability, your NotinghamNESS plus contact details, to the email address <\/span><a href=\"mailto:nusic@leftlion.co.uk\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nusic@leftlion.co.uk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do the above before 11.59pm on <\/span><b>Sunday 19th May.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>ROUND ONE RULES \u2013 The Industry Professionals Round &#8211; #FSN2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>YOU MUST BE FROM NOTTS \u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0See FAQ11 to see what qualifies as Notts in our #NusicFAQs: nusic.org.uk\/faq<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>ALL INCLUSIVE <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 To encourage all musical genres and musical combinations to seize this opportunity, we have a number of rules that aspire to encourage a diversity of participants in FSN that reflects both the incredible musical diversity across Nottinghamshire as well as our own founding principle about supporting all genres. FSN is not just about bands, as awesome as the bands of Notts are. So:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have a rule to ensure solo artists are not disadvantaged.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have a rule to make FSN accessible to electronic artists, rappers and MCs (in other words, musicians who often perform purely with pre-recorded backing).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have two rules to ensure artists performing Hip-Hop, Grime, Soul, Reggae, World, (any form of) Electronic Music plus any genre related to these six musical families, from whom we classically have less entries (proportionally), are encouraged to seize this opportunity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Details on these rules below.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>SOLO ARTISTS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no potential disadvantage for a solo artist in the Industry Professionals Round, the rule to ensure solo artists are not disadvantaged in FSN, kicks in Round Two (the Semi-Finals). This will be clarified when the Round Two (Semi-Finals) rules are announced, and will take a similar form as the last three years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>ACCESSIBILITY<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The minimum requirement for playing live is a live vocal, singing over a backing track, Ableton etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>MUSICAL DIVERSITY<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At least two of the twelve Semi-Finalists will be artists who perform Hip-Hop, Grime, Soul, Reggae, World, (any form of) Electronic Music plus any genre related to these six musical families. This (we acknowledge subjective) judgement call on which artists qualify will be made by Judging Chairwoman Jackie P from Kemet FM and Nusic Founder Mark Del. Their frame of reference is \u2018Would this song be played on Kemet FM and\/or BBC 1Xtra?\u2019. This rule is not perfect, but it comes from a good place, aspiring to make sure FSN is open to all genres.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strictly speaking this is a Semi Final (Round Two) rule but we thought you should know upfront\u2026 At least one of the six Finalists will be an artist who performs Hip-Hop, Grime, Soul, Reggae, World, (any form of) Electronic Music plus any genre related to these six musical families. This (we acknowledge subjective) judgement call (you\u2019re about to get deja vu!) on which artists qualify will be made by Judging Chairwoman Jackie P from Kemet FM and Nusic Founder Mark Del. This rule is not perfect, but it comes from a good place, to make sure the FSN Final embraces all genres.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>RAW TALENT <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 We have three rules to ensure raw talent is recognised, and to ensure that FSN does not end up featuring purely artists who have already had the opportunity of playing either Splendour or the FSN Final.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Details on these rules below.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>ENSURING NEW TALENT GETS THE OPPORTUNITY:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No more than six artists who have already played Splendour (in previous years) can make it through to the Semi-Finals. This means that should the Industry Professionals (who vote \u2018blind\u2019) vote through seven artists who it turns out have played Splendour before, the seventh artist would not make it through.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No more than two artists who have already played the Rock City FSN Final can make it through to the 2019 Final. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across the three rounds of FSN we try and mix democracy (public votes) with expertise (Industry Professional votes), we feel this has worked quite well since 2009, for example the FSN2012 winners THE AFTERDARK MOVEMENT were in the top two in all three rounds. But we are always trying to make it better. In 2012 we also had an extreme case, an incredible raw talent who\u2019d never done a single gig in their life entered FSN and rightly (as shown by their subsequent success) won Round One (the Industry Professionals vote) by a mile, the largest points victory ever in fact. Despite their clear stand out talent they did not get through Round Two, they were so new they had no following yet and not enough neutral voters took part to see them through. <\/span><b>As Nusic is all about uncovering new talent we were frustrated that FSN was not able to \u2018cope\u2019 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with such an extreme scenario (by extreme we mean so good whilst simultaneously so unknown, thereby winning Round One but totally out of it in Round Two), so we brought in a new rule in 2013, which we extended in 2014.<\/span><b> The top two in the Industry Professionals vote will get automatic byes through to the Final.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>WHO CANNOT ENTER?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Group One<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> -Those who have won \/ headlined any previous NUSIC or NOTTS UNSIGNED \u2018musician helping events\u2019. For the avoidance of doubt this means THE DANDYLIONS, BROTHERHOOD, SUPER FURNITURE, SUSPECT ALIBI, JOY MUMFORD, THE GORGEOUS CHANS, THE AFTERDARK MOVEMENT, KAPPA GAMMA, KAGOULE, THE MONEY, LONG DEAD SIGNAL, DOG IS DEAD, FRONTIERS and THE TURF. Previous runners-up and Finalists CAN enter.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Group Two <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Any Nottingham artist <\/span><b>ALREADY<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> announced on the bill for THIS year\u2019s Splendour.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Group Three<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Musicians who are unable to perform at least three original tracks live in the final. <\/span><b>To clarify the minimum requirement for playing live is a live vocal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, singing over a backing track, Ableton etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Group Four<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Artists who only play covers, no covers are allowed to be entered or performed, FSN (and Nusic generally) is all about encouraging original song writing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Grey Area\/s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 What if you are a new artist that includes members who used to be in one of the artists listed in \u2018Group One\u2019? This is where it gets reeaaalllll complicated. It wouldn\u2019t be fair to have pretty much the same artist get to play that main stage again would it? But also it wouldn\u2019t be fair for a band of six to be excluded because one of them played triangle as a session musician back in 2011 for THE MONEY. So. If your new artist contains the same humans as before, you cannot enter. If your new artist has two or more members of an artist listed in \u2018Group One\u2019 it must be at least four years since your old act got through. If you are the only member of a \u2018Group One\u2019 artist, in your new artist, and there are at least three of you in total, you may enter now. Unless you are the lead singer \/ front person, in which case again it must be four years since your \u2018Group One\u2019 artist made it. Sorry singers, but you are the key distinguisher of any artist. Sometimes there are downsides to being the star, but hey, you get all the groupies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Listed below<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As always we will put together a panel of the most \u2018able-to-help\u2019 industry peeps we can find in Nottingham, this means whether or not you \u2018win\u2019 you get your music heard by people who can help you. Our main concern with the panel is filling it with people who can help you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL PROCESS<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Each IP will twice mark each artist out of ten, after listening to one track from each artist <\/span><b>without knowing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who the artist is. The first mark will be for \u2018raw talent\u2019 as perceived by that Industry Professional. The second mark will be for \u2018Splendour main stage suitability\u2019 as perceived by that individual IP. Scores from the IP giving the highest score will be excluded (explained below), as of 2015 the lowest score is also excluded (also explained below). The other three Industry Professionals (as there will now be five in total) will have their scores all added together giving each artist a final mark out of 60. The top two (subject to the criteria outlined above and below) artists will go straight through to the FSN Final at Rock City (see raw talent rules above), the next ten artists go through to Round Two (Semi-Finals). The 11th and 12th artists in Round Two will be the Nottingham Music Hub and Inspire Youth Arts artists (entities we collaborate with to support young musicians in their first year or two of playing live).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>WHO ARE THE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS? <\/b><\/p>\n<div>&#8211; Maddy Chamberlain &#8211; Head of DHP Local Team<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Becky Timmins &#8211; Music Editor &#8211; \u00a0Leftlion<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Jackie P &#8211; Brekkie Host at Kemet FM (plus our Chair of Judges)<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Russ Noon &#8211; Spool and Notts TV<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Spencer Wells &#8211; Artist Manager at Denizen<\/div>\n<p><b>Our brief is to curate a panel of Industry Professionals full of the Nottingham residents most able to help the musicians entering FSN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u2018ability to help\u2019 is the defining factor in our selections. We define that as:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2013 Individuals who have a significant audience<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (which we define as thousands to tens of thousands) plus the freedom to give exposure to local musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2013 Individuals with significant professional music and \/ or media industry connections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such that could lead to high profile gigs or event management\/ label introductions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2013 The majority of our Industry Professionals will have both.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>WHY DO YOU EXCLUDE THE HIGHEST SCORE? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 It\u2019s about ensuring independence and fairness. We want our judging process to be impartial and independent, striving for that over time we have realised its intrinsically impossible to put together a panel of individuals with knowledge of the Nottingham Music scene who do not have connections with musicians in that scene, everyone has their favourites. By excluding the top vote you make sure any \u2018freak\u2019 10 out of 10 given to the artist who features one of the judge\u2019s \u2018neighbour\u2019s son\u2019s best friend\u2019s girlfriend\u2019, does not bias the result. This score will only be used if there is a tie.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>WHY DO YOU EXCLUDE THE LOWEST SCORE? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 This was a new idea in 2015, and it worked well, it is about our continued efforts to ensure independence and fairness. We want our judging process to be impartial and independent, striving for that over time we have realised its intrinsically impossible to put together a panel of individuals with knowledge of the Nottingham Music scene who do not have connections with musicians in that scene, everyone has their favourites AND their biases. By excluding the bottom vote as well as the top vote, you make sure any \u2018freak\u2019 0 out of 10 scores given to an artist who features the kid from school who used to bully the judge\u2019s son, or who makes music in a genre that a particular judge absolutely hates etc does not bias the result. Since 2015, we have had a fifth Industry Professional to ensure we have three \u2018valid\u2019 votes for each artist. There is also an impact simply by virtue of having this rule re lowest score and the rule re highest score, as our panel now know there is no point giving a ridiculously low or high score, hopefully the mere existence of the rule makes the panel score more fairly and accurately.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>I\u2019M CONFUSED NOW! CAN YOU SUM THAT UP BRIEFLY PLS? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Well as you asked so nicely. Five Industry Professionals. Top score excluded to prevent bias. Bottom score excluded to prevent bias. Remaining three scores make the traditional Round One score out of sixty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>CAN PEOPLE WHO WORK WITH\/ FOR YOU ENTER?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 After some thought on this one, ish. We have a large number of <\/span><b>volunteers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the Nottinghamshire scene who help and support us in helping you, many are musicians themselves. Not letting them enter would effectively \u2018punish\u2019 them for helping out. We will declare any potential internal conflicts of interest so that things are transparent. It\u2019s worth remembering that none of the Nusic team vote. Any current volunteer from the Nusic team who enters FSN will <\/span><b>be asked to take time out from Nusic for the duration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of their time in FSN.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anyone who actually works for Nusic, can not enter FSN. Neither can any artists they manage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>2019 FSN Transparency Declarations (This will be updated weekly) =<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No artists have yet entered this year, that are related, living with or in love with current members of the Nusic Team.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any Nusic volunteers linked to FSN entries will be \u2018firewalled\u2019 from the judging process.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any Nusic volunteer entering FSN will be asked to stand down from Nusic for the duration of FSN.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>CAN PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS ENTER? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Yes, and that\u2019s why we exclude the top vote to prevent any bias (see above).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>OK HOW DO YOU ENSURE NO BIAS?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 By trying our best. Three specific points to the answer. None of us (those of us working on Nusic on a day to day basis) will be judges, in fact all our IPs are music and\/ or media professionals connected to Nottingham, who work elsewhere. Secondly, any artists who have specific links with us and make it through to the Semi-Finals (Round Two) we will declare so everything is transparent. Thirdly our cunning judging mechanics explained above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>CLARIFY YOUR DEFINITION\/S OF \u2018NOTTINGHAMNESS\u2019 PLEASE?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Check FAQ11 in our #NusicFAQs: nusic.org.uk\/faq<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The \u2018Semi-Final twelve\u2019 will be announced on Monday 27th May via the <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/category\/podcasts\/\"><b>New Music Podcast<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The Industry Professionals decision is final, by entering #FSN2019 you agree to accept this and all the above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We will not publish the specific scores for all artists for two reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1) We want the Industry Professionals to be able to score honestly and not worry about getting grief when musicians see the scores they gave them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2) We don\u2019t want to discourage people, if you see you came last with 3 points out of 60 that\u2019s not very encouraging, and we\u2019re all about encouraging.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s it, keep listening to the New Music Podcast for the latest!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have we mentioned you need to listen to the New Music Podcast?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#FSN2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">x<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 FUTURE SOUND OF NOTTINGHAM 2019 \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013 FACEBOOK FINAL EVENT HERE. SO FAR 24\/06\/19 &#8211; The #FSN2019 Industry Professionals for the Final, have been revealed via the New Music Podcast. 10\/06\/19 &#8211; The #FSN2019 Finalists have been revealed, via the New Music Podcast. 27\/05\/19 &#8211; The #FSN2019 Semi-Finalists have been revealed, via the New Music&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"bookmark\" class=\"theme-button-text wvc-button wvc-button-size-xs\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/fsn-2019\/\"><small class=\"wvc-button-background-fill\"><\/small><span>Continue reading<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-19135","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"hentry","5":"entry","6":"clearfix","7":"entry-grid","8":"entry-columns-default","9":"entry-page-module-layout-standard","10":"no-post-thumbnail","11":"entry-page","13":"entry-page-grid"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19135"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19370,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19135\/revisions\/19370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}