Yashin Aboobaker

Sound City

From its small beginnings organising a showcase for Liverpool bands at SXSW in Austin, Texas in 2007 Sound City has gone on to become one of the UK's most significant music industry events. The first Liverpool Sound City Conference and Festival took place in 2008, Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. It took place over two days in small number of venues culminating in a headline set by The Wombats in St Georges Hall. It went on to become an annual event and quickly established itself as the Sound City UK's leading Independent Festival for Emerging Talent attracting key industry figures to its conference and making a name for itself as a showcase for up and coming talent. Early festivals featured then relative unknowns such as Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Laura Marling, and Jake Bugg amongst many others. The festival garnered a reputation for memorable gigs like The Kooks at St Luke's Church (known locally as the bombed out church) and for converting industrial spaces into unique pop up venues. The festival has always been supportive of the best local talent but has always featured a strong line up of talent from all over the world. Alongside the now well established Liverpool event Sound City has successfully exported the model of conference and festival to New York, Norway, China, South Korea and Dubai, providing a platform for British artists, particularly those from Liverpool and the North West. A partnership with major Chinese music and entertainment company Modern Sky has ushered new and exciting international opportunities for Sound City. Between 2015 and 2017 Sound City moved the festival outdoors on to Liverpool's renowned waterfront with headline sets from the likes of John Cale and The Flaming Lips. In 2018 the festival has returned to its city centre roots with all gigs taking place in venues in the creative hub that is the Baltic Triangle. There is also much more of its original focus on showcasing emergent talent.