Dellessa James, Michael Adex, Chris Hawkins and John Robb head up the festival's stages, alongside curators drawn from record labels, festivals, broadcasters, media platforms, music collectives and studios, with more to be announced. Each one brings a slate of artists to MediaCity for 7th to 9th October. Artist submissions for 2026 are now closed.
John Robb, Chris Hawkins and Michael Adex curate the largest stage for a day apiece — Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in turn — joined by Dellessa James of Amazon Music +44, who leads a stage of her own.
We’re thrilled to be part of Beyond The Music festival in Manchester, as we’re committed to providing artists with the tools, services, and visibility they deserve. Through our Amazon Music For Artists Master Class and the Amazon Music x +44 x NQ Stage supporting Black Music, we’ll continue this commitment live during the festival in October.
It’s great to be part of this year’s Beyond The Music programme. It’s been great to see the conference grow in line with the growth within Greater Manchester as a whole. NQ has always supported initiatives that give back to the city and help platform new talent coming through!
Giving an artist their first national play is one of the best feelings in radio. I’ve broadcast from MediaCity for well over a decade and this region has never once stopped producing brilliant new music, so I’ve packed a whole stage at Beyond The Music with exactly that. See you there in October, I honestly cannot wait!
I’m looking forward to curating a cutting edge mix of modern high decibel, post punk and new shapes and sounds that are all louder than war for Beyond The Music…
International showcase festival placing a spotlight on emerging Welsh talent and the best new acts worldwide.
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Manchester label and incubator for extraordinary pop with indie sensibilities.
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A raw, unfiltered Manchester platform for Northern rap culture, built around cyphers and live showcases.
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A Manchester creative hub for full-spectrum artist development.
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A global meeting point for music, film, tech and culture in Austin, Texas, bringing an international perspective to new music discovery.
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The beating heart of Manchester's grime scene, dedicated to the underground.
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An Ibiza-born global platform with a mix of alternative electronic music and artist-led programming.
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The UK's leading independent music magazine, almost 20 years deep in global music discovery.
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A metropolitan festival platforming the brightest rising stars in indie and alt-pop.
Read more ↓An international multi-venue showcase music festival and BAFTA-qualifying film festival held annually in Wrexham, North Wales. The 2026 edition was the 16th, with more than 250 artists from 26 countries across 20 stages, 434 industry delegates and over 25,000 festival-goers, and the 2027 edition returns from 6 to 8 May. It was co-founded by Andy Jones and Neal Thompson, with industry, conference and partnerships directed by Sarah Jones, and carries an annual editorial theme; in 2026 it was 'A Fairer Future for Music'. FOCUS Wales also runs year-round international export work under the #WelshMusicAbroad banner, including showcases at ESNS and The Great Escape.
An independent record label, artist management company and music publisher, based in a warehouse space in Manchester's Northern Quarter. Founded in 2008 by Mick Scholefield, it has carried the tagline 'Tied to the tracks since 2008' ever since. Its genre-spanning roster centres on extraordinary pop cut with indie sensibilities. Current artists include Pyncher, Cutscene, cruush, Georgian, Ladylike, Makeshift Art Bar, MLEKO, Nature TV, The Slow Country and two blinks i love you, while past signings span its flagship band Her's, plus Pizzagirl, Brad Stank, JWestern, Westside Cowboy, Eades, Honey Moon, Hannah's Little Sister, SKIA, Tungz, Indigo Bay, Guest Singer and Orpine.
A Manchester underground rap collective and open mic / cypher night. Raise The Bar (RTB) drives the city's grassroots rap scene, hosting monthly events at venues including Aatma, Stage and Radio, and The Old Abbey Tap House. It is built on the principle of bringing rap back to its roots: open mic slots give each rapper nine minutes to win a paid champion set at the next event, with the first ten through the door acting as judges. RTB regularly works with Crop Radio and Treehouse on cross-collective Manchester hip hop and grime events.
A high-spec recording studio housing a 360-degree creative agency, based in Salford and playing a key role in Manchester's music underground. Beyond recording, Studio 88 offers artist development, engineering and creative direction, and has a track record of working with Manchester's underground party scene, alongside radio residencies with Reform Radio and Unity Radio.
South by Southwest, the annual conglomerate festival and conference held in Austin, Texas. Founded in 1987, SXSW has become the global convergence point for music, film & TV, interactive technology, education and culture, with thousands of showcases and conference sessions across a week-long event in March. BTM's relationship with SXSW dates back to its 2023 launch event in Austin, where artists including Loose Articles performed. The 2026 partnership puts BTM's curators on a transatlantic axis with the world's largest creative-industries gathering.
A Manchester music platform and grime collective. Treehouse MCR runs a podcast, freestyle series, music videos and vlogs from 'our house to yours,' and broadcasts its bi-weekly grime show on Unity Radio (Thursdays, 9-11pm), hosted by founder Walshy. It hosts Treehouse Live events across Manchester and takes its sets to radio stations and venues across the country, regularly platforming artists like Blakey Boy, Rory, Niftz, Adzman and KIME.
OpenLab is a forward-thinking, multidisciplinary platform operating out of Ibiza and broadcasting globally, combining a 24/7 radio station with digital arts and creative design. The platform blends alternative, electronic, ambient, and experimental music, alongside high-end visual art, design, and architecture. Established as a culturally innovative hub, it focuses on connecting independent talent with audiences worldwide via their FM frequency, apps, and live events.
A UK-based independent online music magazine, founded in London in February 2007 by Richard Thane and currently edited by Paul Bridgewater. One of the largest independent music publications in the UK, it focuses on new and alternative music, with fresh content daily from writers and photographers around the world. It also runs the record label Best Fit Recordings, hosts its own annual London festival Five Day Forecast (running since 2015), and presents stages at SXSW, Iceland Airwaves, The Great Escape and End of the Road. Its album reviews feed into Metacritic and AnyDecentMusic?.
A multi-city UK new-music showcase festival, held across the late May bank holiday weekend in Bristol and Nottingham. Programmed by DHP Family (booker Conrad Rogan), the festival celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025 and platforms emerging artists across grassroots and mid-sized venues in each city. It has a track record of booking future headliners early, with Idles, Hard Life and London Grammar all playing Dot to Dot before going on to much larger venues. Its sold-out 2026 edition was led by Lambrini Girls, Fcukers and NewDad, and the festival returns for 2027.
Artist submissions for 2026 have closed. Everything sent through a curator strand is being reviewed and routed back to BTM for programming alongside the curator's own picks.
What happens next →We'll announce subsequent waves of curators through 2026. Labels, festivals, broadcasters, collectives and platforms can register interest with the partners team.
Partner with BTM →This is the first wave of festival curators, with further announcements rolling out through 2026. #BeyondTheMusic · #BTM26 · #MediaCity
