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In The City
by David Sue26/10/2006
WE may well be living in an age of exciting new music technology
but, as far as the real music industry is concerned, there's still
very much a feeling that things are centralised.
Despite the current age of internet downloading, MySpace profiles,
podcasts and YouTube, the big business of the music industry - the
record companies, all the serious decision making - is still
largely based and conducted in that there London. Which, frankly,
sucks.
That's precisely why In The City, which arrives on our doorstep
next week, is such a fantastic and necessary asset to not just
Manchester but also the whole of the UK record industry.
Initiated by former Factory Records boss Tony Wilson and his
partner Yvette Livesey in 1992, In The City was started to give
Manchester its very own serious, straight-talking music convention,
a sort of UK riposte to European music conferences like
Midem.
For one whole weekend, it was a chance to make Manchester the
centre of the music world and make all the movers and shakers of
the music business come to our beloved city, rather than us go to
them.
Tony Wilson explains the origins of ITC: "Our original theory was,
why, when existing music calendar events take part in New York and
Cannes, why does England not have one?
"London is not a village and people never make it out of the office
so we have removed the industry and taken it to Manchester.
"I've always believed that the infrastructure of Manchester's music
scene - the bands, the promoters, the venues, the record labels -
made it the perfect city to hold major music convention like In The
City."
Split into two sections, by day, In The City operates from the
Midland Hotel focussing on seminars and discussion (for delegates
only), and by night, In The City hosts its legendary unsigned band
showcases.
This is where things really get exciting and where we, the
music-loving people of Manchester get involved.
Free to the public, it is these unsigned band showcases which have
given In The City its aura of legend.
The likes of Oasis, Elbow, Muse, Coldplay and The Darkness all got
their first exposure to the music business here and subsequently
picked up big record contracts.
A nervy situation for all the unsigned bands involved but, for the
public, it's like witnessing the greatest battle of the bands
contest ever.
None of these bands might be household names yet, but that's the
fun - randomly seeing some plucky guitar-wielding youngsters in a
dingy venue who might well be the next Radiohead or U2.
In The City 2006 arrives at a fine time for the independent
Manchester music scene.
A glance at the ITC listings proves this, with up to 500 gigs
taking place, and some of Manchester's coolest club nights
(Blowout, High Voltage, Friends Of Mine, Club Fandango) all staging
their own "unofficial" In The City fringe events.
And what of the most important bit - the bands?
There are far too many to mention here but if Metro News were to
stake a bet on the future rock stars of tomorrow, we'd suggest you
check out The Courteeners, The Answering Machine, Lucy and the
Caterpillar, Jakpot and The Headlines.
But those are just our tips. Of the 500-plus bands playing ITC,
we're sure you'll find something to your taste, the only problem
may be finding a way of fitting them all into a busy schedule. For
full gig listings visit:
www.inthecity.co.uk
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