BBC Radio 1’s Brit List is back.
The major initiative for developing artists has been running since 2017. But it last added artists more than 18 months ago, when Venbee and Cat Burns received support from the station.
Now it’s become clear why Radio 1 has been quiet about the Brit List: it’s undergone a major overhaul.
The standard package of support so far has seen the network provide carefully selected talent, who have already achieved some impact, with key support for a year, including playlisting and other opportunities. It later added TV performance into the mix with partners across the BBC.
“We've been doing it since February 2017, so it’s nearly eight years,” Chris Price, BBC Radio 1 head of music, told Music Week. “With one or two tweaks around the edges, the offer had remained broadly the same – three playlists, a Live Lounge, a Big Weekend [slot]. Then we added on to it, so we started working a bit more with TV, trying to find a TV debut [performance for artists].
“But looking at the marketplace, it just seemed like British artists in particular were taking a lot longer to break, and that perhaps the Brit List wasn't quite fit for purpose in 2024. So we spent a good part of this year consulting with the music industry, just to see how it's working for them.”
Radio 1 is a key station for labels and UK artists. The network won the Radio Station category at the Music Week Awards.
The key changes expand the Brit List platform on three fronts:
– Jack Saunders (pictured) will champion the Brit List artists on his New Music show, which airs at 6pm on Monday to Thursday
– Brit List artists will have access to a suite of BBC partnerships such as the World Service for international reach
– BBC Introducing will open up more live opportunities across festival stages
The changes are being introduced in a tough climate for UK talent trying to break through, as seen by the No.1 drought for British acts earlier this year. There’s also increasing competition from artists globally via streaming platforms.
The first artists to benefit from this new Brit List model are today revealed as Myles Smith (RCA) and Lola Young (Island).
“In the five years since Lola Young has been signed to Island, Radio 1 have never wavered in their support and have been absolutely critical in helping develop her career,” said Island EMI president Louis Bloom. “To have Radio 1 continue to champion and fight for our artists in the way it does is a gift for this country and one which I don't take lightly.”
Lola Young added: “I was so gassed to get a call from my management to hear that I’ve been selected by BBC Radio 1 to be one of their chosen artists for the Brit List. As a British artist the BBC has been in my life forever. It takes a lot of graft to be an artist and follow a dream in music, many highs and many lows. Getting a boost like this means the world and so I embrace this support with gratitude.”
To have Radio 1 continue to champion and fight for our artists in the way it does is a gift for this country
Louis Bloom
“It’s an honour to be chosen for Radio 1’s Brit List,” said Myles Smith. “A huge thank you to Radio 1 for this incredible recognition, and to everyone who has supported me along the way. I’m so excited to keep sharing this journey with you all!”
Lola Young has released two albums, while Smith is yet to release his debut. Both artists have both been supported by BBC Radio for some years across both BBC Introducing locally and Radio 1.
“Myles Smith’s had a proper hit with Stargazing and has a ton of listeners on Spotify,” said Price. “[BBC Music] has been supporting Myles on Introducing. It looks like it happened overnight, but it really is the culmination of years and years of hard work.”
“We've been playlisting Lola Young since 2021,” he added. “She's coming off the back of six, maybe seven playlists on Radio 1. Crucially, her sound over that time has really evolved. I'm just really proud of the way that we've stuck with her, even though it's taken her maybe a few years to actually find her sound. And I have to give credit to Island records as well for allowing her to [develop].”
Chris Price
Here, Chris Price explains the changes to Radio 1’s Brit List initiative and the station’s plan to work with the music industry to back British talent…
Did you deliberately rest Radio 1’s Brit List for a while?
“We did take a bit of a break, for a couple of reasons. February 2023 was the last time we announced Brit List artists, which was Venbee and Cat Burns. But we were coming off the back of the huge success of Raye, who has really raised the bar in terms of what's possible for culturally important British artists, and for Brit List artists as well. It happened to coincide with a feeling we had that Brit List was long overdue a bit of a revamp really.”
What has that process involved?
“We've been away consulting… What would the recorded music industry and the live music industry want from the BBC in order to help really boost the fortunes of British artists, both domestically and on the global stage? And then there was the internal consolidation, where we've built these internal BBC partnerships. Probably the biggest change is that Brit List is becoming an on-air brand now. We now have a British [artist] champion in the form of Jack Saunders.”
He’s a key tastemaker for the station, how important was it to get him on board?
“Jack is perfect for the job. When I first approached him about the possibility of this, he got it instantly. There’s a lot to be said for having an on-air champion who can bring their audience along on this journey, so that we can almost try and turn it into more of a movement to get behind British artists. If we try and mobilise our listeners to be part of that movement, perhaps it will be more effective.”
There’s a lot to be said for having an on-air champion who can bring their audience along on this journey
Chris Price
It’s a tough time for UK talent, how can you further support artists and labels?
“We're very comfortable on Radio 1, and across the wider BBC, hammering home a ‘new music’ message. We're really great at selling new music, but we're probably not so good at selling Britishnes. So in the summer, we – BBC Music – brought the whole of the music industry into the Radio Theatre, and we announced [the evolution of Brit List] to a broad range of partners, from the recorded music industry, the live industry, the artist and management community, trade bodies as well came along. Jack came up on stage with me to talk about Brit List and how he was going to be donning his Lord Kitchener hat [“Your country needs you!”]. At that point, in July, things were looking pretty bleak for British artists in the chart [during 2024]. Thankfully, now we can point to Charli XCX, but at that time there hadn't been a single British artist at No.1 in the UK chart. We feel that, creatively, British music is in a really good place. It's just that commercially there's a lot of work to be done.”
How will the Brit List offering expand?
“The main headline around Brit List version 2.0 is that we want to lengthen the package of support over time, whereas version 1.0 was roughly a year. We think it's probably somewhere in the region of two years now, but it's going to depend on each artist. That's a crucial thing that really changed since we first started doing it. We just have to see it through until the job is done. What we’ve also tried to do is broaden the package of support across Radio 1, the World Service which helps give us international reach, and BBC Introducing, because that gives us all the [festival] stages.”
How did the World Service partnership emerge as a new part of Brit List?
“As we did when we first launched Brit List all the way back in 2017, we consulted the music industry. Our main partners in that are the recorded music industry, because recorded music is our stock in trade, but live is also a huge part of it. So in the early part of this year, we consulted with a lot of labels, managers, trade bodies, and that was where the idea came from of leaning into the World Service and its 80 million listeners, just to try and do our bit in trying to offer some international reach for these artists. In the past, we've probably relied on the soft influence of the Radio 1 playlist bleeding into other territories. But why not use our own international platforms, if we've got them? So that's where the World Service came from.”
Finally, what are the live opportunities via BBC Introducing stages?
“It will be Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Latitude. South By Southwest for international as well. It will be slightly different for each artist. The other thing to say is that with the tweak of support, and as broad as what we are now offering [with Brit List], there isn't a one-size-fits-all for every single artist. But we now have a menu of really amazing opportunities that we can pick and choose from, and then build something in partnership with the artist and their label in order to try and put something really compelling together.”
Subscribers can read our interview with Radio 1’s station head Aled Haydn Jones.
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