This spring we’re supporting the Musicians’ Union with Levy Market Mixtapes which sees a host of local record labels, venues and other independent music organisations each putting together a playlist for the market. We’ll be releasing a new mixtape each week and asking you to donate to the Musicians’ Union Coronavirus Hardship Fund.
We’ll be returning tomorrow with another cracking market line-up, featuring a host of food, drink, homewares, arts and crafts and other independent shopping options.
And, once again, here to accompany your Levy Market experience is our Levy Market Mixtapes series: music for you to enjoy while you shop at the market and while you enjoy your purchases at home, in the garden, at work, in the park or anywhere else you can take Spotify with you.
This time round we have Melodic Records bringing the people of Levenshulme some of the finest alternative, indie-rock and electronica around at the moment.
Manchester’s Melodic was founded in 1999 and has released records by The Earlies, Nine Black Alps and Aidan Moffat, and currently boasts the likes of W. H. Lung, Working Men’s Club, Cool Ghouls and new signing Strawberry Guy on their roster.
Their market mixtape spotlights some of these great artists, alongside choice cuts from favourites like ARMS, Nadia Reid and The Beths.
You can listen on Spotify right here.
And remember: all of this music was written and recorded by artists who, for over a year, have not been able to perform live. At all. This is the main source of income for almost all musical artists and the lifeforce of the UK music industry. So if you like a song you hear – why not buy the artist’s record? You could even order it direct from the Melodic Shop? Did you also know that Spotify, while it has a reputation for not being the most lucrative platform for its artists, now allows them to feature a ‘Fundraising Pick’ link on the top of their Spotify profiles, allowing you to pay them direct for their music?
More urgently, you can also donate to the Musicians’ Union Coronavirus Hardship Fund which we’re asking all our customers to support if they can this spring.
The Musicians’ Union provides small grants of £200 to musicians in urgent financial hardship. They have distributed over £1.3M to members via their hardship grants since April 2020, but there are many more who are still in dire financial circumstances.
So when you visit the market at the weekend, please enjoy listening to the sounds of your city, take them home with you and make a donation if you can – anything at all can make a difference. We’re all looking forward to live music returning later this year – let’s do what we can to ensure that there are people there to play for us.
