As you might have noticed, we here at the Plum office work with a lot of bands. Hundreds. And they all want the same thing - they all want to break out of the circuit. So we do what we can for the ones we like by giving them advice, recommending them to industry contacts, running workshops and so on.

We also speak to all sorts of people in the business, and they all want the same thing too - they want to hear the bands that we think have a chance of breaking out of the circuit and find out more about them. So, again, we do what we can for the ones we like. We run an industry membership scheme, send out A&R tips and so on.

Thirdly, we also run a membership scheme for music fans who want to know about the best gigs we've got coming up, and to hear the very best in new, original music.

So we got to thinking, what if we put a load of the bands we really liked in a room with a load of keen industry types, mixed in a few music fans and then played them all some of the music that's been floating our boat just recently? Bands could promote their music to music fans, and get feedback from industry. Industry could do a bit of networking and hear some of the latest stuff without ploughing through hundreds of demos, and meet the bands in person. The music fans get to hear stuff before their mates do, and possibly give the industry guys a bit of feedback on what they want the industry to do for them, the people that buy the records and go to the gigs. There's just an outside chance that the three different types of people we work with might get to know each other, and who knows where that might lead...

The workshops we've been running for a year or so have been a great success, and have been hugely popular with the bands involved, but doing this should open them up a bit more. We want to create something that will appeal to anyone that wants to find out about the latest and best new acts around before anyone else does, and this is where the Plum Music Breakthrough comes in. Its an experiment, but its one we think will work.

Each month we will pick a selection of the very best bands we've got coming up, or who have sent in a particularly impressive demo. They will be bands at an early stage, bands with bags of potential, possibly ones looking for management, a label, a break. In fact, just the kind of bands that your average industry bod or music fanatic would want to know about. We'll do full features on them on our website, and just like we did with workshops, we'll invite them to come down to the Breakthrough night, and play one of their tracks to a panel of industry insiders who will give them feedback and advice. But this time we'll open it up to everyone that loves discovering new music as much as we do. If we'd been running this scheme over the last couple of years, you could well have heard the likes of KEANE, The DARKNESS, CHIKINKI, BOXER REBELLION, The HOT CHIP and PURE REASON REVOLUTION to name but a few. So come down & hear what everyone else will be listening to next year...

...If you want to submit something for the future you should contact matthew on matthew@plummusic.com (those on our band membership scheme only, all other bands will be selected from demos we are sent in for prospective gigs) ...If you'd like to subscribe to the breakthrough mailing list or if you're in the business and would like to attend, or even be on the panel, email sarah@plummusic.com

Hope to see you down there!