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- active supporters of all things unsigned and a good place to turn for advice - have been speaking to some of the bands who'll be gracing our stage at Reading and Leeds festival this coming weekend.

The features , (who you might have heard played on Radio 1 during the way last week) and .

What does this slot at Leeds/Reading mean to your band?
It means we get our names on the same poster as Radiohead, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys and loads more world class acts. That's a pretty nice feeling. Reading & Leeds festival is known all over the world so it's something to tell the grandkids. Plus we get backstage so I'll be on a Fearne Cotton hunt!

In , we hear from , , and .

You can read the interviews in full on .

Following on from last week's great news about the addition of selected unsigned artists to the Radio 1 daytime playlist, this week's chosen band is Manchester's , with the track My Keys, Your Boyfriend.

Everything Everything will be performing on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing stage at Reading (Friday) and Leeds (Sunday).They've been put forward by , who interviewed the band back in October 2008.

As capable of filling a dancefloor as they are of sparking a thought, they're the sort of band that many an act will forever dream of being.
Ö÷²¥´óÐã Manchester's Chris Long

They've also found a fan in Zane Lowe, who made the single his Hottest Record in the World last week.

Yesterday, the track was played out on Jo Whiley's show on Radio 1 (listen again on Ö÷²¥´óÐã iPlayer here) and once again, there were some great responses from listeners nationwide:

• Thought i was listening to Jack Penate then. Steve in Welshpool
• Sounds like the guy fm white lies, gd track jo, luke in lincoln
• The best song of the year, Paul
• Everything everything sound like a modern day queen. Sam, chichester
• My god.... Its guy garvey, the doves and human league.... And..... Much more.....
• Genre Busting ? ? My backside. Sounds like A B C to me.
• Great song from will cook fishing near oxford

Tonight on my show at 9pm, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 1, it's a Music Surgery Special.

We'll be looking at ways of working in one of the most exciting industries in the world; the music industry. Whether you've thought about it lots, are currently involved in it somehow, or never really thought about it as a viable career option, the hour of information, debate, and encouragement tonight will be interesting.

Nihal is with us, who has worked not only as a Radio 1 presenter but as a club dj, a band member, a press agent and still is a club promoter.

Frank Turner is known for his excellent music and successful tours, but he'd done it himself the hard way by gigging the DIY way.

And Hannah Overton, A&R Manager from , will be on air, too. Her label has signed everyone from Dizzee Rascal to Friendly Fires, The White Stripes to Jack Penate.

If you want to know about how to, and what it means to put on gigs, tour manage, sell merchandise, get signed, start a label, start a clubnight, get a following, distribute online; ANYTHING, in fact, to do with the huge world of the music industry, do tune in. You can text the show live on 81199, or leave comments below if you have any questions you'd like answered.

And don't forget there's heaps more tips and pointers from the experts who are already working in the music industry in the advice section of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing site.

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As I mentioned in yesterday's post, there's something really exciting happening on the Radio 1 playlist.

Starting this week, a track by an unsigned artist selected by Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing will be added to the Radio 1 playlist*. This means you'll hear the song played out during the day, several times a week, meaning huge exposure for unsigned music which is normally confined to un-playlisted specialist programmes in the evening.

The first band added to the playlist are Belfast's A Plastic Rose, with the track, All You Know and Love Will Die.

The band formed in late 2006 and have recorded sessions for Radio 1's Rory McConnell and Huw Stephens in the past. They've also done some rather nice acoustic tracks for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Northern Ireland's Across The Line.

If you like what you hear and you're heading down to Reading (Sunday) or Leeds (Saturday) next weekend, make sure you drop by to see them live on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing stage.

• Find A Plastic Rose on .
• Read A Plastic Rose's .

*UPDATE* - After All You Know and Love Will Die was played out on Jo Whiley's show this morning (listen again on Ö÷²¥´óÐã iPlayer), the team in the studio received some great instant feedback from listeners via SMS:

• Love it :) can't wait to see them at leeds next week. Sarah, manchester.
• Sound like all American rejects! Good homegrown talent!
• Sounds like hundred reasons. Good!
• Oo me likes, sound a bit like senses fail :) laura in preston x x x
• Introduce them to a dark cupboard! J edin
• Jo. That band was really good and excellent ground beats. Ganine from teesside.
• Yes, love A Plastic Rose. Say them live last year. Amazing to hear them on Radio 1. Aaron in Belfast.
• Oh my god.. That's an amazing song!! Such a feel good song. Great first impressions. Love them. Connor northern ireland.
• Oh my god love this song its amazing! You've cheered me up at a rubbish day at work! Kelly, plymouth

* If you want to know more about how music is chosen for the Radio 1 playlist, check out this video with Head of Music at Radio 1, George Ergatoudis.

These are exciting times for unsigned artists, and we've been incredibly busy this year at Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing, doing our best to unearth talented new acts and give them a leg-up in the industry. Here's a quick recap on what we've been up to.

My role is to look after the central Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing site, and things have come on leaps and bounds online since the start of the year. In February, we launched the new upload tool. It's been a runaway success thus far, with Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt declaring us 'the new John Peel' in , which is overwhelmingly flattering.

Thousands of new artists have uploaded tracks, many bagging themselves airplay on our UK-wide family of local and national Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing shows and some even earning a slot on our festival stage.



So far in 2009, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing stage has been to Radio 1's Big Weekend in Swindon, Glastonbury, Sonar and T in The Park. Next weekend, we'll be at Reading and Leeds, with a massive line-up chosen by a listening panel that included Zane Lowe, Steve Lamacq, Neil McCormick (The Telegraph), Jeff Smith (Head of Music, Radio 2), Alan Raw (presenter, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Humberside) and Neil Pengelly (Festival Republic, promoters of Reading and Leeds).

If you're interested in the selection process, Neil on all 65 bands on our longlist, rounding them up in an excellent article on the .

In July, we unveiled a whole new section on the site with advice for aspiring artists and bands. There are over 100 videos from established acts and music industry experts, plus detailed text guides to all corners of the business and downloadable PDFs. Here's a brief taster:



It's something that will continue to grow and we hope you find it useful. 6 Music's Tom Robinson - who contributed several insightful clips to the site - has written about it on , and there have been some nice reactions on Twitter:

Finally, and perhaps most excitingly of all, some news from Radio 1. Starting this week, a selection of unsigned artists chosen by Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing will be played by daytime Radio 1 DJs like Greg James, Edith Bowman, Jo Whiley and Nihal. This is a big deal for the artists chosen, since their music will be reaching a potentially enormous national audience. You'll see the chosen artists listed on the Records Of The Week section of the Radio 1 playlist. We're kicking this new initiative off with some of the bands from our Reading & Leeds line-up, so keep your ears open in the coming weeks. I'll also blog about each of the selected tracks here in due course.

Richard Banks is Producer at Ö÷²¥´óÐã Music Interactive