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On Monday all of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's blogs are switching to a new sign-in system called Ö÷²¥´óÐã iD. You can read more about it on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Internet blog.

This means that you will need to use the new system to leave a comment here on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing blog. You will be prompted to upgrade when you first try to login after the change and it should be a very straightforward process.

I will try to answer any questions you have here, but I would also encourage you to read the post on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Internet blog and leave any technical comments there.

Back in May, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing in Nottingham invited brothers Joe, Tom, Rowan and Lloyd Staszkiewicz - collectively known as Swound! - to perform at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Swindon. They put on a highly polished, entertaining show and bagged themselves a shed load of new fans. Here's one of our favourites from their set:

Since then, the band have been working mighty hard to capitalise on the attention. Lately we've been hearing a lot about some of the zany self-marketing schemes they've come up with, so we figured it was a good time to catch up with Swound! with a quick Q&A to find out more.

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Earlier this week I hopped on the train to Manchester for the annual music industry conference, . Read my previous post for background on the three-day event and why it's so influential.

During the day, the plush Midland hotel hosted a series of thought-provoking discussions focussing on all corners of the music business, from publishing to photography, with respected industry figures sitting on each panel.

Given the rapidly-shifting sands on which the industry is built, it was perhaps unsurprising that tackling piracy and making money out of music were hot potatoes at In The City. However, it was still an eye-opener to see just how factious things have become. At an early session on the opening day, - Chairman of the , a political party in Sweden who stand for the decriminalisation of file-sharing - stirred up a with representatives from the and the .

Later that day, Paul Curry (creator of the now-defunct Music Search Plus, which helped users search for and download MP3s freely) argued that unless major labels and 'traditional' music industry bodies were willing to revolutionise their approach to music copyright and distribution, file-sharing piracy would never go away.

The trouble is, the industry cannot agree what that approach should be. It's a debate which has been heard at ITC for several years, but recent press coverage (thanks chiefly to ) meant it took centre stage this year. The following day, during a conversation between (Managing Director of ) and producer/artist Mark Ronson, Mike passionately advocated stricter enforcement of copyright laws, which, he reasoned, were part of this country's history, having been first established .

Of course, the beauty of In The City is that one can leave all this noise behind and hit the streets too see some incredible live music. Highlights for me came in the shape of , , and , all of whom made a dark and drizzly Sunday night positive enjoyable. Also out in force were the team, who reviewed and photographed as many bands as was humanly possible. Here's Chris Long from Ö÷²¥´óÐã Manchester's take on the five bands who impressed him most at ITC:

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This weekend, the music industry makes its annual pilgrimage to Manchester for , the UK's answer to Texas' South by South West or MIDEM in Cannes. It's a three-day event with taking place during the day and a plethora of happening in venues through the city in the evenings. The conference has been running since 1992, and has built up a reputation for discovering some of the biggest talents around today: over the years they've given a platform to Radiohead and Oasis (1992), Coldplay (1997), The Darkness (2002) and the Arctic Monkeys (2005).

We'll be attending this year, with showcase nights of our own at on Tib Street (in the main room) on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th October. The bands on our bill were chosen by Huw Stephens and the team at , with seven of the ten acts based in the Greater Manchester area. Entry is free to In The City wristband holders (more info on the event website). Here's the line-up:

Monday 19th October -19:30 doors:

8.00pm -
8.50pm -
9.40pm - The Cheek
10.30pm -
11.20pm - Your Twenties

Tuesday 20th October -19:30 doors:

8.00pm -
8.50pm - Shmoo
9.40pm -
10.30pm -
11.20pm - The Jessie Rose Trip

I'd suggest you keep one eye on this 'ere blog for more updates from In The City, and one eye on our , where I'll be giving you updates about the debates taking place at the . Subjects this year include "Putting Music in Computer Games", "The Internet Is Not The Future" (with DrownedinSound.com's editor, Sean Adams - bound to be enlightening!) and "Something from Nothing: Making it Happen without a Budget".

Meanwhile, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Manchester will be legging it around the city, doing their best to cover as many gigs as possible in order to bring you hot-off-the-press reviews and photos . You can also follow .

A few years ago, me and my friend John decided we wanted to start a festival in Cardiff. We'd been to I, , even . So we thought we'd start one on our doorstep.

John's a , a city which loves music with indie, dance, hip hop, rock, weird, mainstream, dubstep, drum and bass, noise, everything going on and mighty fine promoters putting on nights all the time. We wanted to highlight that, so we started . It means 'sound' in Welsh and is pronounced 'soon'.

This year, I got to invite people to put on nights and choose around 170 bands and DJs to play. It's our third year of putting the festival on in, with gigs taking place at some 14 venues around the city, ranging from old churches turned into venues, cafes, upstairs in pubs, the legendary (25 years old this year), the Barfly and more.

The promoters and labels like and have invited bands like and Girls, The Drums and to play their nights, and Mary Anne Hobbs brings her DJing skills with Bristol's . Bands who've done sessions for my show like Los Campesinos! and Johnny Foreigner are playing, and Beth Elfyn has her Radio 1 night with Marina and the Diamonds, and more playing.

It's going to be fun! And although it's a stressful time for all working on it, it's well worth it. So much good music!

Find out more about SWN festival at , check out the coverage from Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales, or read an interview with Huw Stephens at .

Last week on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing in Wales, Radio 1's Bethan Elfyn presented an exclusive session with a Cardiff band named . The band were so new, they had next to no presence on the web, which is really rather rare these days. The session for Bethan and team is the first thing they've ever recorded, and - prepare yourself... you'd better sit down - they're not even on MySpace.

Islet are something of a Cardiff supergroup. Their line-up features members (or ex-members) of Attack and Defend, , , Sweet Baboo and The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club.

Read Bethan's blog post about the band and their session over on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Music blog, or listen again to the whole show from last Thursday at Radio 1.

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Recently, I brought you exciting news of the collaboration between Ö÷²¥´óÐã Switch and Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing, which sees Switch using tracks from artists that Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing has supported to soundtrack their brand new online-and-on-Ö÷²¥´óÐã-Two soap, The Cut. If you've been watching the soap, you'll have heard songs by Thee Vicars, Bombay Bicyle Club, Kid Bass, Master Shortie and - all alumni of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing festival stage.

As I mentioned previously, producers from Ö÷²¥´óÐã Switch have access to the big database of tunes which you - the great unsigned - have uploaded to us in recent months, and they're still on the lookout for cracking songs to feature in future episodes of The Cut.

The great news is, you can now choose to target Ö÷²¥´óÐã Switch directly when you register your band/artist details with us for the first time on the Upload Your Music page. So if you've watched the soap and reckon the cinematic soundscapes you've recorded would be the perfect soundtrack to the show, be sure to select The Cut when you register. That'll ensure an email with your name on it plops into the inbox of the Cut producers quick sharp*. Simple.

But that's not all - in addition to The Cut, we also have another national show joining the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing family as of this week. Over on Radio 3, Ian McMillian hosts a wonderful show named The Verb, where experimentation with the good old fashioned spoken word gets the exposure it deserves. We've invited Ian and his team to join the party, and they're really keen to play tracks by unsigned artists where the emphasis is on all things literary, poetic and lyrical.

If that sounds like it might be up your street, get involved now and upload some of your creations, making sure you choose The Verb on Radio 3 as the show you'd like to target when you sign up.

*Remember, whichever national network or show you choose to target when you join us, notifications about your music will automatically be sent to the local Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing show closest to you as well.