Sound and Music

What Sound and Music does

Sound and Music is the UK's national charity for new music and sound, operating as a company limited by guarantee (no. 6581022) and registered charity (no. 1124609) established in 2008. Headquartered in Huddersfield with a London office in Bethnal Green, the organisation serves as a platform-plus-programmes entity delivering artist development, grant funding, digital archives, educational resources, and broadcast media to UK music creators. Its core offerings include In Motion (an 18-month flagship artist development programme), In the Making (a year-long programme for young creators aged 14-18), Essentials Fund and Seed Award (small grants), British Music Collection (a digital archive with over 60,000 physical scores held at Heritage Quay, University of Huddersfield), Minute of Listening (an education platform featuring 60-second music collections), The Sampler Mixtape (weekly radio show on Resonance FM), Music Patron (a patron-to-composer platform), and the New Music Commissioning Programme (international partnership with British Council). The organisation is led by Chief Executive Dr Will Dutta and recognised as a National Youth Music Organisation by Arts Council England.

The business model is charitable and grant-dependent, with primary funding from Arts Council England supplemented by PRS Foundation, Jerwood Developing Artists Fund, Creative Scotland National Lottery, The Garrick Charitable Trust, and The Marchus Trust. Additional revenue streams include individual donations processed via Stripe and the GiveWP donation plugin. The go-to-market motion is community-led: the organisation engages with composers, young creators, educational institutions, new music audiences, and commissioners through multi-channel content programming (radio, podcast, YouTube, newsletters, social media) and digital platforms (British Music Collection, Minute of Listening, The Sampler). The organisation does not sell products or services to customers per se; it provides grants, development programmes, and platform access to creators and audiences, with grant funding and donations serving as the primary revenue mechanisms. Customer segments include music creators and composers (primary), young music creators aged 14-18, educational institutions, and new music audiences. The organisation operates across the UK with UK-wide geographic reach and emerging international extension through the British Council partnership covering Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia.

Name

Sound and Music

Legal name

The Organisation for New Music and Sound

Website

https://soundandmusic.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sound and Music is the UK's national charity for new music and sound, delivering artist development programmes, grants, digital archives, and broadcast media to thousands of music creators and hundreds of organisations across the UK.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts and Music Charity Services

NAICS

Other Sound Recording Industries (51229), Music Publishers (512230)

akta.pro primary industry

Music Production & Composition (Songwriting, Recording, DJing) (EDAMAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Music Production, Recording & Audio Engineering (EDAMANAH), Music Education & Practice Software (Ear training, tutors, metronome tools) (MPAIAIAJ)

Keywords

• Artist development programmes
• Music grants funding
• Music education platform
• Digital music archive
• New music charity

Headquarters

HQ city

Bethnal Green

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Funding and Grants: Sound and Music is primarily funded through grants from Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, Jerwood Developing Artists Fund, The Garrick Charitable Trust, Creative Scotland National Lottery, The Marchus Trust, and other institutional funders. The organization also generates revenue through donations from supporters.
2. Donations and Fundraising: Individual donations accepted via the website, processed through Stripe payment services. Both one-time and monthly recurring donation options available.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Sound and Music is the UK's national charity for new music and sound, delivering artist development programmes, grant funding, digital platforms, and broadcast media to support music creators. Core offerings include the In Motion flagship artist development programme (18-month), In the Making for young creators aged 14-18, the Essentials Fund and Seed Award grants, the British Music Collection digital archive, the Minute of Listening education platform, The Sampler Mixtape radio show on Resonance FM, and the international New Music Commissioning Programme with British Council.

Product overview

Sound and Music is the UK's national charity for new music and sound, operating as a platform-plus-programmes organization. The core offerings include flagship artist development programmes (In Motion for established creators, In the Making for young creators aged 14-18), grant funding (Essentials Fund, Seed Award), digital platforms (British Music Collection archive, Minute of Listening education platform, Music Patron patron-connect platform), broadcast media (The Sampler Mixtape weekly radio show on Resonance FM, Sound and Music Podcast), and international commissioning (New Music Commissioning Programme with British Council). Additional programmes include Soundlines landscape commissions and legacy COVID-19 response initiatives. The organization serves as the base camp for anyone in the UK who wants to make, experience, or support new music and sound.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• In Motion: Flagship artist development programme for original music creators at the frontiers of new music.
• In the Making
• Essentials Fund
• British Music Collection
• Minute of Listening
• The Sampler Mixtape

Products and services

• In Motion Flagship 18-month artist development programme for original music creators at the frontiers of new music who are ready for a transformational step change in their creative practice and career.
• In the Making Year-long artist development programme for passionate and ambitious young music creators aged 14-18 looking to push their creativity and musical horizons further.
• Essentials Fund Small grants programme providing funding to enable creators to access otherwise unaffordable tools, resources, and support identified as key to developing their practice and career.
• British Music Collection Digital archive platform for UK-based music creators to represent themselves and their works for potential commissioners, partners, researchers, and anyone with an interest in the new music ecology. Over 60,000 physical scores, recordings and artifacts are also available at Heritage Quay, University of Huddersfield.
• Minute of Listening Education platform with collections of 60-second pieces of music and sound designed to activate young people's creative listening and musical discovery skills, while providing a creative means of making sense of the world around them.
• The Sampler Mixtape Weekly radio show on Resonance FM (104.4FM) broadcasting every Friday at 12pm and Wednesday at 3am, showcasing eclectic new music from across the new music spectrum. Hosted by different creators and available on demand via Mixcloud.
• Music Patron Platform enabling patrons to give composers funding for creating new music, connecting thousands of patrons with composers across the UK.
• New Music Commissioning Programme International commissioning programme in partnership with British Council, pairing UK-based music creators with peers from Official Development Assistance (ODA) partner countries to collaboratively compose new works for radio broadcast.
• Sound and Music Podcast Podcast featuring unique access to some of the most exciting stories and sounds in new music, with interviews and conversations with composers.
• Soundlines Commissioning programme in partnership with Goodwood Art Foundation creating audio works composed in response to distinct areas of the Foundation's landscape.
• Seed Award Award programme supporting emerging composers and music creators with funding and recognition.

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Goodwood Art FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Soundlines initiative, commissioning four audio works in response to distinct areas of the Foundation's landscape including cherry grove, amphitheatre, wildflower meadow and ancient woodland.
• Resonance FMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBroadcast partner for The Sampler Mixtape, airing weekly on 104.4FM in London, reaching audiences with eclectic new music programming.
• Heritage Quay (University of Huddersfield)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner site housing physical items from the British Music Collection including over 60,000 scores, recordings and artifacts from 20th/21st century British music.
• British CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership delivering the New Music Commissioning Programme 2025/26, pairing UK composers with peers from ODA countries including Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia for collaborative new music creation and broadcast.
• Music PatronminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPlatform enabling patrons to give composers funding for creating new music, connecting thousands of patrons with composers across the UK.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sound Connections: UK charity supporting early-career musicians and music leaders via training, programmes, and network-building. Direct peer with overlapping mission to develop music creators and diversify the music workforce.
• Youth Music: UK charity funding music-making projects for children and young people aged 0-25, also a National Youth Music Organisation. Direct peer given overlapping youth music development mission and shared ACE funding ecosystem.
• Help Musicians: UK charity providing grants, professional development and wellbeing support to musicians. Comparable as a direct peer — both are UK music charities supporting creators with grants, development programmes, and resources, funded primarily by charitable donations.
• PRS Foundation: UK charitable funder supporting new music and talent development via grants and partnerships. Direct peer given shared mission of backing music creators and talent development programmes; also acts as a co-funder of Sound and Music programmes.

Broad incumbents

• Creative Scotland: Public body distributing National Lottery and government funds to arts and creative projects in Scotland. Comparable as one of Sound and Music's co-funders, operating as a broader incumbent arts funder rather than a direct music charity peer.
• Southbank Centre: UK's largest arts centre running contemporary music programming and artist development. Broader incumbent with overlapping new-music commissioning and audience-development missions, though delivered via a venue rather than a grant-giving charity model.
• Arts Council England: The primary public funder of Sound and Music and the broader UK arts ecosystem. A broad incumbent rather than direct peer — it distributes National Lottery and government funding across all art forms, while Sound and Music operates programmes within that ecosystem.
• Royal Philharmonic Society: Long-established UK society for orchestral and classical music with grants, awards and composer development programmes. Broader incumbent in the classical/contemporary music ecosystem with comparable but more heritage-focused composer support activity.

Emerging players

• British Council: UK international organisation for cultural relations running music and arts exchange programmes. Emerging partner-peer given the New Music Commissioning Programme partnership for international composer exchanges with ODA countries.

Regional players

• Brighter Sound: Manchester-based charity supporting musicians and composers via development programmes and commissions. Regional peer with similar artist-development focus, serving a more localised North-West England audience rather than UK-wide.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/soundandmusic
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@SoundandMusicUK
• Facebookfacebook.com/soundandmusic
• Instagraminstagram.com/soundandmusicuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sound-and-music

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sound and Music