Glasswerk.co.uk was set up as the initial brand of Glasswerk Media in November 2001. Our initial policy was to promote new music in Liverpool and help develop a thriving scene. In the 30 months that have since passed Liverpool has enjoyed major national media exposure with a number of bands making big waves in terms of album sales and magazine coverage, and the city of Liverpool itself has been named as the Capital of Culture for 2008. We helped to develop a live music scene by connecting up bands, having a community based website with local band profiles and promoting local showcases. Then the website was further developed into a more comprehensive zine with reviews and news titbits. With over 500 bands alone in Liverpool there was little interactivity between them and bands tended to form small cliques. We helped develop these small cliques into a bigger, more comprehensive scene and along the way a number of music businesses have grown up and there is now a thriving music industry in Liverpool .

So now the band scene in Liverpool was rejuvenated and Glasswerk.co.uk was top of the pile for supporting new bands so we decided to spread our wings and go to other new and beautiful pastures. We now operate locally in Liverpool , Leeds , Manchester , London , Nottingham and North Wales . Our policy has changed little - it is still to ‘promote new music' – and the local websites are ran in conjunction with a national webzine that covers breaking bands from around the country but our focus always remains locally based so that we can spot the bands and help them on their way.

We initially started off as an unsigned band resource but have now dropped the unsigned moniker and prefer to stick to a broader label of promoting new music. All good music needs to be pushed. Being unsigned or signed is irrelevant as newly signed bands often find it just as hard to break through, normally with even more pressure placed up on them.

Now Glasswerk.co.uk continues to develop and open up into new territories around the UK . It is planned the all the major cities will be covered with local webzines by the end of 2005 and we shall be doing hundreds of gigs a month for the big and the small artists. Whatever makes us tense with excitement, whatever makes u jump for joy – these are the bands and artists we will be working with over the next five years. When it stops being fun you know your time has come.

Glasswerk.co.uk – promoting the best new music.

 

Mat Ong

(Founder and CEO of Glasswerk.co.uk)