fronts local artists , with all door and bar money going to the charity . It raised £ 100,000 in its first year and Lockwood says that because of its success there are now fewer people sleeping on the streets in Nottingham .
Among the companies focused on encouraging emerging local talent is the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies , which owns the 400-capacity venue Metronome . The venue , which opened in 2019 , is described by in-house promoter Kristi Maria as “ built by musicians for musicians ” with state-of-the-art facilities for recording .
Another key element of Nottingham ’ s event infrastructure is the Vivendi-owned ticketing
Jake Bugg at Rock City . Below : Splendour
powerhouse See Tickets . Headquartered in the city , the international business started as the local Way Ahead Records in the 1980s and now has 15 offices in Europe and the US , led by CEO Rob Wilmshurst .
Nottingham-based Gigantic , which employs around 20 people in the city and tickets all the council events , experienced its busiest ever quarter in December 2018 , with a 21 % increase in turnover and sales of £ 26.3m .
Gigantic Tickets business development manager Simon Carpenter says the company was founded by Mark Gasson in 2007 with the aim of being more customerfocused than other larger ticketing services .
Says Carpenter , “ There are a lot of interesting creative types in Nottingham doing different things but the scene ’ s the right size so that everyone knows each other and works together .
“ We ’ ve got that natural progression in the city where an artist can play the Bodega , Rescue Rooms , Rock City and then finish at the arena – so you get a lot of touring bands coming through .”
Despite its impressive range of venues , Carpenter says Nottingham could easily accommodate another venue , especially given the huge number of shows booked in following the postponements during lockdown .
Carpenter praises the work of promoter , record company , and music publisher I ’ m Not From London , which operates events across the city and has given platforms to artists such as Jake Bugg and Sleaford Mods during the early days of their career .
Once again reflecting on his university years at Nottingham , FKP ’ s Ealam says , “ When I turned up in Nottingham in 2000 , you had Rock City which had all the bigger gigs , but if you wanted to watch smaller ones , we would go to places like Leicester or Derby , because a lot of the cooler bands we were into weren ’ t necessarily playing in Nottingham ."
The promoter says that in subsequent years smaller venues , such as Bodega ( formerly The Social ), became stepping stones for the Nottingham live music scene that exists today : “ The advent of Rescue Rooms in 2003 meant a lot of those acts started going to Nottingham on earlier tours , which was great for everyone in the city .
“ Nottingham , up to a certain level , can compete with Birmingham these days as the best place to go to in the Midlands to see an artist early on .”
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