Producing Sound of 2011

I've taken some time out of my day job at BBC Radio 1 to produce this year's BBC Sound of 2011. As someone who gets unreasonably excited by new sounds, this project has been a gift in seeing what other music types are loving and feel excited by for the forthcoming year. My job has been sourcing other's opinions on what their favourite new acts are in the form of votes, resulting in the longlist of the BBC Sound of 2011 and then delivering the information to key people for broadcast, as well as organising video shoots and interviews.

The BBC love and support new music in lots of different ways - through radio play, putting artists on playlists, bookings on programmes, BBC Introducing and sessions. The BBC Sound Of 2011 is another facet which shines a light on new talent. My first job was to refresh and review the list of contacts to ensure we had the key influential writers, DJs and bloggers and a wide range of opinions. The ensuing spreadsheet and votes were protected in Spooks-style secrecy, which were counted and cross-checked with some senior BBC figures to ensure my maths hadn't been distracted in any way!

In tandem with collating the list of favourites, I worked with different programme makers on a variety of networks, from Zane Lowe's team on Radio 1, to Victoria Derbyshire's team on 5Live and music news and programming on 6 Music, as well as speaking with Press and entertainment news teams to keep them across how the list has been shaping up. Also, for the first time, the BBC Sound of 2011 has a new home at bbc.co.uk/soundof2011, so I have been sourcing content and performances with Rory, master of all things BBC Music and online.

Working closely with George Ergatoudis, BBC Radio 1's Head of Music and Matthew Shaw, Assignment Editor for BBC Entertainment news, our aim was to have a variety of content about each artist in the Top 5 - some filmed content, a written article, a BBC Radio 1 performance and an interview with one of the BBC Radio 1 or 1Xtra DJs who championed them. The highlights of these films were made into the BBC Sound of 2011 Red Button TV show. By filming content in James Blake's bedroom and going to the studio where Jessie J writes and records her material hopefully we have provided an early introduction to these artists and how they have reached this point so far.

It seems everyone loves music lists, or at least has a view on them - ever since Nick Hornby hit the nail on the head in 'High Fidelity', there's something wonderfully compelling about music opinions. Hopefully there are a few artists which have been brought to the fore and allow discovery of new sounds for the new year.

Watch interviews and session performances by this year's top 5 plus profiles of the 15 strong longlist on: bbc.co.uk/soundof2011

Watch clips of the final five artists at: BBC Music.

Philippa Aylott is the Producer of BBC Sound of 2011.