For one week only we're throwing modesty to the winds and proposing own podcast as our Website Of The Week. The reason is, we're giving away a spectacular free two-hour mixtape of brilliant music by some of our favourite acts from the first three months of 2010.

The unique thing about our BBC Introducing show on 6 Music is that we don't only check out tunes sent to us by musicians via the BBC Introducing Uploader. We also have a recommend music page where anybody - literally anybody - can tell us about great new tunes they've discovered online, anywhere in the world. 

Week after week, we're gobsmacked by the sheer quality of new independent music that listeners and musicians suggest for the show. This double podcast of favourites is available until 3am next Monday, so if you like these 32 tunes as much as we do, then spread the word and tell your friends.

If you know of more great music elsewhere on the web - including your own - then tell us where to find it. If we like it, we'll play it - it's as simple as that.

Tom Robinson presents BBC Introducing - Fresh on the Net on BBC 6 Music

This week, Huw's DIY Label of the Week is Mexican Summer from Brooklyn, New York.

Huw met up with Andreas and Keith from the label at the showcase party they put on at South by Southwest, which featured live sets from bands like The Young, Weekend, Washed Out, Dum Dum Girls and The Bitters from the label's roster. You can see pictures from the showcase on the Gorilla vs Bear blog or some rather nice hand-drawn illustrations over at AustinKleon.com.

Mexican Summer only puts out high quality vinyl releases, each with a card which allows you to download the tracks. It's the sister label of Kemado Records.

You can hear Huw's chat with the guys from Mexican Summer if you listen again to last night's show on Radio 1.

Links

https://www.mexicansummer.com

https://twitter.com/mexicansummer

https://www.myspace.com/mexicansummer

This year's SXSW seemed bigger and busier than ever before. I didn't step into the same venue twice and, more often than not, found a new venue or courtyard-turned-makeshift-festival-pitch at every turn, even ending Sunday night at a brilliant hardcore houseparty.

I was reminded on this, my fourth visit to Austin, what this festival offers above others: an early look at some touring names that we'll see grow over the next 12 months, a chance to see how the American market and blogsvreact to exciting new British names, a 24 hours-a-day week full of live music in its liveliest setting, and the warm, welcoming, friendly, fun and definitely 'far out' backdrop of Austin, Texas.

My personal band highlights were DD/MM/YYYY, Broken Bells, Dum Dum girls, Washed Out, Warpaint, Fenech Soler, Nice Nice, Pivot, Hudson Mohawk, Flying Lotus,

Of the bands I'd been listening to for a while but had yet to see, I enjoyed: Unicorn Kid, Choir of Young Believers, Local Natives, Yacht, Neon Indian, Oh No Ono, Memory Tapes and Smith & Westerns.

The bands most talked about that I didn't quite get round to seeing (thanks to huge SXSW queues) but would recommend were: Bear in Heaven (about who Huw's been raving), Happy Birthday, Best Coast, Surfer Blood, and Sleigh Bells.

Now for some final photos:

1. Empire Automotive Service; one example of a makeshift venue - a garage turned into an outdoor festival tent.

2. Hot chili sauce shopping from Austin's famous shop, Tears of Joy Hot Sauces.

3. Flatstock. The massive gig poster exhibition at the SXSW convention centre, where the best poster artists from around the world will gather.

3. Austin houses downtown, where lots of house parties were held.

That's all folks! To hear all the interviews and the best new music from Texas, tune in to BBC Introducing in Wales this week.

More posts from SXSW 2010:

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 4

Maybe it's a sign of the times, but an essential trip to Waterloo Records in Austin, about ten minutes away from the music venues, isn't as fruitful as it has been in previous years. The buzzy bands (at least the ones I've heard of and seen - there really is so much going on here) are so fresh and new that online or live are the only ways to hear them. Having an actual record in a shop isn't as necessary this early on in a band's story. Still, I did purchase an album by Phantogram, one of the bands I've been told were great out here but who I didn't get to see live.

Over at the Convention Centre, where you collect your passes at the beginning of the festival, and watch talks about music, I see the end of The Middle East's set. They finish on Blood, a massive song that you might have heard on Radio 1, and although the environment is weird (a Convention Centre hardly sounds rock 'n' roll, does it?) their majestic Arcade Fire vibe sounds great. Hear them on the show on Wednesday night, 9pm.

I meet up with Bethan Elfyn to get her tips from the past four days in the middle of a room full of about two thousand guitars. Craziness. In the room next door, there's a poster exhibition called Flatstock. Taking pride in posters for gigs, no matter how big or small, has been part of American culture for many years and these exhibitions/trade stalls are incredible. Seeing hand printed, woodcut, multi-colour posters for your favourite bands is a wonderful sight.

The Heaviest Band of the Week award goes to Trash Talk. From Sacramento in California, their hardcore, short, sharp songs put the actual fear into me. I stand open-mouthed at the sporadic stage invasions, crowd surfing and stage diving from amps, ending with bodies on the floor.

This isn't cartoon, fake or forced punk; this is proper scary stuff. They're on tour with Rolo Tomassi back home soon. Brilliant.

To cool things down, I check out the excellent Wave Pictures from London, who charm the audience at the Wichita and Moshi Moshi gig. Wichita are celebrating ten years of putting out ace music this year, so they have a lot to be happy about.

Saturday turns out to be really, really cold; weirdly cold for Austin, as everyone tells me. It's time to get bouncing. Where better than at the Submerged venue, where it's the New Orleans Bounce night. Hip-hop legend Wild Wayne is hosting, and I catch huge sets by MCs Ms. Tee and Magnolia Shorty, whose filthy lyrics and chopped-up beats are awesome.

Over on 6th Street, Alabama's YelaWolf doesn't do it for me with a rather formulaic (but undoubtedly talented) rapping style. Similarly, Best Coast are a band from Los Angeles who take a well-worn style and don't really do enough to add anything to it.

Norway's Casiokids, meanwhile, know how to write a jump up party track better than anyone. I think Fot I Hos might be one of my favourite songs of all time, you know. And Dam Funk might well be the new Prince.

To end the night, I go and see another Los Angeles musician, Daedelus, who is a total mash-up of brilliance. His music defies genres and pigeonholes and his live show's a total treat thanks to his tireless energy. No two shows are the same.

More posts from SXSW 2010:

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 3(Huw Stephens)

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day 2 (Bethan Elfyn)

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 2 (Huw Stephens)

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day 1 (Bethan Elfyn)

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 1 (Huw Stephens)

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day Zero (Bethan Elfyn)

South by Southwest, here we come... (Bethan Elfyn)

It's the third instalment of Huw's new discoveries at South by Southwest music festival...

It's Thursday at SXSW and the heat is on. The day starts at Lovejoys, a proper Texan bar with a low-slung ceiling, slow-turning fans and selling only their own home-brewed beer. Le Loup are first on and sound like a fizzing Fleet Foxes: all beards and big melodies. They're good, but the band I'm here to see, Beach Fossils, are even better.

There's a lot of good Brooklyn bands out here this year and Beach Fossils, along with Bear in Heaven and Freelance Whales, sit on top of the list. Their frantic style onstage and rather poppy guitar tunes make for a lively show. They've a lot of energy on display - their drummer stood up throughout - and are destined for big things.

The blog that's hosting this gig, I Guess I'm Floating, kind of sums up a lot of the best things from SXSW this year. There seems to be a luxurious, carefree, chilled vibe to a lot of the music, from the likes of Washed Out to the blissed-out strumming of Real Estate (more about both later). Not a bad thing at all!

Next I went to another new music blog gig, which Gorilla vs Bear and New York label Mexican Summer were co-hosting. With an ear for the new underground, fresh artwork and a real emphasis on quality releases - heavyweight vinyl is a speciality - their reputation has made them one of the finest US labels out there. As the Dum Dum Girls play, I interviewed Keith and Andreas from the label for this week's show, so you'll hear about the label then.

Unicorn Kid, Frightened Rabbit and We Were Promised Jetpacks are doing big things over in the States and again the Scottish are out in force at SXSW. Over at one of their two showcases I caught some of Broken Records, who continue to melt hearts with a ferocious and captivating set. I kidnap BBC Radio 1's Vic Galloway and promise to take him to a bar where it's Christmas every day. La La's is the place and it is indeed decorated like Chrimbo every day of the year. It's the perfect place to hear Vic's hot tips for SXSW, which you can hear on the show on Wednesday at 9pm.

I've fallen for Yacht's music recently. They're a duo from Portland, Oregon (I like it how you can't just say "Portland") with two albums to their name. Let's not beat around the bush here; they're a better Eurythmics, with added dance moves, LCD-esque space rock tunes and excellent Disney-like lyrics that are fun and don't make a lot of sense.

Although I like most of their counterparts (Girls, Magic Kids especially), the Smith Westerns over at the NME showcase leave me a bit cold, which is quite a feat in the Texan heat.

To warm things up, the aforementioned Real Estate take me to a better place with their proper happy-go-lucky attitude. They're as loose and ethereal as they are groovy and gorgeous. By contrast, Washed Out manages to confuse me. His songs are good, his singing pleasant and the vibe in the club nice, but he seems to be pressing play and that's it. But when his friends Small Black join him on stage, the pace picks up and the place is soon alive with sweat, with arms aloft to full on (and I mean FULL ON) 80s tunes.

Tomorrow Happens Here is the SXSW motto for 2010, but it seems the past is still very present, too.

More posts from SXSW 2010:

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day 2 (Bethan Elfyn)

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 2 (Huw Stephens)

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day 1 (Bethan Elfyn)

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 1 (Huw Stephens)

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day Zero (Bethan Elfyn)

South by Southwest, here we come... (Bethan Elfyn)

Today was all about the British Music Embassy showcase at Latitude 30, as I was hosting the official Welsh party there in the afternoon and doing some DJing (I've written more about the event at the BBC Wales Music blog).

I got down there early and caught a couple of the Yorkshire bands in the morning. The Crookes made their set very memorable with an acapella in the audience, after getting over a small issue with strict stage times, and Grammatics were pretty excited to be at SXSW, playing a storming set at the Yorkshire party.

1. Here are Pontypridd's Straight Lines, who recently recorded a session as part of the BBC Introducing Maida Vale Weekender. I grabbed them for a chat just after their set at the Welsh party:

2. More 6th street madness now. Pictured here: a carboard 'snog box'. Girls offered to kiss you for free (or was it performance art?!)

Later on I saw some amazing bands, including Toronto's DD/MM/YYYY. I can only liken them to a more primal Foals, but they really got the blood flowing. Next door to them was the highlight of my night, LA's Local Natives, who are possibly the tightest band I've ever seen. They seem to be able to shout four-way vocals in perfect unison. They're the next Vampire Weekend, I reckon; really special.

Tonight finished with a bit of a street party outside Latitude 30 for the lovely Estelle. She was fresh and fabulous. Great day - and still two days bombardment to come!

More posts from SXSW 2010:

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 2

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day 1

Huw's musings from SXSW - Day 1

Bethan's SXSW Photo Diary - Day Zero

South by Southwest, here we come...

Bethan Elfyn presents BBC Introducing in Wales on Radio 1.

Huw's back on the trail of new music at the world's biggest new music festival, South by Southwest in Austin...

The less sleep, the better, really, because at South by Southwest (just 'South by' if you're 'cool'), there is so much to see and hear it is enough to make you want to pack up and go home. Honestly, there's so much good stuff to hear, but so many scheduling clashes, so you have to choose wisely. Today I kept to my rule of seeing acts I haven't seen before (pretty much, bar a few songs here and there), and this is what I heard.

Active Child were the first band I saw: a duo from LA with sadly forgettable songs and not the best way to start the day. Their synthy style over substance frustrated me a bit, but it was probably not the best setting for them and seeing them in a dark and dingy club with some sweaty peeps bouncing would probably make more sense.

A much better duo were Jeff the Brotherhood from the home of country, Nashville. What they do is take a dose of 'country' music, scuzz it up, speed it up and amplify it until the drums and guitar combo is blasting full pelt. Check out their single on the Too Pure singles club, which is releasing very interesting and quality records these days.

Still in the Emo's marquee, I got very excited to see Magic Kids. I'd bought their ace single (Hey Boy) last year - a song that's on that barometer of taste, the Rough Trade Counter Culture 09 album - but to see them play live was a total joy. The six-piece band, some still in school, have these massive harmonies, short and perfectly formed happy-go-lucky songs that are packed with EXCITEMENT. There's nothing not to like, really.

Read the rest of this entry

Back in August 2009, a young five-piece visited the BBC Oxford Introducing studios to play a session for presenters Tim Bearder and Dave Gilyeat. Their name was Spring Offensive and the session marked the release of their debut self-titled EP. Here's the band performing an acoustic version of The River from the EP:

They've been gigging hard since then and have just released their debut mini-album, titled Pull Us Apart. Tom Robinson is also a big fan of the band and has played them previously on his 6 Music show.

This week, they're our BBC Introducing Tip of the Week, with the track A Let Down.



Over to you, Mr. Stephens:

Links

https://www.myspace.com/springoffensive

Spring Offensive launch their EP (BBC Oxford, August 2009)

Today, St Patrick's Day was a sea of green all over Austin, and it was the official kick off of SXSW music festival 2010. Hundreds of the best new bands from around the world were about to hop up and play, and sometimes in quite odd places.

1. Broken Bells were the first band I saw. In a parking lot.

2. Just down the road, in a venue called Red 7, I saw a pile of good bands including Oh No Ono, The Fresh & Onlys, Choir of Young Believers and Neon Indian.

Here's a chat I had with Alan Palomo from Neon Indian after their first SXSW 2010 performance:

Read the rest of this entry

Huw Stephens blogs from South by Southwest, where he's off looking for new music...

They call it the best music festival in the world. In terms of concrete-fests, with gigs in venues around town, it really has no comparison. South by Southwest continues to bring the best, most diverse line up to Austin, Texas and this year I'm back for more.

First, important stuff: who else was on my flight. In the past it has been Lady Sovereign, Jack Peñate and Gallows. This year on the plane were Chew Lips, Broadcast 2000, Viv Albertine from The Slits, Sion from Cate Le Bon's band and Damian Marley. Exciting times. 

Starting on the Wednesday, the first band I saw was A Sunny Day in Glasgow. Like Architecture in Helsinki from Oz and FM Belfast from Iceland before them, it shouldn't be a surprise to find they're from Philadelphia. Their summery, jaunty pop tunes were a good way to start the day, as the streets started to get busier.

The transformation is incredible; when you arrive at SXSW the town looks fairly respectable, but as the music begins properly and the film and interactive folk start to leave (there's a few branches to SXSW's tree), it begins to look like bedlam.

Next up, MyNameisJohnMichael brought a fuller rock sound over at the Mohawk venue, with that college rock harmony speciality shining through. It was a more hypnotic and psychedelic affair inside where the hotly-tipped War Paint - a female trio with a song called Billie Holiday and a drummer wearing a furry hat inside (even though it was boiling) - were sounding good, playing their first of ELEVEN shows at the festival.

Read the rest of this entry

Tuesday March 16 (Day Zero - Wednesday is the official first day).

Today was all about the admin and chilling, getting passes, prepping a water-tight schedule and having a wander before the first band strum the first chord.

SXSW is beast of a festival, one of the biggest, craziest, best organised events I've ever been to. Tonight the hot gossip is that Motörhead might play a secret show in a tiny venue, and there's a Lemmy Q&A, so we'll see about that later. First, I had some admin to contend with. In previous years, I've queued for hours in this hall for my music badge, but today the rain has kept a few away. Time for a few photos...

1. Austin Motel. An icon on the Austin skyline, this small kooky symbol is the gateway to one of the coolest streets of the City, South Congress. I wandered down to check out the best vintage shops, grab some great tacos, and kill some time before my first gig of SXSW 2010.

Read the rest of this entry

It's time once again to take a whistle-stop tour around the UK and bring you a flavour of what our local radio shows have been up to in the past few weeks.

BBC Norfolk have been chatting to Sam Taylor (aka Adelaide's Cape) who's been getting his face known in his native Norwich in recent weeks. Having already played locally in support of indie folk darlings First Aid Kit and Alessi's Ark recently, Sam has just released his debut EP, Last Sleep in Albion, and has another gig lined up at The Birdcage on 8 April. If you can't wait until then, watch the interview and live session which the BBC Norfolk team filmed with Sam earlier this year.

Throughout February, BBC SuffolkIntroducing went on tour, broadcasting their Thursday night show live from three local venues (OK, pubs) in order to take a closer look at the current state of the music scene in Suffolk. There were live sets from The Cads, (((Oh Dear, Ideals, This Boy Wonders, Ed Sheeran and Umbrella Assassins and they've documented it all in a photo gallery. Well worth a look.

Over in the West Country, there's talk of a Facebook campaign which aims to fill the Top 40 chart with unsigned bands. BBC Somerset spoke to Glastonbury resident Wes White about his plan, which aims to build on December 2009's infamously successful 'Rage Factor' campaign by catapulting a host of relative unknowns into the chart through. You've got to admire the man's ambition. If you're in a band and would like one of your tracks to be part of the campaign, you've got until 23 March to apply on Facebook.

Read the rest of this entry

Although it doesn't feel that long ago that Huw Stephens was bringing us updates last year at South by Southwest, the juggernaut that is Texas's annual music conference/festival (confest? festicon?) has rolled around once again.

This year, Huw and Bethan Elfyn will be in Austin once again to check out the bands that are the talk of the town. The music festivities run from Wednesday to Sunday this week and they'll be bringing you daily blog updates right here.

To kick things off, here's Beth with some photos of her trip to Austin via New York.

Richard.

---------------------------------------------

Hi folks,

Welcome to my special photoblog from SXSW. Thought I'd post three images a day, from the forthcoming adventure. Feel free to comment on any that grab your attention. They're only phone photos so quality might vary. 

Read the rest of this entry

In today's broadband-enabled age, online musical collaborations are so common they're pretty much taken for granted. Yet although the likes of Soundcloud and Yousendit make it pretty painless to send files back and forth these days - actually syncing them (so everyone has the latest version) has remained a bit of a headache. At least, up until now.

Dropbox.com does the job better than any service we've ever seen - across any number (or any combination) of Macs and PCs. All the files are stored locally on your hard disk - updating rapidly and seamlessly in the background. Everyone in the team always has the same folder with the same files right there on their own desktop.

So, for example, if you save a new recording of that solo you've been tweaking on your computer, it updates on everyone else's machine moments later. Better yet, you get full multiple undo: if you make a mistake, just retrieve an older version from the Dropbox web site.

Best of all, as long as you don't exceed two gigabytes of storage space, the service is completely free. So for writers, musicians, designers - in fact anyone who needs to access the same files from different computers - DropBox.com is this week's Website of the Week.

Links

https://www.dropbox.com

Tom Robinson presents BBC Introducing - Fresh on the Net on BBC 6 Music.

Ricky P, Parksy and Jamie B are better known as Tall Ships. They're based in Falmouth but originate from Brighton and are currently off having way too much fun on the road with the mighty Tubelord.

They've been going since 2008 and are putting out their debut EP on the wonderful Big Scary Monsters label this coming Monday, 15 March.

The EP's lead track, Books, is our Tip of the Week. Here's Huw to give the track the proper introduction it deserves:

Like what you hear? I'd encourage you to head straight over to the band's blog, where there's a brilliant pictorial diary of the work that went into making 250 individually-numbered EP sleeves.

Links

https://www.myspace.com/tallshipsfromfalmouth

https://thepeopleofthisplace.blogspot.com

https://bsmrocks.com

From the rumbling depths of new DIY comes Tough Love with a thirst for the new and an appetite for the ferocious, loud and brilliant. They've got split singles and a roster to make the new harder-indie fan salivate!

How, when, where and why was the label set up?

Tough Love is run by a guy called Stephen and his lifelong buddy, Ryan. They started the label in Coventry about 4 and a half years ago, mainly out of boredom and a naïve belief that running a label was simple.



They say it's turned out to be both a constant struggle and the best decision they ever made.

Where did the label's name come from?

Stephen says all the good ones were taken. Tough Love also reflects the founders' personalities - Stephen is a die-hard romantic (the love bit) and Ryan is a big rock (the tough bit).

What's the ethos of the label and which artists are on it?

Stephen: "There's no ethos really - other than that the records we release have to look beautiful, and the bands have to make us want to listen to their songs an unhealthy amount of times in a row."

Tough Love artists past and present include Favours for Sailors (the best band never to release a proper album), Male Bonding, William, Calories, Fair Ohs, Spectrals, Seams, Girls Names, Becoming Real, Honeytrap.

Any releases/gigs coming up?

There's a launch party for the new Fair Ohs/Spectrals split 7" single on 20th March at the Stag's Head, London. There's also a white label 12" by Seams called Nightcycles, and a Girls Names 8-track 12" coming out in May.

If the label could sign any artist past or present, who would it be?

Talking Heads, because David Byrne can get away with anything.

What's the favourite office snack at the label?

Stephen: "Since we're operating out of my bedroom currently, there's a strict 'no eating in bed' policy. Once we get out of here then it'll be all-day breakfasts consisting of loads of sugary cereal and smoothies."

If the label were an animal what would it be and why?

Stephen: "A dog, because of my dad's catchphrase, "Do you like that dog?" which he asks every time we see one. Maybe I could then turn the question around on him, although he'd probably say no, since he's a big Mark Knopfler fan and we're not really channelling that vibe."

Links

https://toughloverecords.com/

https://www.myspace.com/toughloveonmyspace

Download this week's Huw Stephens podcast to hear tracks by Tough Love's William and Seams.

This is the last of our weekly Long Reports. Over the month we've covered management, booking agents and press, PR and plugging. I hope you've found my reports vaguely useful. Please remember that these aren't fully comprehensive accounts of everything embodied in the one subject, more of a brief snapshot and a few people's opinions. Things can happen differently for everyone; what we've tried to give is a little advice from some good people to help you get started.

For our final report, we're looking at the massive and massively confusing world that is music publishing. What, actually, is it? And is it really possible for a band to make MONEY from their music?!

We spoke with Mark Gale from Universal Music Publishing and Dan and Marion from The Sync Agency about what their companies do, and heard how ace bands like Los Campesinos!, Funeral For A Friend and Bright Light Bright Light go about getting their music published.

To learn more about publishing, visit the BBC Introducing advice section, where we have in-depth text articles and video advice clips on the topic from the likes of Marina and the Diamonds andpublisher Mike McCormack.

Previously:

The Long Report - Part 1: Managers

The Long Report - Part 2: Booking Agents

The Long Report - Part 3: Press

Jen Long is Broadcast Assistant for BBC Introducing in Wales with Bethan Elfyn.

Every beginner who's ever wrestled with HTML or CSS in order to build their own website is bound to have endured days and nights of weeping frustration. Anyone foolhardy enough to try to add an online form to collect information from visitors will have needed to brave the perils of CGI, server-side includes and MySQL databases with - inevitably - much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Which is why you and I need Wufoo - a lean, clean and beautifully designed form-building tool you can use in a web browser with no expertise at all. Wufoo helps you create things like contact forms, web surveys and invitations without writing a single line of code.

It might help you make a mailing list box or an order form - for instance using PayPal - which can integrate seamlessly into the look and feel of your existing band blog or website. All very handy.

Any incoming entries are sent to you by email or RSS as aoon as they arrive, and there's no longterm contract.

I found the site to be fast, fun and easy to understand. You can even have three forms and 100 entries a month for free. So for these reasons, Wufoo.com is my new website of the week.

Links

https://wufoo.com/

Tom Robinson presents BBC Introducing - Fresh on the Net on BBC 6 Music

This week's BBC Introducing Tip of the Week comes from a chap named Tom Marshall, who produces wonderfully mellow electronic loveliness under the alias Dam Mantle.

Tom is based in Glasgow, used to be part of a quartet named Beebah Stant, and has supported acts like Tickley Feather and Gary War.

The next Dam Mantle EP, titled Gray, is out on 5 April via Halleluwah Hits.

You can hear more from Dam Mantle in this week's Huw Stephens podcast or listen to our previous Tips of the Week. So what are you waiting for?

How, when, where and why was the label set up?

Planet Mu is an electronic music record label run by Mike Paradinas, also known as µ-Ziq (pronounced MU-ZIQ). Based in Broadstairs in Kent, they released one of the first dubstep albums, Vex'd's Degenerate in 2005, and one of the first grime albums, Virus Syndicate's Work Related Illness. In 2006, Mary Anne Hobbs curated the peerless Warrior Dubz, the first of three very successful compilations that the label has put out.

Where did the label's name come from?

Planet Mu was the name of founder Mike's studio.

What's the ethos of the label and which artists are on it?

The label was set up to release beautiful, emotive and challenging electronic music, and there have been over 100 artists on the label to date.

Any releases/gigs coming up?

In 2010, Planet Mu will be releasing some incredible music from the likes of Starkey, Raffertie & Slugabed. In particular, there will be two stunning albums that approach dubstep from original and contrasting angles: Starkey's Ear Drums and Black Holes in April and Rudi Zygadlo's debut album, Great Western Laymen, in May. Before that, there's Rudi's single, Resealable Friendship.

What's the favourite office snack at the label?

The Planet Mu guys say: "We did go through a bit of a Monster Munch phase when they released the old style flavours again, but now we just eat a lot of biscuits."

Links

https://www.planet.mu/

On Monday, we released a long-awaited change to our upload tool, the first major change to the system since we launched it in February 2009.

If you have used the Uploader before you're probably asking what the big deal is, because on the surface it doesn't really look like much has changed. You'd be right. But behind the scenes, we've actually rebuilt most of the system. Our main aim was to modernise the technology it's built on so that we can continue to make the service more informative and useful in future. More on that at a later date.

Even though it doesn't look very different, there are some important differences between the Uploader that is now on the site and the one that existed previously, so I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a couple of elements and also highlight some teething problems we've spotted in the last couple of days.

Logging In

New to the Uploader?

Along with the rest of BBC Online, we've moved over to a new membership system called BBC iD.

Before you can upload songs to us, you'll need a BBC iD account. If you've already created one (e.g. to make a comment on the BBC Introducing site, our blog, or elsewhere on bbc.co.uk) you can just sign in, fill out your Artist Profile and start uploading songs to us. If you've never signed in before, simply follow the link to register.

Used the Uploader before?

If you uploaded tracks to us before March 1st 2010, you will already have an old school BBC Online membership account (i.e. a username and a password).

Fear not - your username will still work. The next time you try to log in anywhere on bbc.co.uk, the site will automatically walk you through a few steps to upgrade your membership account to BBC iD. There's no need to re-register. Once you've gone through these steps, you can continue to use the Uploader like before.

We hope you find the registration and login steps simpler and quicker overall than they were previously. If you do run into any problems, please read the advice on the BBC iD help page.

Since we made these changes on Monday, we've noticed a couple of bugs. Thanks to those of you who have emailed us this week - your feedback has been really helpful!

Bugs we've spotted

Where did my artist profile go?

If you have uploaded music to us in the past, you might find your Artist Profile doesn't show up when you log in. As some of you have reported, in some cases the profile information boxes (e.g. biog, band members etc) are blank.

This is a bug and we expect to have it fixed by Tuesday 9th March. If this affects you, we apologise; rest assured, we still have your details saved at our end and they will re-appear next week.

If you want to fill out the boxes on your Artist Profile page again in the meantime, go ahead; it won't do any harm.

Where's my confirmation email?

If you uploaded a track to us between 10am on Monday (01/03/2010) and 1pm on Tuesday (02/03/2010), you might not have received the usual confirmation email to say we got your tune OK.

I can assure you that we do have all your details and the music you submitted; we're ensuring that everything you sent makes it into our system as soon as possible. When your track filters through, you'll get a confirmation email. Once again, apologies if this has caused you any confusion. This should also be sorted out by Tuesday 9th March.

That's it for now, but if you come across something else unusual that I haven't mentioned, or you're not sure what's occurring, then do please get in touch with us via the Contact Us form.

I'll be back soon to talk about other new developments and to gather your opinions about what features we implement next.

Martyn Davies is Development Producer for BBC Audio & Music Interactive

Continuing in our series of reports, this week we're looking at a pretty broad topic. Probably the broadest of all, and one that's ever changing. We're talking about press. Radio, magazines, television, and most importantly, online. How can your band get into the NME, get played on Radio 1? How do you end up with more blog buzz than a Neon Gold synth darling?

First we talked to Nita from the Independent PR company Gold Star. She tells us exactly what her job entails and gives you some advice on how to contact different publications. Plus, you'll hear her take on a few of the different ways new artists can grab their first piece of publicity.

Then we spoke to James Penycate who runs Brilliantly Different; a company which helps set up and manage the entire online presence of new act. We also get some sage advice from old schoolers Funeral For A Friend and The Blackout.

In terms of getting started, this is probably the report you're going to most want to listen to. It deals with your very first move - something which at a time when MP3 blogs and social networking are as influential as ever, is pretty important. Is it ever OK to send MySpace spam? How many tweets is too many tweets? What's the right bit-rate for your demo?

As always though, this is just a very brief guide and if you want to know more do check out the advice section of this site.

And don't forget, if you're trying to get played on the radio, there's a very simple solution. Send us your music via the BBC Introducing Uploader today.

Jen Long is Broadcast Assistant for BBC Introducing in Wales with Bethan Elfyn.

Previously:

The Long Report - Part 1: Managers

The Long Report - Part 2: Booking Agents

Named as 'One to Watch' for 2010 by BBC 1Xtra, Scorzayzee has actually been making music for over 15 years.

Once voted seventh best rapper in the world, the 29-year-old MC tells us what it's like returning to the UK rap game after five years away, as well as sharing some top tips.

You've returned after a substantial break from the scene. What were some of the challenges you faced coming back?

While I was gone music changed so much; all these new artists had come through, grime music had come out and the spitters were spitting really hard. As well as letting my original fans know I was back, I also had to start thinking about appealing to a younger generation who didn't know me from back in the day. It was weird being back in the booth as well, my timing was a bit off at first and I was as nervous as when I first started rapping!

Is it frowned upon in the industry to have a break?

In music I think everybody likes a comeback. But the trick is you have to come back strong, you have to reinvent yourself.

Do you have any advice to artists getting their music out there?

With (former group) Out Da Ville, we'd go round all the venues in Nottingham and ask if we could do a gig for free. We'd also go down to local radio stations. For a young artist starting out I think it's best to approach local radio first, get the feel of doing freestyles and interviews on air, and just go to open mics.

Is it harder for artists who don't live in London?

To make it professionally as an artist, you have to make a few trips to London with all the media that's based there. Also London is the biggest city in England, so if you don't get your name known there, then you won't be known elsewhere in the world. We used to come down every couple of weeks.

What's the scene like in Nottingham?

There are MCs on every corner now, the scene is really flourishing. Everybody wants to get involved in music and it's good to see. It's a positive thing, spending your time doing something that's going to help you progress rather than doing negative stuff.

What's it like as a solo artist as apposed to being in a group?

You have a lot more freedom as a solo artist as it's all your own ideas and you do what you want. I did like being in a group as there was a good competitive spirit, it kept us sharp, but there can also be disagreements over tunes, like someone might not like a verse or something.

You've been on the 1Xtra playlist several times, back in the day and more recently with your latest track, Luv Me. Do you have any advice for artists taking their music to radio?

If I knew that a 1Xtra DJ was at a jam in my town, I'd approach them and give them my music, that's what we used to do with Out Da Ville. Where there's a will there's a way. You just have to get out there and push your music and have belief and faith in yourself.

https://www.myspace.com/scorzayzee

Scorzayzee's debut album Peace To The Puzzle is out in March 2010.

Anna Nathanson is Assistant Producer for BBC 1Xtra Interactive. Anna blogs about all things urban at annanathanson.wordpress.com

As any Londoner will tell you, there are loads of bandstands in parks across the Capital, most of them pretty tattered from lack of use. Bandstandbusking.com decided to change all that and fill these park podiums every few weeks with, they say, "some talented people capable of carrying a tune or two."

Their sessions have featured the cream of Britain's indie aristocracy, including Micachu and the Shapes, Peggy Sue, Kill It Kid,Internet Forever, Brakes, Sons of Noel and Adrian, Emmy The Great and Speech Debelle - not to mention Lulu and the Lampshades - all of whom have busked on their bandstands for free. 

You don't even need to live near London to enjoy the video interviews and performances posted on their website - or subscribe to their podcasts, all of which are free and permanently available.

The whole thing is run by a cooperative of music likers with a range of different skills and passions. Anybody is welcome to help with suggestions, filming skills, promotion, feedback and opinions. For these reasons, I picked Bandstand Busking as my Website of the Week on the show this weekend.

Links

https://bandstandbusking.com/

https://www.youtube.com/bandstandbusking

Tom Robinson presents BBC Introducing - Fresh on the Net on BBC 6 Music