FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: GLASTONBURY EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION 2025 ANNOUNCED
Glastonbury Festival’s EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION is back for 2025, with supported from PRS for Music and PRS Foundation once more. The free-to-enter contest gives acts from across the musical spectrum based in the UK or Ireland the chance to vie for a spot on one of the main stages at this summer’s Festival. The eventual winner will also pocket a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation to help cultivate their songwriting and performance skills, while two runners-up will each receive a £2,500 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize.
Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis remarked: “We know how hard it is for new acts to take their first steps towards a career in music – particularly with the challenges facing small venues in this country – so the Emerging Talent Competition is a hugely important part of Glastonbury’s annual calendar. I can’t wait to hear the entries from across all the musical genres. And it’s free to enter, so you’ve nothing to lose!”
Entry is open for ONE WEEK ONLY from 9am Monday 27 January until 5pm Monday 3 February 2025 via an application form on the Glastonbury website. To enter, acts submit one original song, plus a link to a video of a live performance in any setting from kitchen to concert hall. The Festival has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusivity and the organisers welcome entries from disabled artists, who they will support to ensure they are not disadvantaged by the process.
2024 Winner: JayaHadADream - photo by Rick Mav
A panel of 30 of the UK’s best music writers (their words!) including your modest scribe will compile a longlist of 90 acts from all valid entries. Then this will be pared down to a shortlist of 8 by judges including Glastonbury’s Michael and Emily Eavis and stage bookers before the winning act is crowned at the live finals held in April at Pilton Working Men’s Club, close to the Worthy Farm festival site.
In addition to the winner appearing on a prestigious main stage, in some years all finalists have been offered spots at the festival, although this is not a given. Here are some tips any aspiring acts might like to note:
Read the rules and entry form, filling it in carefully and choose the genre that is the closest fit for your music.
Pick a strong original song – it doesn’t need to be your latest single and if you have entered in previous years don’t use the same song.
Do not submit an inferior live version of the same song as your video entry. In fact, don’t repeat the same song, period. Choose a different live song – an original or a cover – that showcases your ability in terms of vocals, instrumentation and/or arrangement.
Your video must be a fully live performance so don’t submit a lip sync video. It can be set literally anywhere – at home, in a rehearsal studio, in the park, not just on a stage somewhere. But it must be live!
Make sure your YouTube page is up to date and reflects your wider repertoire in the best possible light.
Check that your social media links are also current and joined up.
The competition has a good track record of introducing both winners and finalists to a wider audience. 2022 runners up, English Teacher, went on to win the 2024 Mercury Prize. Rapper Flohio won the prestigious Music Moves Europe Talent Award in 2020 while R&B singer Izzy Bizu became a 2016 BRITs Critics’ Choice nominee and won the 2016 BBC Music Introducing Award). Indie singer-songwriter Declan McKenna, won ETC 2015 and subsequently released three highly successful albums, establishing himself as one of the UK’s brightest stars. Here he is, all those years ago!
Last year’s winner, the Jamaican-Irish artiste JayaHadADream, went on to be featured across national TV, radio and media, as well as performing at other major festivals. Speaking of her experience she said: ”Winning the Glastonbury competition changed my life in many ways. It opened up so many opportunities. I’ve had a lot of industry and press interest and worked with artists I’ve grown up listening to. It also allowed me to print my vinyl through the funding which was a dream come true. My fanbase has grown too thanks to this! The actual experience of the Festival was unlike anything I have ever been to. It makes me emotional thinking about it because it was inspiring, hopeful and therapeutic. Everything about the experience was magical! I still can’t believe I performed on a Glastonbury main stage and my name’s on the T-shirt!”
In 2025 it could be you... so just get that entry in!
FOOTNOTE: Fifty3 Fridays is still on hiatus while we get things in order ahead of relocating after 40 years in Kingston upon Thames. We will keep you posted on the Emerging Talent front and hope to return to a regular weekly column in early spring. Meanwhile there are 250+ back issues to browse or you could check out the myriad Fifty3Fridays Playlists on Spotify via @TonyHardy53.
To anyone who wants to submit music to Fifty3 Fridays please see the note on the Contact page here. I commend you to submit your new tracks to Fresh On The Net where a wonderful group of moderators will lend a generous ear.
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