This is your opportunity to work with real industry experts who can help you define your goals, refine your sound, and elevate your career to the next level. Through hands-on guidance, professional development, and strategic support, Future Icon is designed to give emerging artists the momentum they need to grow and thrive in the music industry.

The winner of Future Icon will receive a career-changing prize package worth over £5,000, including £1,000 in cash, an industry-leading artist development and PR package, and professional studio recording time. These prizes offer vital support across all areas of an emerging artist’s journey, from funding to promotion to production.

At the heart of the development package is Blinding Talent, — a leading music marketing and artist consultancy founded by respected industry executive Mark Adams (Channel 4 / Bauer).

The winning artist will receive a two-month Artist Development Programme built around them — their sound, their story and how they show up to the world. This is hands-on, one-to-one support focused on shaping their brand, refining their content, and giving them clear direction on how to grow a real audience and get closer to the music industry. Alongside this, the winner will receive a Spotify Growth Launch Campaign, a live showcase opportunity with Blinding Talent, and one year of Premium Music Distribution with unlimited releases.

Every artist who makes it through to the live heats will also receive a personalised Digital & Social Audit, valued at £300, breaking down their current presence and giving them practical, honest insight into how to move forward.

Learn more at www.blindingtalent.com

This amazing prize is supplied by Headliner, a platform that uniquely bridges the gap between the music and audio industries. Headliner works with top-level, emerging and aspiring talent, as well as behind-the-scenes professionals, to create engaging content across magazine, podcast, video and events for a global audience.

Learn more at www.headlinerhub.com

The winner will also receive £1,000 to help fund their career. Together, this package is designed to give one exceptional solo artist or duo the practical tools, industry expertise, and financial support to take their career to the next level.

‘Outline’

‘Doing Future Icon was honestly nothing but amazing. Firstly, each round is a gig in itself, with a crowd and other cool HotVox artists (HotVox being the gigs that really started – and carried – our live show career in London), as well as a panel made up of people who were just great to connect with, regardless. The rounds were super fun because of that – it just felt like another chance to perform, as opposed to a ‘competition’ environment, which wouldn’t be as positive. Winning was beyond exciting because vibes were so high and the prizes were super generous and an incredible kick starter – we got to work with Blinding Talent on our single ‘Grape Vapour’ which introduced us to their work (and we then chose to work with them again afterwards), they were incredibly insightful, and promo with them fully pivoted and elevated our streams in a way we never could have imagined before.’

‘Mona’

‘I will never forget how invested the audience was and the excitement that you could breathe in the room. Honestly, if I could, I would do it all over again!! What a rush. Amongst the artists you could feel a sense of community and we were hyping each other up, and I made friends from that experience too! Winning was shocking to say the least, I guess you never expect it to be you. Being able to work alongside Blinding Talent and Puzzle Factory Studios was the most growth I’ve ever had in my music career. There are so many nuances and insights that go completely over our head that really make the difference when you’re trying to get people to discover your music. I’m so excited to say that I’ll be able to release my debut single very soon thanks to this award! I didn’t think it could sound so beautiful.’