Ireland Music Week has announced that, after two years online, the festival will be returning to Dublin venues in October. The international facing showcase and conference will take place from October 4th-7th. The festival is now calling on Irish artists to apply to play.

Up to 50 acts will have the chance to play and take part in this internationally recognised event showcasing Ireland’s best emerging talent. The showcases will take place on the Thursday and Friday night of the festival. Tickets are on sale now.

For artists of all levels, the conference at the festival will give them a chance to learn and develop their craft and create new opportunities with agents, labels, bookers, music supervisors and services from all over the world.

Important information

• You will need to apply for IMW through Breaking Tunes - http://www.breakingtunes.com. You will need to create a profile on Breaking Tunes (if you don’t already have one). You will then find the application form in the ‘Opportunities’ section on your Dashboard.
• Please make sure your most recent and most relevant tracks are on your breaking tunes profile.
• Please include all your social media links on your breaking tunes profile description (eg, spotify, soundcloud, bandcamp, youtube, facebook, twitter, instagram). If there is no music on your breaking tunes link, your judge will not be able to score you and you may be eliminated from selection.
• Ireland Music Week only accepts applications from artists living in Ireland or Irish artists living overseas. It does not accept applications from international artists.
• The deadline for applications is Friday May 20th 2022 at 6pm.
• If you are selected to showcase, Ireland Music Week will be in touch with you about your performance and preparation for showcasing at the festival. Ireland Music Week 2022 will pay showcasing artists expenses of €500 but cannot offer payment for travel and accommodation for Irish artists who are living overseas.
• If you have been successful, you will be notified by email in June 2022. 

How to the booking team select who gets to showcase? 
The panel of national and international judges are hand picked from across the global music industry. The judges include festival bookers, labels, managers, music journalists, publishers, booking agents, and many more.

How are the applications judged?
The judging criteria is split into 5 categories:

• Songwriting ability
• Quality of songs
• Quality of recording
• Gut feeling
• Export Readiness

The highest rated artists from each judge go forward to make up the final line-up.

Will I receive feedback if I’m not successful in my application?
All judges are required to provide feedback on the artists in their categories. The feedback will be constructive and will give you a better chance of successfully applying in the future. Ireland Music Week will email you with details on how to receive feedback should you not be successful.

Any advice on applying?
It may sound obvious but put your best foot forward to give yourself the best possible chance. Please make sure your Breaking Tunes profile is completely up to date, your biography is short & to the point/interesting, your photos are of the highest possible quality/resolution and all your social media and streaming links are working properly. As well as looking at and reviewing your application form, the judges will be reviewing your Breaking Tunes profile so it is important that you present it to them at its very best. It is also important to demonstrate how a slot at IMW fits into your plan for 2022/2023 and beyond.

For full details on applying, visit the link below.