Discover Me UK is a new Sheffield-based talent agency offering Sheffield singer-songwriters and duos a month-long residency to showcase their talent and receive invaluable advice and benefits – and what’s more, aside from a £10 entry fee, it’s all completely FREE.
Once selected, each act will receive a host of resources throughout their month of promotion, including a professional recording utilising Discover Me’s state of the art Roland-sponsored backline, with the artist keeping the track once the month is over; access to world class musicians and production; a professionally shot promo video; a live showcase at Alder Bar; workshops on everything from financial management, music production, and even stage fashion; and a free subscription to Ableton Music.
Discover Me UK co-founder and visual artist Sarah Joseph-Dasent said: “We want to provide a platform for the amazing talent we can see all around us in our adopted home of Sheffield. It’s not a competition, and we can’t choose everyone, so we’ll be looking for the best four to begin with.
Discover Me’s Jay Dasent performing at Alder
“Sheffield is ripe for this right now. There’s so many amazing musicians and things going on. We want to share in the success and for them to be ambassadors for Discover Me. It’s really exciting.”
Sarah’s partner and acclaimed producer Jason Dasent added: “We’re nervous, but I think that’s good. It helps to drive you on.
“It’s about community building right now. I have two ambitions: I want Discover Me to blow up in Sheffield and go nationwide, but I also want Alder Bar to become the premiere entertainment centre in the city.”
Discover Me’s first artist, Alice Ede, performing at Alder with Jay
With the help of Discover Me’s third team member, Alder Bar’s Joe Spriggs, the project will be funded by sponsors, which so far include heavyweight names like Roland, Nugen Audio and Ableton, ensuring that for the artists who are selected there is never anything to pay, other than a £10 administration fee when they apply.
Applications are now open to all Sheffield-based musicians, with Hillsborough College students even being given the chance to apply for free. To apply, musicians are invited to submit a 30-second clip showcasing their talent on the Discover Me website.
Rolands Artist Relations Manager Jamie Franklin said: “We’re really honoured to be supporting Discover Me. It’s a fantastic programme and it really aligns with Roland’s belief in supporting the best emerging talent in local areas.
Nugen Audio’s Marketing Director Sophie Guest added: “We want to send a huge note of support to the Discover Me team and project. Not only on a professional level am I delighted to be involved, but on a personal level, I just wish it had been around when I first started making music. We can’t wait to hear some of the talent and songs that come out of this.”
Co-founders Sarah and Jason originally hail from Trinidad, where they ran a recording studio for 20 years and achieved huge success with a similar programme, launching the career of several artists on the Caribbean Island.
The programme began in 2016, when Sarah and Jason realised that young, emerging artists didn’t have the financial backing or necessary contacts to get their songs played on the radio in Trinidad.
Discover Me’s Joe Spriggs, Sarah Joseph-Dasent and Jay Dasent
To counteract this, Jason found a way to bypass the radio stations by seeking sponsorship to record a song and promo video, which they managed to get played before the beginning of every film, nationwide, in Trinidad’s equivalent of the Odeon movie theatres.
Jason, who is visually impaired explains the motivation for the project: “Being blind, I always felt like I had to work three times as hard to prove myself because there isn’t much infrastructure for visually impaired people in Trinidad, but I had opportunities, and a lot of things went my way. I felt like it was my turn to give back in whatever way I could.
“We asked artists to submit, because we wanted to pick the best of the best and decided that for the ones who were successful, we would give them super heavy promotion for free, for one month, working towards a professional concert.
Discover Me’s first artist Alice Ede
“We would get played hundreds of times in the movie theatres every day, and what we found is that once radio and TV stations found out what was going on, they began coming to us.”
Sarah added: “It just worked! We did about ten in the three years that it was running in Trinidad, and some of those acts went onto have big success, one is a now a successful radio and TV personality.”
In 2019, Jason and Sarah moved to London for Jason to begin a degree. This was just before the pandemic, and when Trinidad closed its borders for what ended up being two-years, they decided to move North to be closer to Jason’s sister, who was already living here in Sheffield.
After using the last couple of years to make contacts and get a feel for Sheffield’s music scene, they are now settled in Sheffield and have joined forces with Alder Bar’s Joe Spriggs. By combining their skillsets, they now feel the time is right to launch Discover Me in the Steel City.
As before, back in Trinidad, Jason will oversee the music production side of things, with Sarah predominantly handling the promo and workshops. While business partner Joe will utilise his Sheffield connections and venue, as well as his degree in finance to support each artist.
“It’s a case of using my contacts to try and replicate a Sheffield-specific version of what Jason and Sarah have done before.” says Joe, “I’ve also got a bar, and I’ve got accounting and economics experience, so that’s where I fit in – I’m really excited to get going.”
Jason added: “Joe has put together a really nice team of people to help us. Sheffield has been really welcoming to both Sarah and I and this makes me feel good about it. I like the atmosphere of a family.”
The model for artists will be much the same as its original Trinidad counterpart, with each new month bringing a new artist into Jason’s studio to record one original song; they will then record a one-minute trailer, which at this stage will be used on social media, hoping to create as much exposure as possible for the culmination of the month – a headline gig at Alder.
During the rest of the month, while promotion is ongoing, each artist will undertake a series of workshops and press.
The first artist to begin the Discover Me journey is 17-year-old Sheffield singer-songwriter Alice Ede, who has already recorded a song and will be performing her live show at Alder Bar on 29 July.
Speaking about the opportunity to work with Discover Me, Alice said: “I’m so grateful to have been chosen as the first artist for Discover Me, I think that the project will be such a great asset to the Sheffield music scene and I can’t wait to perform at the headline gig later this month.”
For more info and to apply, head over to the Discover Me website, and give them a follow on socials here.
