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Ben Smith

Ben Smith

Aug 31, 2026

6:05
It's brilliant just to sort of highlight these smaller groups of musicians, isn't it?
6:11
Exactly.
6:12
And I think, you know, things seem to be getting a bit more difficult for, you know, grassroots musicians, you know, venues are closing, there's not as much funding.
6:26
I mean, not to rant, but Leeds Festival that's happening this weekend, they got rid of their BBC Introducing stage and just opportunities seem to be slowly going.
6:41
So I think it's really important for festivals like the DH Violence Festival, you know, other ones like Hockley Hustle and Oxjam and Beast and to kind of represent all of these, that's my baby crap, to represent these smaller artists, the ones that aren't signed, aren't getting all of the help from managers and whatnot.
7:09
So yeah, that's what we want to do.
7:11
These acts that aren't getting handed every festival and stuff, we have them on at all so that hopefully they can get that experience of playing you know, call crowds and stuff and also get their music out there and hopefully build onto something where they get these bigger opportunities and whatnot.
8:03
Who are the new ones? Who are the first timers this time around?

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