麻豆约拍

The Sound Of list started in 2003 with the aim to showcase the most exciting rising stars in music. In 2024, the aim is the same - to continue predicting some of the biggest and most exciting global superstars including previous winners Flo, PinkPantheress, Adele, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, HAIM, and Celeste.

This year, UK and international tastemakers were selected to vote for the most exciting new artists they are tipping for success in 2024.

This year’s panel represents a huge spectrum of music from across the world and when choosing the pundits, we are looking for the most genuine and passionate music fans to help showcase the best new music to a wider audience. None of the pundits are paid for taking part.

The panel are asked to nominate acts who they believe have the best chance of mainstream success in 2024 - there is no predetermined list. We want 麻豆约拍 Sound Of to be based on music quality, audience appreciation and innovation, disregarding hype or record deals.

Artists from any musical genre and country are eligible, whether or not they’re signed. Artists are not eligible if:
1. They have been the lead artist on three UK Top Ten singles (features do not count) by 12th October 2023.
2. They have been the lead artist on one UK #1 or #2 album by 12th October 2023.
3. They have appeared on the Sound Of list previously.

Pundits are also not allowed to vote for their family or close friends, or any artists who they have a commercial relationship with.

The panel are asked to pick their favourite new artists they are tipping for success in the following year and because our pundits have a level of influence over the music that gets heard by the general public, it can be seen as a good barometer of future success.

The winner often has quite broad mainstream appeal but it’s not just about predicting the artists that will be famous in 2024 - the longlist often includes a mixture of mainstream and alternative acts. In recent years, Sound Of Alumni have included huge commercial success stories such as Stormzy, Billie Eilish and Sam Smith as well as supporting more alternative acts including James Blake, Jai Paul, Banks and FKA twigs.

The pundits vote by email, choosing their three favourite new acts in order of preference.

There’s only one panel of voters and two rounds of voting. The 3 nominations from each of the pundits on the panel are counted, with a pundit’s favourite artist getting 3 points, second choice getting 2 points and third choice getting 1 point. After the first round of voting we will collate a list of twenty artists who received the most votes from the first round and ask the pundits to pick their top three from the shortlist which will give us the top 10. In the event of the two artists getting the same amount of points, the order is decided by which artists has had the most votes as a pundit’s first choice. If the result of the first choice is the same, it then goes to second choice and so on. If in the unlikely situation the result of each choice is exactly the same, the artists will be awarded a shared place. Only the shortlist of the Top 5 artists (announced in January 2024) is listed in order by points scored, the artists placed 6-10 are listed alphabetically.

The 麻豆约拍 will exclude artists or individual votes at its discretion if it believes there has been a breach of these criteria, there is a clear conflict of interest or there is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the result but it remains impartial and unbiased.

The longlist (top 10) will be announced in alphabetical order on 4th December on the 麻豆约拍 website.

The shortlist (top 5) is revealed in a countdown in early January 2024 on the 麻豆约拍 website.

From early November, when the voting closes, until early January, when the winner is revealed, we work closely with the artists (and managers and labels) to get interviews and live performances which are used on the 麻豆约拍 website and in coverage of the project by 麻豆约拍 News.

The 麻豆约拍 Music Sound Of list, along with other similar new music lists such as the BRITs Rising Star award, are generally thought to be used by the UK music and media industries to give a broad steer when it comes to promotion priorities and live bookings, but this obviously isn’t guaranteed.

There’s no prize for the winner, and the artists on the list aren’t contractually guaranteed any future promotion from the 麻豆约拍 as part of their involvement.