Liverpool Sound City 2012 consolidated our ever-growing reputation as one of Europe’s leading new city-based music and tech festivals.

By night we threw shapes to packed gigs from over 360 bands in 30 venues - including Black Lips, Fucked Up, Miles Kane, Willy Mason, Lanterns On The Lake, Eric Pulido of Midlake, Phil Selway of Radiohead, Frank Turner, Kurt Vile, Jamie XX, Cast, The View, The Kooks, Spank Rock and more.

By day over at The Hilton, 2500 delegates from all over the world set the world to rights, with key speakers from the world of music and tech including Peter Hook and Kevin Cummins, RjDj’s Michael Breidenbruecker, Next Big Sound’s Alex White and Drowned In Sound’s Sean Adams, Simon Raymonde from Bella Union and Eric Pulido of Midlake - along with a host of contemporary, cutting edge, new movers and shakers (see full list of speakers below).

For our opening panel of 2011 we teamed up with the hugely respected tech site The Next Web, for the LSC App Panel - featuring AudioBoo, Mobile Roadie, Shazam, BandApp and RjDj, moderated by TNW’s own Matt Brian.

We looked at new ways of funding projects, with panels on the rise and rise of microfunding, hooking up with brands and the world of sync - the latter featuring 3 times Grammy nominated music supervisor and KCRW DJ Chris Douridas.

We discussed fan engagement and hosted some of the best and brightest heads in music tech - featuring Shufflr.fm, SoundCloud, Last.fm, Music Hack Day, SoundOut and Radar Maker .

We also featured the philosophical, with panels looking at whether making music is an art or a craft, and what the new definition of success really is. We looked at the digital, with a social media surgery. We’ll brought influential media figures, to give insight into how to get noticed, plus we hosted a real live supermodel during a look at the intersection between music and fashion. We held a panel for budding promoters, a look at how to protect your rights as a musician and a session on how to network more effectively without, well you know, looking like you’re actually networking.

In addition we hosted parties and events, such as Bella Union, Moshi Moshi, Young Turks, Friends Vs Records, Sentric, Deltasonic, Sounds Australia, Canadian Blast!, ‘Don’t Panic, We’re From Poland’, Brasil Music Exchange, Music Nova Scotia, Musicians Union, Generator, Plugged In Yorkshire, Showcasing Norwich and Access to Music/ Atom Live and Oui Love all of which had amazing line-ups and were buzzing from start to finish (see full list of bands below).

We also welcomed Bill Harry, who exhibited part of his Mersey Beat collection which celebrated its incredible 50th anniversary in 2011; and Kevin Sampson, whose novel, Powder, had a world premiere at digital cinema FACT as well as the annual John Peel World Cup which featured teams raising money for The British Heart Foundation and our exhibition of poster art, Screenadelica.

And best of all, Sound City will return for 2012 on Thursday May 17th – Saturday May 19th.

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Watch this space