Michelle Dalgety

Owner, Yorkshire Music Collective

Michelle has been supporting local music for the last 8 years in a number of ways. It all started with a myspace account called Yorkshire Music Collective which was set up by a band member who found it hard to connect with venues and promoters and wanted to gather all the information in one place. It quickly grew and became too time consuming for the band so they passed it on to her. The site started to feature music from different artists on a monthly basis, had music reviews and featured interviews with performers and people working in the music industry, and also published a gig calendar. Due to the difficulties with myspace, she started using facebook and twitter more to promote local music. 

She helped create a small DIY music festival in Leeds to showcase local talent in the city in 2010, which ran for 4 years and promoted gigs at different venues in Leeds. 

After trying a number of different ways to support the music scene, the main focus became the weekly radio show which she produces and presents on BCB Radio. The show has been running for almost 6 years and all music played is by Yorkshire based up and coming artists, with a weekly live session and interviews with bands and solo performers. There are also guests from recording studios, local promoters and others providing music services. There is a website around the radio show which also doubles as free resource for anyone connected to music in Yorkshire and also serves as a hub for all the YMC social media sites. 

She is also involved in the CentreStage competition which is an event run by Martin House Children’s Hospice to give a platform and exposure to young performers as they raise vital funds for Martin House Children’s Hospice, which cares for children and young people with life limiting illnesses. Its now in its 8th year and has so far raised almost 200,000 for Martin House. Young bands and solo artists compete at heats in a Leeds music venue, the finalists play at the O2 Academy and the overall winner plays at Leeds/Reading festival.

All the above are on a voluntary basis, because she is a music nut and wants to contribute in some way to supporting music from the ground up.