Let’s get one thing straight: there’s a lot of music education in the UK that feels like a car boot sale of half-baked promises and overdue Spotify playlists. Then there’s TRACKS, a Sheffield-born, community music juggernaut that isn’t here to entertain you with cliché aspirations. It’s here to build careers, smash barriers, and elevate voices that too many in the “industry” still pretend don’t exist.
Today, TRACKS has thrown down the gauntlet with TRACKS: The Label — a 12-month campaign to raise £50,000 and fund the next phase of its free, accessible, youth-centred music ecosystem. This isn’t just another fundraiser for another bursary that’ll disappear into admin costs — this is proper infrastructure. Real opportunities. Income pathways. Broadcast-ready music. Independent artists with agency, not just CV fillers.
TRACKS isn’t new to doing the real work…
Once upon a time TRACKS looked like your average fee-paying music school — decent enough, if you could afford it. But somewhere along the way they realised what so many institutions refuse to admit: talent does not have a postcode, and creativity should never come with a price tag.
So they tore up the old playbook. TODAY they are a six-day-a-week creative hub offering:
- Free music education
- Youth clubs where kids actually want to be
- Alternative curriculum provision for those where traditional schooling hasn’t worked
- Mentoring that doesn’t treat mental health like a checkbox
- Live events where real audiences hear real talent
- Access to real industry opportunities (not just applause and a certificate)
And crucially — they target the young people the system often forgets – care-experienced, working-class, disabled, excluded, marginalised. No exceptions. No excuses.
TRACKS: The Label — The campaign that makes it official
Here’s what makes this move seismic: TRACKS is not only continuing their essential grassroots work, they’re wrapping it in a fully functioning youth-led record label that will let young artists:
✔ Write, record & release music on major platforms
✔ Get paid work experience (yes, paid — because exploitative internships are bullshit)
✔ Learn real production, mixing, branding and release skills
✔ Build sustainable career pathways
✔ Perform in youth-led showcases that matter
Music isn’t a hobby here. It’s labour. Art. Income. Identity.
And the target — £50,000 — isn’t a random number dreamed up over an overpriced latte. This money funds actualbuilding blocks of creative careers:
- Industry mentors and professionals with lived experience
- Paid internships where young people aren’t volunteering their futures away
- Professional studio time & artist development support
- Visual media creation — music videos, branding, imagery
- Instruments, equipment, creative software for those who literally can’t afford them
- Youth-led live shows where audiences can see future stars in action
And don’t get it twisted — this is already working. TRACKS’ first releases have clocked over 10,000 Spotify streams, proving that when you remove gatekeepers and let talent speak, people listen. Not just listen — they engage.
A parent said it best
“From 0% attendance in their school, my child has attended every session at TRACKS. They imagine a future full of music. The joy experienced by the students and mentors at TRACKS is palpable. It is a beautiful organisation. TRACKS changes lives. TRACKS saves lives!”
If that doesn’t give you chills — rewind that quote and read it again.
This isn’t about hobbyists tinkering with a guitar on the weekend. It’s about real lives reshaped by real opportunity.
The call to arms
The campaign builds on strong backing (yes, including support from the Ed Sheeran Foundation), but the mission is bigger than any one name. With young artists poised to step fully into the professional realm, TRACKS is now calling on:
- Musicians
- Industry leaders
- Business partners
- Local and national supporters
- Anyone who believes in a fairer, truer, more inclusive creative world
Whether you can give £10, £100, or £20,000, every single pound helps power free sessions, paid opportunities, studio time, live events, and mentoring — ensuring that talent, not privilege, gets the keys to the industry.
Because here’s the real headline:
Creative opportunity should never depend on background or income.
That’s not charity — that’s justice.
*Want to be part of something that actually changes the culture of music?
Support the campaign here:
👉 https://www.tracksuk.com/support-us
Looking to partner, fund a specific part of the project or collaborate?
📩 lucy@tracksuk.com
TRACKS: Based in Sheffield. Impacting the whole country 👊
📸 Photo Credit – Jade Sellick
