Industry news & advice blog

The idea that a thriving bed of musical and creative talent can be nurtured while studying in higher education has always been a tricky proposition. However, Futureworks have pioneered this idea over a decade ago with their record label 1043 Recordings.

1043 Recordings is a multi-genre record label that has been distributing music (via Label-Worx) produced by Futureworks' students, staff, and alumni globally since January 2011.

Set up and managed by the people behind Manchester’s iconic dance label, Paper Recordings, 1043 Recordings was designed to be driven by students and guided by staff with decades of music industry experience, encompassing live performance, web design, and artist, event, and record label management.

Its first release was a guitar alt-rock track by a band called Bateleur, visiting a diverse range of genres from Hip-Hop, Metal, Hyperpop, Drum & Bass, House, Folk, Rap, Trance, Rock, Pop, Ambient and Techno while its catalogue continues to grow into its twelfth year!

1043 has become a safe, creative space for diverse, talented multi-genre recording artists, performers, and producers, forming a talented community of singers, songwriters, beatmakers, DJs, musicians, bands, and multimedia artists. It prides itself on its high-quality production values, drawing from the high-spec studio spaces based at its home in Manchester, Futureworks, right down to the audio mastering, which is overseen by Steven ‘Stek’ Kerry, who has mastered tracks for Busted, Charlie Simpson and Pixie Lott. To help the students release their tunes, Futureworks sign their tracks on a non-exclusive, fully flexible basis. Here’s the best bit: they pass on 100% of the royalties directly to the artists.

1043 Recordings regularly hosts live events at local venues (The Eagle Inn in Salford being the fave spot!), providing opportunities for the artists to perform on stage in front of a ‘real’ audience. Working with the record label is an ideal way to network with other students from their Art & Design and TV, Film, & Media Schools while developing your brand and professional portfolio while studying at Futureworks.

As a performer, writer and producer, it’s a massive challenge these days to get your music in front of gig promoters, agents and labels, so they give an opportunity to the artist to perform a live set as part of their Riverside Live Lounge. Using audio engineering students to capture the sound and a film crew from the Indie Filmmaking degree to capture and edit the performance in the Neve VRL Studio, and create a video they can submit to play at festivals, to agents, and for their social media promo. Check out the Riverside Live Lounge playlist on our YouTube channel.

If you’d like to come and see some of the Futureworks artists perform live, head to the Eagle Inn on 20th December. More info can be found on Insta.