Fill the Silence
with the Voices
of Teesside.
Tees Valley has music worth hearing. Promoting Local puts it in the places where community life actually happens -- from arts venues and independent businesses to public spaces that have never had it before. Locally sourced and curated, directly licensed from the artists who made it.
Music created here
should be heard here.
Tees Valley has artists worth hearing. But the places where community life actually happens -- the independent café, the public square, the community hall, the high street -- are mostly silent. Not because nobody wants music there. Because the way music licensing works has made it too expensive, too complicated, or simply impossible. Promoting Local was built to change that.
The invisible plays
Independent businesses -- cafés, small bars, community spaces -- already play music. Many are streaming personal-use services like Spotify or Apple Music through the speakers, which is technically unlicensed and puts the business at risk. The plays happen every day. They leave no trace. The artists whose music fills those rooms see nothing from them -- not because there's no audience, but because the system was never built to look in these places.
Some businesses turn to royalty-free music to stay compliant. It solves the legal problem, but it solves nothing else -- no local identity, no audience connection, no data, no community. Background music that nobody chose and nobody cares about.
The literal silence
Town centres, markets, council buildings, public squares, waiting rooms, community halls -- many of these spaces have no music at all. Not because nobody wants it. Because conventional music licensing for a large or complex public space can run to thousands of pounds a year.
The silence is economic, not aesthetic. The cost of conventional licensing has simply made music unviable in exactly the places where a community hears itself most clearly.
Direct licensing sets music free to the community.
Promoting Local is built on direct licences from artists -- permission from the people who made the music -- which means our catalogue can go anywhere: licensed venues, independent businesses, public spaces, community locations. The permission travels with us. The music follows. And for venues already licensed the conventional way, we work alongside that system, not around it.
Every installation is a data capture point. Every play is logged, attributed, and connected to a real audience at a real location. Artists see exactly where their music is playing, how audiences respond, and which tracks are landing -- delivered through their own portal dashboard. Venues see what their audience connects with. This is the granular, per-location data that the music industry has always needed from the businesses and spaces it has never been able to reach. Music Monitor, the company behind Promoting Local, was working on this problem before the platform existed. Promoting Local is the infrastructure that acts on it.
This is not a workaround. It is a more accurate, more equitable, and more community-connected model for how local music should be heard.
Four sides. One ecosystem.
Artists get heard. Venues get a fully managed music programme. Sponsors fund artist development. Fans buy merch on impulse.
Artists
Submit your music through our artist portal. If approved, your tracks play across the network and receive an official ISRC registration at no cost. Your portal dashboard shows exactly where your music is playing, how audiences respond, and which tracks are connecting -- real data that helps you develop as an artist. Artists on the platform are invited into our filmed production slate -- professional audio and video, free to the artist, captured in the venues, landscapes and independent businesses that carry Teesside's culture. Sessions open up as your catalogue on the platform grows -- and by invitation.
Venues & Businesses
A plug-and-play player with a managed programme of locally sourced and curated music, directly licensed from our catalogue -- with a full commercial catalogue option in development for venues that already hold their own licence. Use the screen for your own business content too -- slides, announcements and promotions rotating alongside the music. Available as a screen-based player, with an audio-only version in development for spaces that don't need a display. Remote dashboard, real-time analytics, QR-powered audience feedback.
Sponsors
Fund an artist's development and put your brand inside the content. Your sponsorship puts your brand inside professionally produced artist content -- studio recordings, filmed sessions, live events. Real creative content, not just screen time.
Merch
Every track has a QR code. Fans scan, rate, and buy artist merch -- right there in the venue. Artists earn from impulse purchases. Venues earn a commission on every sale made through their location. The platform handles the transaction. Coming at launch.
Your music.
Real venues.
Real ears.
We work exclusively with pre-professional artists -- which means we're invested in your development, not just your catalogue.
- ✓ Free to join -- no upfront costs
- ✓ Free ISRC registration on every approved track
- ✓ Track-level play analytics across all venues
- ✓ QR audience feedback on every track
- ✓ Professionally filmed and recorded sessions -- free to artists
- ✓ Sessions earned as your catalogue grows, or by invitation
- ✓ Merch sales through venue QR codes
Local music.
Your screen.
Your content.
One screen. One box. Plug in and your venue has a constantly updated, fully managed programme of locally sourced and curated music. The screen shows the music programme continuously, and at intervals your own business content fades in alongside it.
- ✓ Direct-licensed local catalogue today -- commercial catalogue option in development for licensed venues
- ✓ Your screen, your content -- upload your own display slides, announcements, and promotions
- ✓ Business content rotates at intervals alongside the music programme
- ✓ Remote management via web dashboard -- update your content from your phone
- ✓ QR merch sales generate venue commission on every transaction
- ✓ Real-time analytics on what your audience responds to
- ✓ Hardware included -- plug in and go
Your work. Your name.
Your rights. Kept.
We're a locally focused platform, within direct reach of the artists we work with -- close enough to know them by name. So we never built a model that depends on owning their work. We built one that gives it back.
- A sub-licensable, transferable licence to your work
- The right to modify it and make derivatives Under major platforms' standard terms: you can waive being credited as author
- Contested in court: the right to train AI on your work
- ✓A narrow licence -- just to play you on our local screens
- ✓No sub-licensing, no derivatives, no transfer
- ✓Never used to train AI
- ✓Your name stays on your work, always
We never put your music, images or video into an AI training library. Read our full creator terms →
Music to the ears of
your community.
Built for Town Centre Partners and BIDs -- bringing locally sourced music to the places community life happens. A hassle-free service connecting artists, businesses and the public -- keeps local businesses compliant, empowers local musicians, and tells you what your customers actually want to hear.
Stay compliant
A licensed local-music programme, sorted for you.
Empower local talent
Real artists from your own town, heard every day.
Understand your audience
See what plays well and what people respond to.
Tees Valley's next big names.
Ready to fill the silence?
Whether you're a venue, a business, or a brand looking to back local talent -- let's talk.
📧 hello@promotinglocal.co.uk