Interview by Neil Crossley
The BBC Radio 6 Music Festival – the station’s flagship annual music event – returns to Greater Manchester this month (Wednesday, March 26 to Saturday, March 29).
This year’s festival features headline performances at O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester from BRITs winners Ezra Collective, Mogwai and Kae Tempest.
Fat Dog, English Teacher and Perfume Genius will also be performing, with 6 Music’s Jamz Supernova, Tom Ravenscroft and Sherelle all DJing at the venue.
Other events and club nights include a BBC Introducing night, New Music Fix Live, Indie Forever, Rave Forever in partnership with The Warehouse Project, and Morning After Mix Live.
The alternative music station will be championing a wave of brand new talent at the festival, including acts supported by the New Music Fix show which launched with Tom Ravenscroft and Deb Grant (pictured) in 2023.
Tickets are on sale via the 6 Music Festival site – and performances will be broadcast on the network and on BBC iPlayer. Listeners will hear live music, highlights and interviews across the four days
A 6 Music Festival Channel has just launched on BBC iPlayer (March 17) with classic festival performances from previous years. From Saturday, March 29, the channel will feature back-to-back performances from this year’s event.
At a time when 6 Music has grown to become the biggest digital-only station in the UK, station head Samantha Moy and Cam Pia, music editor, 6 Music team reflect on its evolution and the “unique moments” audiences can expect at this year’s festival…
You are coming into 6 Music Festival 2025 as the biggest digital-only radio station in the UK, with 2.8 million listeners. What do you attribute this success to?
Samantha Moy: “It’s a mix of things, but primarily the music. We play an awful lot of music on 6 Music. A regular kind of commercial radio station might play 3,000 different tracks in a year. We play 20,000 different songs each year. So when you see that, you kind of see the stretch and the scale in what we do.
“Then, the people that are playing it and the teams behind the people that are playing it. So our presenters, our production teams, their first love is music, really. And the set of presenters that we have are peerless. You go from godfather of punk, Iggy Pop, to the return of Lauren Laverne in mid-morning, Nick [Grimshaw] has just joined us on the Breakfast Show, Steve [Lamacq] on Monday afternoons, Gilles [Peterson], Jamz [Supernova]. You know, we are very blessed.”
Greater Manchester has been the permanent home for the 6 Music Festival since 2023. What are the benefits of basing the festival there?
CP: “We are twin-sited but we are rooted in Salford [MediaCityUK] so it makes sense for us to have the festival there. 6 Music delves into music scenes day to day but I think it just gives us an opportunity to really dig into and shine a light on some emerging artists from there. So over the years, artists like Antony Szmierek, we've had him at the festival. We had artists like OneDa and this year, Jasmine.4.t, who's a great kind of breakout story for Manchester, one of the debut albums of the year, I'd say, produced by Boygenius. She’s headlining our BBC Introducing Night this year.”
The tagline for the festival is: You might have seen the artists play live before, but you haven't seen them in this way
Samantha Moy
What can audiences expect from this festival that is different or new?
SM: “We want to bring something unique to the audiences, because we want to give value. So we're investing in those performances to make those unique moments. That's the kind of tagline for the festival: you might have seen the artists play live before, but you haven't seen them in this way.”
Cam Pia: “We talk to each artist each year about what they want to do. We're like, ‘We want to do something unique with you’. Ezra Collective’s performance will very much be a celebration of the importance of youth clubs around the country. Mogwai will collaborate with KNDS Fairey Acid Brass, from Stockport and Kae Tempest is going to debut some brand new music, which is unique.
“Then there’s the return of Perfume Genius, the first time the Manchester audience will be able to see this new iteration live. Fat Dog are an incredible live proposition. We've also got a bunch of surprises planned for the support acts, but I can't tell you.”
How does your booking process work at the 6 Music Festival?
CP: “It's very much a team effort. So we look at what our presenters are playing, the acts that they're really excited about and we also look at what we're excited about, as a music team. Then we start the bidding process. I have a week of leave after the festival each year, and then I start talking to artists in April.
“And then obviously hearing records up front, you know, what are we excited about? What are the stories that we want to kind of play a part in, musically, each year? And certainly with Ezra Collective, as Sam said, it makes total sense. They feel like just such a core artist. Mogwai are such an important artist as well for us. And then in terms of Kae Tempest, you know, we love Kae. And then we heard the new music, and we were like, ‘We've got to have this’.”
How does the festival align itself in terms of network and on-air coverage for the live shows?
CP: “From announcement, we start playing those artists heavily. I mean, obviously the artists that we book, we support earlier for years, so there's a legacy there, but there's definitely more of a push on their music around that announcement, and then in the run-up to the festival. In the run-up, we just want to make sure our audience knows the artists and their music, basically. So each of the headliners this year and in the previous years have done Artist In Residence shows for us.
“So Ezra, Mogwai and Kae have [each] done four episodes. We put those out, and then we really just talk them up, play a lot of their music and interviews. Then over the festival weekend, obviously that's very much prioritising the live performances. All the Victoria Warehouse artists go out live on air. We've a very extensive iPlayer offering as well. It's very much like a content plan that is focused around the performances.”
SM: “This is like our shining star of the year. As soon as the festival starts, the whole station is in Salford. And that is one of the things I do love about 6 Music Festival, because you see all the presenters there watching the music. The whole network is awash in performances, mixes and taking content live.”
In the run-up to the festival, we just want to make sure our audience knows the artists and their music
Cam Pia
In an interview with MusicWeek in 2021, Sam, you said that you wanted 6 Music to keep evolving. How do you feel the station has evolved since then?
SM: “If you think about the sound of 6 Music, it really has evolved in terms of the breadth and depth of the artists that we are championing. We say that If you like music that’s beyond the mainstream, we are your home and I think we can stand by that. And then when you see an artist like Ezra Collective, who were first played on 6 Music in 2016 by Gilles [Peterson]. And then you see them win a BRIT Award this year… 6 Music has been with them every single step of the way.
“For me, and I'm sure for Cam and for everyone at the station, particularly those earlier champions, people like Gilles, people like Stuart Maconie, Cerys [Matthews] and Jamz [Supernova], it's just like, ‘Wow, look at that’. To see them sell out Wembley, to be on Strictly, you know? That's almost 10 years later.”
In 2023, 6 Music launched New Music Fix Daily to uncover more emerging talent. What impact has that had?
CP: “That show is like, super on it with stuff. They have to be, because they reflect all the new releases. Kneecap was an artist they really championed early on, also Jasmine.4.t. They had her in session last year, quite early on. And so there's a couple of stories there that we're kind of proud of to have brought through that show. Yes, it's made a lot of impact.”
The 2025 MusicWeek Awards nominations have recognised the work of Jamz Supernova, Steve Lamacq and 6 Music itself. Could you give us your thoughts on that?
SM: “Oh, it's incredible. Really. Both programmes are very different, but what really unites them are incredible presenters that really love their music and really know how to bring the audience in to tell the story about what makes that artist or that scene so special. So really proud to see both of them nominated. And for 6 Music to be nominated the Station Of The Year, it means so much. You know, everyone that works there is very passionate about what they do. So for that to be recognised by our peers, by the industry, it's humbling. It’s brilliant.”
The BBC Radio 6 Music Festival takes place in Greater Manchester from Wednesday, March 26 to Saturday, March 29. Listen on 6 Music and BBC Sounds and watch on BBC iPlayer.
