''Must Be the Music'' is a British television musical talent competition contested by aspiring singers and musicians drawn from public auditions. The show is a

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets. Exampl ...

and

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

that was broadcast in the United Kingdom and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Auditions were held in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and also held in Ireland. The show began airing in August on

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

, and was also simulcast in HD.

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', ...

presented the show. The first and only series was won by

Emma's Imagination Emma Gillespie (born in Edinburgh, Scotland), better known by her stage name Emma's Imagination, is a Scottish singer. She came to prominence after winning the Sky 1 TV talent contest '' Must Be the Music''. She was signed to Gary Barlow's musi ...

, a female singer from

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

. The winning act received £100,000 to help kick-start their music career. In the initial televised audition phase as well as the three semi-finals and final, contestants sang in front of the judges -

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

Sharleen Spiteri Sharleen Eugene Spiteri (born 7 November 1967) is a Scottish singer and guitarist, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Texas (band), Texas. She has a contralto vocal range. In 2013, Texas's worldwide album sales were counted at 40 mi ...

and

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. Dizze ...

. Among the notable artists competing in the show were

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

fiddler

Daithí Ó Drónaí Daithí Ó Drónaí (born 16 March 1990) is an Irish musician and producer, best known for producing electronic music inspired by Irish culture under the artist name "Daithi". He debuted in 2009 as a participant on All Ireland Talent Show. Sinc ...

and

The Trinity Band The Trinity Band (aka TTB) is a five piece musical group founded in 2004 from Derby, England. The band consists of Rukus (rapper), Dwaine Hayden (singer), Craig Dawkins (keyboards), James Dawkins (drums) and Pete Sharpe (bass). In May 2010 the ...

, who went on to win

Live and Unsigned Live and Unsigned is a music competition in the United Kingdom for unsigned bands and vocal groups to perform live for substantial prizes. It was founded 2007, and has attracted over 40,000 entrants annually since its inception. Competitors perfo ...

in 2011. The show was broadcast on

. ''Must Be the Music'' was devised as a spin-off for the highly successful ''

Got to Dance ''Got to Dance'', originally titled ''Just Dance'', is a British dance competition that was broadcast on Sky 1 in the United Kingdom from 20 December 2009 to 28 December 2014. Auditions for the show were held in specially built "Dance Domes" and ...

'', which finished its first series in February. The live finals were held at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

. ''Must Be the Music'' had a live audience behind the judges. During the live finals, the public voted for their favourite act, which they wished to keep in the competition.

Format

The auditions took place in early August 2010 in front of the three celebrity judges. Unlike X-Factor which limits itself only to singers, Must Be the Music was open to all musicians who were allowed to play their own compositions.The Guardian Must Be the Music: the anti-X Factor we've been waiting for?
/ref> Fearne Cotton described the show as ‘It’s about acts who can sing, play… or do both!’ The audition process culminated in the judges selecting 15 acts for the semi-finals which took place at the

Fountain Studios Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio in Wembley Park, northwest London. The company was last part of the Avesco Group plc. Several companies owned the site before it was bought by Fountain in 1993. Originally a film st ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

(which is also used for ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

''). Each semi-final had five acts with a five-minute voting window at the end of the show to decide which two acts from each semi-final proceeded to the final, which took place on 19 September at

. The winner of the show received a £100,000 cash fund rather than a record contract with an emphasis on giving the acts control over their careers. Additionally, every song performed on the show was available to download from

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

and Sky Songs with 100 per cent of the net profits of the songs and merchandise going to the musicians. A case at the High Court in February 2014 established that the format was not copied from a proposal from another company.

Semi-finalists

Songs and Dates Performed

Released singles

Polish version

From March 2011 the first edition of the program, titled '' Must Be the Music. Tylko muzyka'', has been broadcast by Polish TV station

Polsat Polsat is a Polish free-to-air television channel that was launched on 5 December 1992 by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak. , it is the most watched television channel in Poland with a market share of 11.30% Polsat belongs to Grupa Polsat Plus ( WSECPS, whi ...

. The show became very successful among the audience with approximately 3 million viewers each season and by 2016 was running its eleventh edition. The first Polish winner, Enej band, achieved great commercial success that added to the show's popularity. Numerous Polish artists launched their careers through the program, such as

LemON The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

, Red Lips, Oberschlesien,

Marcin Patrzalek Marcin Patrzałek (; born October 6, 2000), known mononymously as Marcin, is a Polish percussive fingerstyle guitarist, composer and producer. He is known for combining fingerstyle, percussive guitar techniques with modern electronic and orchest ...

, Tune or Shata QS. On 8 May 2016, after the final of the show's eleventh edition, the show was canceled by Polsat.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Must Be The Music 2010 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings 2010s British music television series English-language television shows Music competitions in the United Kingdom Sky UK original programming Television series by Banijay Television shows set in Manchester