BRITS issue Swift Response

Not ones to take a near miss BBC bashing lying down, the organisers of next year’s BRIT Awards have announced that Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith will all perform at next year’s awards ceremony.

Taking place on Wednesday, February 25th at The O2, the BRITS will also be exclusively broadcast on ITV.

In addition, the BPI also announced “BRITS week 2015”, part of a three-year partnership with concert promoters AEG and London First.

Four live music shows titled ‘BRITs Week Presents…’ will take place across London the week before the BRITs, curated by three majors (Sony, Universal and Warner) with the fourth programmed by independent labels. One as yet unconfirmed ticket price will apply for all shows and a contribution from all tickets will go to War Child, with line-ups to be announced.

The week will also see the finale of the Next BRIT Thing at The O2 on February 19th – a national competition within the BPI-backed The Big Music Project that aims to unearth young musical talent.

From Taylor Swift to Geoff Taylor’s swift quote regarding the event, the BPI and BRIT Awards Chief Executive  said: “London is fast-becoming a global super-city. Our vibrant music scene is playing its part in this exciting transformation, a pulsing beat that helps to drive the city’s appeal. The BRIT Awards are the highlight of the UK’s music calendar, showcasing the best in British music to the world. The Awards are also one of the most important cultural events in the capital, so we are delighted to be partnering with London First and AEG to amplify the excitement with a week-long series of events for Londoners to share in”. Now Geoff, that’s not what I call swift!

In other awards news (and there is never any shortage of that), the nominations have been announced for next year’s Grammys, including Sam Smith, St Vincent, Aphex Twin and Arcade Fire. The 57th ceremony takes place on February 8th 2015 and you can find out more here.