We’re Building An Archive – Sounds From The Other City
Salford's festival of new music & art • 4 May 2025
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We’re Building An Archive

Islington Mill courtyard SFTOC 2012

What have you got lurking in the bottom of that drawer?

No not THAT one, the other one that you’ve not cleared out in 15 years…

Sunday 4th May is going to mark 20 years since the first ever Sounds From The Other City; an epic achievement that truly no one saw coming, and consequently, no one thought to record in any way.

So before we get into the excitement of the upcoming 2025 line-up and ticket announcements, we’re calling for help from everyone who’s been to ANY edition of Sounds From The Other City and hung onto a ticket stub, an old photo, a souvenir hat or any other old crap that reminds you of the absolute best day of, say… 2017, 2009, or—if you’re a real veteran—the OG event in 2005.

We’re partnering with the brilliant Manchester District Music Archive (yup, MDMA) to build a digital archive of all your precious SFTOC ephemera and the vague memories that go with them, so that they may be preserved for the next 20 years, or until Live Nation buys us out…

It’s simple to take part, here’s what you do:

  1. Head to www.mdmarchive.co.uk and hit the big ‘UPLOAD’ button at the top (mobile), or in the top right corner (desktop)
  2. Create your account – this just needs a username, email and password
  3. Get uploading! When you’re asked to select Artists or Venues, make sure to tag ‘Sounds From The Other City (festival)’ to put it in the right archive.

You can upload photos, video and audio to the website, and please add a description and/or memories to go with them because that’s a lot more fun. You can also tag any artists, promoters and venues.

Head to the MDMA site now for a bit of inspiration and get uploading…

Enthusiastically supported by: