As we get ready to head into September, Irish Music Month is just about here.
Back for 2026 with the support of Hot Press, the IBI, Coimisiún na Meán and supported locally by KCLR, the month-long initiative spanning September and October aims to shine more of a light on Irish music, local music in particular, and put more money in the hands of artists and bands.
To that end, entries for KCLR’s search for A New Local Hero as part of Irish Music Month are open, with a deadline of this Sunday, 6 September, to apply.
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Irish Music Month, including the search for A New Local Hero, is running on over 20 radio stations around the country from 14 September through 11 October.
Details for Irish Music Month on KCLR
So what are the key details and what are they after?
- Deadline for entry is this Sunday (6 September)
- Songs submitted music be original music
- Submissions including your original song, a brief biography and introduction, links to any socials or websites, should be emailed to [email protected]
- All music will be considered for airplay and may be playlisted by the station over the next few weeks – no restrictions on genre, style, length.
- You must be based in Kilkenny or Carlow, or are originally from Kilkenny or Carlow, or in the case of band submissions, have local connections.
- Four acts from all submissions will be chosen by KCLR to go into the search for A New Local Hero – with those four acts paid to perform live in studio and on air
A New Local Hero: Getting paid to play…
Four acts from all submissions will be selected as part of A New Local Hero and will be asked to perform two songs live on air, along with an artist interview (this may be pre-recorded to suit times but will air during daytime). Interviews will be distributed online after broadcasts.
The good news for the four artists/bands selected for A New Local Hero is that each will be paid a fee of €875 for their time, with one of the four selected as KCLR’s New Local Hero, being longlisted for the national final in Dublin this October. That longlist, drawn from each participating radio station’s final chosen act, will get whittled down to six before the live final in Dublin.
That final will also be broadcast on all participating radio stations, KCLR included. When the competition was last run in 2024, KCLR’s then-chosen act Asophonics from Carlow made the final six in The Academy, collecting over €2,000 in performance fees between their on-air participation and final performance.
Should KCLR’s choice make the national final, the act in question will be paid an additional performance fee as part of a showcase event at The Academy (Dublin), and find themselves in line for the overall €10,000 prize – including €5,000 cash, mentoring, studio recording and production time at Camden Studios and Spéir Mix & Master and a single release through Rubyworks.
The overall winning act and song will get guaranteed airplay on every participating radio station.
You can find out more about it here, but what are you waiting for?
If you’re making original music in Kilkenny (or indeed Carlow) and you’ve got something recorded that you can send to KCLR, get on it before this Sunday evening and email all you can to [email protected].
