FAC Insights: Sasolo & the Hidden Artist - Can grassroots music survive extraction?
FAC Insights is a forum for us to showcase and share long form pieces looking at various parts of the music industry and the society that shapes it. Pieces take the form of videos, interviews, discussions, articles and more.
This month, we are thrilled to hear from Sasolo in this thought piece questioning if grassroots music can survive extraction.
‘There are no hidden artists, only those the system refuses to see! I’ve seen first-hand how hard it is for artists to access the support that’s available. In 2010, I set up Sasolo to help change that.’ - Saskia Coburn, director Sasolo
Who are we?
Sasolo was started by Saskia Coburn, a practitioner with 25 years’ active experience across the UK arts landscape. After two decades working in the music & dance sectors; with Saskia developing multiple arts strategies for national charities, the team expanded. Now comprising nine women across four countries, Sasolo is a strategic fundraising and development consultancy working on the frontline for grassroots musicians and artists in the creative and cultural sectors.
We’ve worked with 5000+ artists over 15 + years and raised £30million+
We connect musicians, artists, community organisations and cultural partners with the resources they need to thrive; navigating the gaps between funders, policymakers and lived experience. At its core Sasolo exists to rebalance power: preventing extraction and taking the weight off overstretched artists & organisations; securing money, opportunity & recognition for grassroots creatives.
The Reality We See
The grassroots sector is often treated like a mineable resource. We’ve all witnessed powerful industry leaders, funders, and policy-makers extract the stories, innovations, energies, cultural riches, politics and dynamism from artists; recycling this power for their benefit and discarding the originators.
This is systemic. This is normalised.
Grassroots artists putting tracks on platforms like Spotify or Apple Music (because visibility there feels non-negotiable) are exploited by the royalty model, which is designed to pool all subscriptions, divide according to total global plays and send the resulting finance upstream.
Grassroots musicians (whose fans listen to their tracks on repeat!) get pennies.
Terms like “pipeline,” “talent development,”& “early career”, mask the imbalance; unless we stop speaking about grassroots artists in terms of their potential, things won’t change. They are the sector.
“Gatekeepers have long made music and art their business, shaping opportunity while extracting value. That power carries responsibility: to share resources equitably & to care for the grassroots artists whose creativity underpins the entire cultural economy.” - Saskia Coburn, director Sasolo
Where the System Fails
The current music funding and finance system rewards artists and organisations who understand the rules of the game; those with the networks, time and knowledge to write bids, and the cultural capital to translate lived experience into funder-friendly approaches.
High-quality, culturally impactful talent, (under resourced and barriered by EDIB, SEND, socio-economic and physical/geo-political factors) is prejudiciously locked out.
In a world where anyone can write a bid, using AI, what makes a good application? We think the answer is capacity development! Understanding how to make and use an EPK/Deck, get an agent, learn about publishing, discover who your peers and partners are, develop strategies and new audiences is the key.
Both the artist and the funder leverage more impact for every pound of public and private money spent when capacity is supported not examined.
Sasolo argues for distribution of funds after training. Organisations like Sasolo support and underpin the sector; collectively building skills, confidence, audiences, evaluation tools and networks first, to ensure that funding amplifies talent not position.
We think it’s time to:
Stop extracting value without redistribution. If industry, festivals, or funders benefit from grassroots innovation, they must feed resources back into the base. We support the new levy model, reinvestment agreements, or mandatory give-back.
Flip the assessment model. Support people to develop the skills to access money. If artists are forced to compete on application polish, then we must support the integration of closed circuit AI with person to person training to democratise application spaces.
Talent + Knowledge Investment + AI leverage = Investment in Potential > Privilege
Sasolo’s role in supporting the sector
We provide:
tailored funding development support
imagineering of visual assets
bespoke mentorship & training
writing and delivery of sector wide applications; e.g. ACE, Youth Music, PRS & major trusts/foundation funding (Jerwood, Paul Hamlyn, etc.).
Through these offers, Sasolo stands with Grassroots artists; determined to challenge the status quo, provide new avenues of opportunity and constantly advocate for the underserved and underrepresented.
Here’s to a better, more equitable future!
Saskia and Yana x
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