My name is Dave Baguley and I first came up with the idea for music IS free is June 09. I had been playing in unsigned local bands for over 5 years and was sick and tired of being treated like 'easy money' by promoters. Many of the in-town promoters we're making 3 times as much money as I was from my own band with us doing 10 times the work and it just wasnt right.

I spoke to many other bands who felt the same and knew I had to do something. I came to the conclusion that the only way to make a difference would be to set up a non-profit music promotion organisation, putting on free events in and around Manchester. No more paying to play, no more 21 day rule and no more unjustified door prices.

The team now consists of 5 members. Myself(promotion), Alex Ryan(promotion), John Medland(sound engineer), James Richardson(illustrator) and Patrick Hill(photographer). We all work for free because we know this change needs to happen.

In just over 6 months mIf have put on over 30 artists at four different venues and we already have 19 events set up for the next 6 months. We now feel its time to move onto bigger and better things. The events will always be free, so we need some money to give us a jump start so we can promote ourselves around town, get our own equipment and put on nights with larger venues.

All anyone in a band wants to do is play music. There should be no restriction on that, just positive feedback and a massive helping hand. That's what music IS free is all about