Chair’s Message from Andrew WardThis has been an outstanding year for NMC, with achievements on every front. Of course, this is only fitting as we approach our 25th anniversary but these successes are all the more remarkable given the increasingly challenging environment in which we operate.

In particular, 2013/14 has been a year of important new partnerships. As is well known, NMC has enjoyed significant and constant support from the Holst Foundation since our inception. This is now coming to an end as Holst’s work has come out of copyright but we are delighted that the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Delius Trust have stepped in to help fill this breach.

We have forged exciting new digital relationships with London Sinfonietta and Sound and Music that increased the range of repertoire we offer and extended our audience reach. We have successfully engaged with other new audience development activities as well – for example, using an online download widget to bring a previously unknown Britten song to 1,000 individuals across 59 countries. We have achieved considerably more media attention this year, with all our releases receiving coverage in the national press and two of our discs appearing in The Sunday Times Top 100.

There has been a significant increase in our fundraising activity. Indeed, over the last three years we have increased the income fundraised from sources other than the Holst Foundation from 27% to just under 50%; we have achieved a tenfold increase in the number of Trusts and Foundations investing in us; and we have successfully introduced a Producers’ Circle to enable a greater level of involvement by key supporters. But most exciting of all has been our major opera appeal which has led to three landmark opera releases, funded by individuals and organisations.

So as we look back over the last year – with 8 full length CDs, our first DVD and 14 digital only projects – we can draw much satisfaction. But we cannot stand still and put our feet up. NMC is a unique national asset and I know that everyone involved is determined to do whatever they can to promote and develop our work, but the truth is we need more partners, more friends and more supporters and it is essential that we find novel ways in which a greater number of individuals and organisations can be involved in our important, exciting and excellent work. If you would like to know how you might get involved with the work of NMC Recordings we would love to hear from you.

roundup RevieW of 2013/14

R e C o R D i N G S

The Britten-Pears foundation is delighted to have become a core supporter of NMC, helping to secure its busines model. We believe that having key works of contemporary music recorded for posterity is an extremely important part of ensuring that they are heard and

NMC plays a very important part in the ecology of new music. This support for NMC strengthens our commitment to new music, a cause

we feel sure Britten would have commended. We very much look forward to working with NMC on a number of new projects,

developing a real and constructive partnership.Richard Jarman

General Director of the Britten-Pears Foundation

‘’

Darrett AdkinsChristopher AustinBBC Singers Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Claire BoothIain BurnsideMichael ChanceOliver Coates Nicholas Collon Gerry CorneliusColin Currie

Sir Mark Elder Ex Cathedra Lionel FriendHallé Hallé Soloists Helen-Jane HowellsPaul Hoskins Sophia JafféJane’s Minstrels Andrew KennedyLondon SinfoniettaJane Manning

Andrew Matthews-OwenThe Nash Ensemble Navarra Quartet Sarah NicollsNorthern SinfoniaOberlin Contemporary Music EnsemblePavel Haas Quartet Jamie PhillipsRambert OrchestraJean RigbyLucy Schaufer

Jeffrey SkidmoreMarkus Stenz Mark van de WielHuw WatkinsRichard WatkinsSamuel West Ryan Wigglesworth Roderick WilliamsAlexandra WoodThomas Zehetmair

in 2013/14 we worked with:

SoCiAL MeDiA & WeBSiTe

Use of technology continues to be an important way of reaching, and growing our audience, ensuring that more people have the opportunity to experience the work of British composers. We saw marked annual increases in our use of Twitter (followers up 20%), Facebook (Likes up 33%) and e-newsletter (mailing list up 76%) and our website stats similarly grew, with an average page views a month of 10,495 and nearly 5,000 individual visitors a month. The top referral site was The Guardian (5%) with 17% of audiences members viewing on tablet or mobile.

In 2013/14 we began exploring alternative ways of engaging our audience and capturing data and this has had a positive result, including a successful campaign offering a free track – Britten’s ‘Roman Wall Blues’ – using the TopSpin download widget. It had over 1,000 downloads from people internationally (50% = UK, 18% = USA, 32% = other) and as a result our e-mail list increased by 45% in just one month. The download also attracted much media coverage with features in The Guardian, Limelight (Australia), Gramophone and on In Tune (BBC Radio 3), plus significant online activity on Facebook and Twitter.

2013/14 Total Sales (% revenue)

UK CD, 34%

NMC Subscription, 2%

Trade CD, 8%

Mail o

rder

CD, 2%

NMC Shop CD, 5%

USA CD, 16%

Third Party Digital Stores, 17%

Japan CD, 3%G

ermany CD, 3%

france CD, 2%

NM

C Shop fLA

C, 3%

NMC Shop MP3, 1%other CD, 0.7%

Spain CD, 1%

Australia CD, 1%

Belgium CD, 1%Canada CD,

0.3%

eXPeNDiTURe & fUNDRAiSiNG HeADLiNeS

We increased the proportion of funds being invested in originating and distributing our work to 75% of total expenditure and continued to invest in our fundraising function as a result of which we have continued to diversify and increase our contributed income including:

• 361% increase in annual raised/pledged funds over three years (£36k in 2010/11 to nearly £130k

in 2013/14)

• Funding from trusts and foundations (excluding Holst) and donations has risen from 27% of turnover in 2010/11 to 49% in 2013/14

• The number of trusts and foundations investing in NMC has increased nearly tenfold to 30 since 2010/11

• Friends base has grown by 224% in three years, with negligible attrition rate

• Our Opera Appeal boosted donors to NMC by 20%

• Our new Producers’ Circle higher giving tier had attracted 15 donors by the end of 2013/14

eARNeD iNCoMe

2013/14 was a particularly difficult period for the classical recordings retail market with sales across physical and digital down 18.5%. NMC performed slightly better than the average and saw a significant increase in audiences accessing our recordings via downloads and streaming. Whilst streaming in particular is not, as yet, generating as much per unit income as CD and download sales, it is crucially taking our catalogue to a noticeably growing world-wide audience, which fulfils our charitable aim of making important British culture available to as many people as possible. We again generated income through licensing, with work from the NMC catalogue being featured in Michel Gondry’s animated film Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? (tracks from Howard Skempton’s Ben Somewhen, NMC D135) and in an online advert for Prada (Anna Meredith’s HandsFree, New Music 20x12).

ReSeRveS

During 2013/14, the Board progressed its strategic plan to build towards an enhanced reserve to mitigate the effect of a cessation of NMC’s Holst Foundation funding.

2010/112011/12

2012/132013/14

2013/14 income by type (£000) *includes pledged funding

Holst ACE T&F* Donations Legacies Friends Grants Earned0

20

40

60

80

100

120

income Sources

inco

me

£k

2013/14 expenditure by type

Artistic originationMarketing/sales/distributionGovernance

Artistic productionfundraised income stewardshipAdministration

NMC Recordings LtdSomerset HouseThird Floor South WingStrand, London, WC2R 1LA

Tel: 020 7759 1827/8 www.nmcrec.co.uk nmc@nmcrec.co.uk @nmcrecordings /nmcrecordings

Alfred Brendel Hon KBEVladimir JurowskiLady PanufnikSir Simon Rattle OM CBELord Dennis Stevenson of CoddenhamDame Mitsuko Uchida

NMC Patrons

NMC Recordings is a registered charity no. 328052.

THe DeLiUS TRUST

Press Recognition in 2013/14Mark-Anthony Turnage: UNDANCe‘The sheer rhythmic quality of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s music makes it surprising he had not been writing ballet music from the outset of his career. The warmest of recommendations’ Gramophone

Richard Causton: Millennium ScenesInternatIonal record revIew - outstandIng recordIng

‘Causton is among our most imaginative composers, and these five works, all substantial, often with flaring brilliance, are almost too much to take in’ The Sunday Times

Britten to America‘Plenty of food for thought and pleasure to be had here’ BBC Music Magazine

‘A disc of incidental music should not be as much fun’ Gramophone

Anthony Payne: Phoenix Mass‘fiercely constructivist yet compellingly eloquent’ The Sunday Times

‘Riveting ... a fascinating collection’ BBC Music Magazine

Alexander Goehr: Since Brass, nor Stone ...the sunday tImes’ top 100 Best alBums of 2013

‘These performances render the sound worlds of Goehr’s sources so consummately that his own twists and turns through them come through persuasively’ Gramophone

Joseph Phibbs: The Canticle of the Rose‘every idea is telling, every phrase beautiful’ The Sunday Times

‘These works draw you in with a well-judged pacing of their sometimes frenetic activity and mesmerising stillness’ BBC Music Magazine

elliott Carter: 103rd Birthday Concert (DvD)InternatIonal record revIew - outstandIng recordIng

BBc musIc magazIne - choIce of the month

‘The performances by a cast of Carter devotees are flawless’ Gramophone

Philip Cashian: The House of Nightthe sunday tImes’ top 100 Best alBums of 2013

‘This is glorious fast music, hardly pausing for breath, full of child-like energy’ Tempo

‘Terrific stuff’ Gramophone

Music of Memory‘Glittering textures are impressively agile. A very engaging recital’ BBC Music Magazine

‘A landmark release that’s both challenging and essential’ Classical Guitar Magazine

Digital Discoveries, vol. 1 to 8‘[Philip Cashian’s] Horn Trio has vitality and sparkle, this recording will grab your attention’Classical Music Magazine (on vol. 4)

NMC receives core funding from: