A ‘do-it-yourself’ artist management label run from a village near York is celebrating a nomination against the majors for one of the nation’s leading music awards.

Bridge The Gap, operated from Bilbrough by founder Eric Karsenty, looks after jazz act corto.alto, whose album ‘Bad with Names’ is one of 12 shortlisted for the 2024 Mercury Prize.

Previous winners and nominees include Charli XCX, Young Fathers, Wet Leg, Arctic Monkeys, Harry Styles, Suede, Foals, Stormzy, PJ Harvey and Pulp – artists who in the main were not household names at the time.

Bridge The Gap is a hybrid of management and label services – Eric’s brief includes publishing and show booking, along with distribution, press and radio.

Eric said: “For us, the nomination is gigantic because while the prize was originally designed for independent music, to make sure independent music was seen by the mass market, it has become more non-independent.

“I am the only fully independent label and ten on the list are linked to major labels.”

Eric with Liam Shorthall, who paid tribute to the Bridge The Gap founder for his work in getting into the shortlist with corto.alto's album 'Bad with Names'Eric with Liam Shorthall, who paid tribute to the Bridge The Gap founder for his work in getting Liam's work into the shortlist with corto.alto's album 'Bad with Names' (Image: Supplied)

He said proof of this was at the press day in London’s Oxford Circus on July 25, where he and corto.alto, aka Liam Shorthall, settled in for the artist's 27 interviews, including BBC Radio 6 Music, where other nominees had entire teams working around them.

Liam Shorthall said: “I made this album in my flat in Govanhill in Glasgow over two years, with some of my best friends.

“We released it on a small indie label New Soil x Bridge the Gap, with massive help from a small team led by Eric.

“We never ever expected it to go as far as it has, and it’s still unbelievable to see it in a list of 12 incredible UK albums.”

Eric said: “The main thing we do is grow artists, to make sure that the amazing product is listened to, visually presented, and which radio stations we target.

“We then design how to get all of that into a strategy.”

Eric, his wife and two children moved to Bilbrough a year ago, after living in London where he moved around 2008 after growing up in Paris.

He said word of Bridge the Gap's achievement is spreading around the village.

The company founder said after landing near York he knew he needed to work with the local scene, after having multiple venues at his disposal in London.

He said: “I discovered The Crescent, and brought one of the bands on my label, TC and the Groove Family there.

“I love the way it’s run, the staff and the location - whenever I have artists touring, we’re going to try to book them at this venue.”

The overall winner of the 2024 Mercury Prize will be revealed in September.