Hot Press Yearbook 2010 available now

"It's been a tough year for everyone in business and entertainment is no different," Hot Press Yearbook editor Niall Stokes says, "but there is a amount of positive energy in the arts in general and in music in particular right now. That is reflected by the fact that the Hot Press Yearbook is a record size - something that we, and indeed the industry in general, should be very proud of.

"The Yearbook is a huge and very time-consuming labour of love. We published the first Hot Press Yearbook with the purpose of providing everyone who's interested - and especially young musicians and other people harbouring big ideas and creative ambitions - with the knowledge that is essential to making things happen.

"Since then the information in the Yearbook has expanded by 50 times, as the industry has grown, and we've expanded the scope of the publication. But the core objectives are the same. To empower people to go on to achieve great things."

In an editorial in the hugely anticipated annual publication, Stokes hails what's happening in Ireland right now as a golden age of Irish music.

"Ireland has recently been producing a steady stream of genuinely world class artists – musicians, songwriters, bands and performers – who are capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the very best on the planet," he says.

And he adds: "I'll go further. This is, I believe, a golden age, in terms of the music being created – the noise being generated, the songs being written, the records being made – by Irish artists across the musical spectrum."

To purchase your copy of the Yearbook, click here