Bristol has been named as the "most musical city" in Britain, ahead of hotspots like Manchester, Liverpool and London.

The city, which is home to the bands Massive Attack and Portishead, came top in a survey by the Performing Right Society (PRS for Music).

According to research by PRS, Bristol has spawned more musicians relative to population size than any other in the UK.

Two other West Country locations made it into the top 20: Cheltenham came in fifth and Swindon was placed 13th.

THE PRS TOP 10

• 1. Bristol
• 2. Cardiff
• 3. Wakefield
• 4. Glasgow
• 5. Cheltenham
• 6. Edinburgh
• 7. Manchester
• 8. Paisley
• 9. Doncaster
• 10. Londonderry

The PRS used its 65,000-strong database to pinpoint the birthplaces of its members.

These figures were then weighted by population, leaving London at number 26, despite the capital having the most musicians living in it.

Ellis Rich, chairman of PRS, said: "Bristol has been a longstanding contributor to the British music scene, constantly injecting its unique pizzazz of trip-hop and rock bands.

"The city's culture has always warmed to an eclectic music dynamic, paving the way forward for many of the country's greatest venues whilst also inspiring a hotbed of music talent."

Bristol has gained a reputation as one of the UK's leading producers of both professional and amateur musical talent.

The researchers found that music is "engrained into the culture" of the city, with the Clifton cider pub, the Coronation Tap, being voted the UK Music Pub of The Year for two years running.

Co-presenter of BBC Bristol Introducing, Richard Pitt, said he was not surprised by the findings.

"From the sheer quality of the music we play on the show each week, we've always known Bristol was a strong musical city but it's always satisfying to see the facts bear that out.

"We're clearly living in one of the great creative centres of the UK, if not the world."</p

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The likes of Lady Gaga and Jay-Z could have their chart dominance threatened if a campaign to fill the entire Top 40 with unsigned acts is successful.

The campaign is inspired by the Facebook campaign to make Rage Against The Machine the Christmas number one, beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry.

Wes White from Glastonbury said he wants to take the support from that campaign to help unsigned bands.

He said the aim was to highlight other great music which is out there.

"What I'm looking to do is find some really good new music which sounds a bit different from what you normally hear in the top 40 because we all know that it is out there."

Wes said Storm the charts was different from all the other campaigns because it focuses on just new bands.

"I accept that filling the top 40 is a ludicrous aim, but if we aim as big as that and full a long way short with a couple of tracks in the top 40 and some further back in the top 100, I do think that's possible and I think that could be a great thing.

"I really quite like a lot of pop music and I'm not looking to try and change everything full time - it's just one week in a year."

The group is also taking applications from acts signed to independent record labels.

Applications for acts to submit tracks is end of March, with the onslaught planned for June. </p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.