Those of you who know me or follow me on twitter or here will know I like my music. This year alone I have been to 8 gigs, seeing 19 bands and a set by @mitchbenn at Eastercon. I love my local music scene although would like to be more involved in it and I know that Manchester and Liverpool are also really exciting places musically right now.
Outside of the live music sphere, I am a big purchaser of albums (preferably on CD) and have supported Patrick Wolf's last album by buying a share in it through the Bandstocks scheme (where I have recently had my first royalty back - 83p for a £10 stake...). I am a huge supporter of BBC 6 Music and will soon be responding to the consultation which will undoubtably come up on here.
So, when I heard in the week that @richardpbacon would be hosting an election debate special on my favourite station I was excited. Politics can have a massive impact on music production and enjoyment. The 6 Music debate focussed on several areas:
- The impact and role of the BBC - particularly 6 Music
- Piracy and the #DEAct / #DEBill
- Live Venues
- Touts
- Encouraging new talent and protecting old talent
Richard pulled together the three main parties' Culture spokespeople - Margaret Hodge (Labour), John Wittingdale (Conservative) and Don Foster (Liberal Democrats) to discuss these issues along with Fergal Sharkey of UKMusic.
Generally I thought the debate went very well, much more relaxed and informative than the rules-heavy leaders' debates, and the inclusion of Fergal Sharkey, while I feel is unbalanced and unfair as there was no corresponding fan/consumer lobbyist, was ultimately helpful in explaining the issues. Richard had also got "vox-pop" style comments from industry folks and the general public and used them to help frame the debate really well. He was also very happy to interject and challenge the politicians when appropriate. I really do believe that Richard Bacon and 6 Music are to be congratulated for putting on a fantastic show that you should all go and listen again to - I already enjoy Richard's regular Saturday afternoon 6 Music show but I might have to investigate his 5Live stuff too if this is anything to go by.
So, with that introduction out of the way, what did they have to say? In their introductions, they all agreed that the music industry is in good health creatively and financially - we're the 2nd largest music economy in the world. (As an aside - think on that a second and then ask yourself why, if in such good health and all parties in agreement on need to tackle piracy, we needed #DEBill rushed through as if it were an emergency.) Margaret Hodge responded to Richard's accusation that there was nothing in their manifesto by suggesting that Brown would be giving a big culture speech in the next couple of days which would address some of their plans/aims/ideals. John Wittingdale and Don Foster both talked about Lottery funding - John wanting the charity funding refocused on music, Don wanting the Lotto money share changing to get more for charity in general. Both also mentioned licensing of small venues which force Margaret on the defensive.
Venues were discussed in a dedicated segment (around 39:45). Margaret Hodge focused on the increase in licenses (11% 2007->2009) while every one else pointed out that small venues now have to get a license which is putting them off and that the live upsurge has been big gigs and festivals, smaller live venues are under threat and that is where new bands go to play and be discovered. Fergal Sharkey accused the government of ignoring several consultations and research projects showing small venues to be in danger (which does not come as a surprise to me - Labour continually ignore evidence in favour of their own beliefs). Margaret tried to defend their position as protecting the neighbours of such venues, however the other parties seemed committed to exempting small venues (<100 or <200) or "two people unamplified events" from needing a license, and, on those scales it's hard to see how it be too big a problem noise-wise - although rowdiness is a potential problem, but this is not restricted to music events and these size venues should come under normal pub licensing regulations.
Another live music issue that was discussed was touts. Margaret Hodge seemed t be left out of this, rather shorter, section of the debate.The secondary market was deemed to be legitimate but professional touts were definitely a problem. John Wittingdale agreed with Melvyn Benn (Leeds/Reading festival) suggesting a cap on secondary market mark-up might be a way of proceeding. Don Foster came out for supporting venues in limiting the number of tickets sold to individuals and suggested more police action on fraudulent ticket sites - a different issue. Michael Eavis continued to promote the photos on tickets solution from Glastonbury but this was deemed possible for large events but not so for smaller or medium sized ones. It would also kill the secondary market which an All Party group has established as legitimate where, for instance, people find they cannot go to an event they had a ticket for.
New talent and old talent was another brief segment of the show. John Wittingdale and Fergal Sharkey both very keen on extending copyright beyond the current 50 years with Margaret Hodge later agreeing with them. Don Foster didn't feature at all in this part of the debate. Margaret Hodge actually came closest to saying something sensible on this subject pointing out that they should be able to continue working (she focused on age discrimination legislation and equalising pensions) (this is an important issue for me - I have to work all my life, I have to save for my pension, why not musicians? Why should they have an exemption to this idea? I believe a radical look at copyright is needed - commercial exploitation needs to be rebalanced with fair use/re-use - just constantly extending terms is not appropriate in the new digital era). John Wittingdale spoke about the importance of education in nurturing new talent and freeing up the national curriculum to allow more creativity (as long as other ideas of creativity are also recognised I wholeheartedly support this - I really believe the National Curriculum failed me massively). John also managed an attack on our current CRB system mentioning that musicians are now unwilling to go into schools and help youngsters because of this stupidly ineffective, bureaucratic, invasive system.
Fergal also mentioned saving 6 Music because of the vital role it has in supporting new talent nicely linking back to the first topic they discussed - the proposed closure of 6 Music. All three politicians had agreed that closing 6 Music was a "daft idea" (to quote Margaret Hodge) and that 6 Music is exactly what the BBC should be doing (John Wittingdale). Let's hope that BBC Trust and management are listening and also see the online listener numbers which have increased by 50%.
I've saved the Piracy and Digital Economy Bill/Act discussion to the end. John McClure from Reverend and the Makers started the section with a vox-pop pointing out that there mst be more important things to focus on than a teenager in Darlington downloading some songs and that it makes musicians sound like businessmen not musicians. Fergal Sharkey actually dismissed the shoplifting analogy as demeaning the effort, time and skill artists put into their work. Margaret Hodge emphasised the government is following a twin track - #DEBill / #DEAct to tackle the infringers and also working with the record industry to find new business models such as an improved live gig model and advertising. Don Foster attacked the industry as being very slow to embrace the new market - he mentioned Spotify as the sort of service finally being launched. (To my mind this business model is what needs massive overhaul. Services such as Spotify are alright for established, supported artists, but it ignores unsigned bands, it requires label support. Bands need more support to enable them to take control of their own work rather than outsourcing it to monolithic, slow, cumbersome labels. We need a Spotify-like service which can be accessed by new bands and talent (Spotify crossed with Myspace), we need to work on more ideas like Magnatune and Bandstocks I mentioned earlier. This means that we need the devices and infrastructure for streaming both in the home and in public. The #DEBill / #DEAct severely undermines that possibility with the threat to free public wifi access points. Subscription streaming services are already playing a major part in how people want to access music. The idea of directly supporting the artists you like is catching on. Labels need to adapt - the #DEBill / #DEAct does not provide the incentives to do so - it merely reinforces a model which is becoming harder and harder to defend). I am worried that John Wittingdale described the #DEBill / #DEAct as a "first step" and that the principal was good but am encouraged by his assertation that there was not enough discussion time. Margaret Hodge still thinks that d/lers don't see d/ling as an offence - she still fails to recognise that it is not theft which motivates d/ling but convenience and the lack of reasonable digital pricing (and financial access to cards to pay for d/ls) can play major parts in people's motivations.
Overall, I'm not convinced Don Foster gets the issues on the Digital Economy any more than any of the others. What I have to rely on is that he is in a party which has a base which is willing to challenge their leaders when they get it wrong. That he gets it on other parts (live venues, reducing National Curriculum). I'm not sure he won the debate (I think that honour goes to Richard Bacon 8-) but I do think that Labour and Tory are not going to be the champions of music and digital culture I would want them to be.
Finally, though, the participants music choices. Fergal Sharkey gave us Don Hathaway's "The Ghetto". Margaret Hodge selected Don McClean's "Vincent" (but forgot what she had chosen). Don Foster chose Bob Dylan's "Black Diamond Bay" and John Wittingdale gave us Biffy Clyro with "The Captain". Good job we're not voting based on those choices because I'd then be voting Tory and that is a horrible proposition.
Alex
x x
