Perceptive Insight 11

"Music has a very great deal for which to thank the BBC, which has taught the uncultured public that a symphony is not so deadly as hyoscyamine, nor as painful as mumps."
Ernest Irving, 1947

trying to "bully" British songwriters

I've been devoid of interesting topics to blog about, except plenty of whining [In case you don't know, Bliss 9 - an arts festival on Apr 3 is cancelled].

The BBC have been reporting on a hot topic and this latest post inspired/ angered me to share something: I still really do hate British music unions and professional associations. One reason I left the UK was to rid myself of their imperialism. (I'm a royalist, but these unions go WAY too far). For example, the Performing Rights Society is accusing Youtube/Google of holding songwriters hostage. This article is a perfect demonstration of how the British sabotage a successful image, thing, product, service, by over-pricing it. Why do orchestras need public support? No-one would be able to afford the tickets prices. My answer: reduce the number of orchestras. In London, for example, fill concert halls with two or three major professional groups instead of the 12 that are struggling now.

The current debate isn't even classical - it's mainstream. We Brits are good at charging $10 for an item and when a salesman comes along and sells 500 times the number we were expecting, we now want to charge $75 for the same item. Please. Get a life. Increase the musicians'/ songwriters' income REALISTICALLY, not exponentially. Make more money by selling more products. Increase the price too much, and no-one will buy, which is EXACTLY what's happening right now: Youtube doesn't want to buy and broadcast mainstream music videos because the PRS is asking too much money - I wouldn't want to buy, either! AND, inconceivably, this is NOTHING NEW! Wake up, fellow Brits. Smell the pollution you're creating!

Good luck. I don't get royalty checks anymore, and in this instance, I support Google. In fact, as my own music video production gets underway, perhaps I'll pursue my own agreement with Youtube/ Google and bypass the unessentials...

Back on the BBC

It's been a while. Years. Probably 10 years if could be bothered to count, but at last I was back on the airwaves via BBC Radio Kent this morning. And I mean this morning. Dominic King's show is 10am-1pm weekdays. That's 5am-8am in NJ.

So v. nice Mr. Producer Steve called me at 6:20am for a coffee-induced attempt at being awake and conversant for an on-air interview w/ Dom. Listen to the interview on my web site here: http://www.stephenpbrown.com/blog.html. I was impressed w/ Dom's open-ended questions and he seemed to listen, too. Rather refreshing! Here's to re-establishing relations at my fave local radio station.