SoundScape Saving Grassroots Music. 22/02/2016
Draft: Proposal 2.2
Exposition 1
The British Music Industry is worth over £3.8 billion to the UK economy all of which derives from when a musician takes their first steps onto a grassroot stage. These small, mostly independent venues scattered across the UK act as talent incubators for musicians and back of house staff to develop performance related skills. Typically these intimate venues host between 50 and 1000 guests up to 7 nights a week. They are quintessential to producing the high calibre music talent seen at the top end of the UK music scene yet they are considerably under-nourished.
“The only way you learn how this stuff works is by going out there and being bad, and the only place you can go out and be bad is small venues.” Midge Ure, Ultravox Although venue owners are always striving to create great experiences for bands and their followers, these 2 3 venues are often referred to as the ‘toilet tour’ due to their perceived dank, gloomy appearance . This is simply because they don’t have large enough revenue streams to afford the upgrades required to optimize the 4 experience . Modern gig goers live in ever increasingly heightened levels of comfort at home and expect the 5 same from the places they socialize in . This has led to a steady decline in attendance of grassroots venues, crippling the base of the industry financially. The UK music industry is often referred to as one of the cultural pillars that contributes to ‘Brand UK’ - yet this pillar in recent years it has been crumbling at its base. Research shows that 35% of London’s grassroot music venues have closed since 2007 – reflecting a similar pattern in the rest of the UK. In the 1970’s in Soho there were over 100 live music venues – today there are just 6.
“Grassroots music venues are under threat. They are closing. These venues are the hands that hold the heart of the British music industry. Without them there are no hubs for creativity, stages for talent or homes for emerging artist” Jo Dipple, CEO, UK Music 6
Although the UK has seen a 4% rise in total music consumption with the rise of streaming services this shift is not being reflected in the base level of the live music industry. Iconic names like the Marquee Club, Astoria, 12 7 Bar Club and Madame Jojo’s disappeared from UK’s music scene in recent years. Recent reports have 8 9 10 11 attributed this decline to low levels of exposure , rising costs , social changes , legislation deficiencies and 12 external factors .
1
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6251648/uk-music-industry-grows-value http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/22/toilet-circuit-venues-john-harris 3 Public Perception Of Grassroot Music Venues (Primary research: Word Association) 4 Interview with: Mark Davyd & Beverley Whitrick – Music Venue Trust 5 Interview with: Mark Davyd & Beverley Whitrick – Music Venue Trust 6 BPI 2015 Music Market Report https://www.bpi.co.uk/home/bpi-2015-music-market-report.aspx 7 London Grassroot Music Rescue Plan | The Mayor of London’s Music Venues Taskforce 2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35399160 9
Development costs, licensing, increased professional fees Drop in student attendance, instant stardom culture 11 Forced relocation, succession planning, change of domain use 12 Gentrification, Economic stability, Competition with non-music sector, police cuts. 10
Belief. I believe that those at the base who support the foundations of a £3.8bn industry deserve better than the crumbling institutions they are currently fighting to keep a hold of. I want to create a fairer music system not only for grassroot venues but for emerging musicians, back of house staff and promoters at the bottom of the music ladder.
The cultural significance of grassroot venues is undeniable – venues contain such rich stories about underground music movements, world renowned musicians’ journey to stardom, the birth of new genres and countless stories and memories of those who attended gigs. Research has shown that these movements inspire new talent, encouraging them to play more gigs and progress as an artist. To encourage the development of new UK artists I believe that this heritage needs to be preserved. Arguably the most important function of grassroot venues is there role as talent incubators for musicians and back of house staff. Without grassroot venues there would be nowhere for lighting engineers, promoters, managers, sounds engineers and musicians to learn and develop performance based skills. Research shows that if we do not combat this decline we will be facing a talent deficiency that will cause the British music industry to crumble. As argued, I believe that grassroot venues need to more support for the sake of the UK economy, culture and to preserve our status as world leaders in music.
Project Aim. Fundamentally grassroot music venues and emerging musicians need to be creatively repositioned in the live music eco-system to improve their overall value-proposition to music consumers. The key objective of causing this shift is to increase the size of audiences attending grassroot gigs by expanding venue and musician exposure. To do this the project will capitalize on the surging popularity of the music streaming industry. Audio streaming services have soared in their popularity (increase of 82%) in the UK in 2015. The 26.8billion audio streams in the UK last year was over a fifth (22 percent) of music consumed in the UK – if music video streaming was added to the equation the combined total would top 50 billion (53.7). The aim of this project is to reposition grassroot music closer to this giant to increase exposure and in turn improve venues financial standing by driving up ticket sales using the trending point of sales tactic known as contextual omnipresence.
To design and develop a streaming service that increases the exposure of ‘underground’ local venues and musicians and in turn leverages audiences towards ticket sales.