APRIL | BIRDS EYE STU
Taking the
temperature
Stuart Wood on
live innovation
W
elcome to a new series
of columns, in which
I’ll be taking a bird’s
eye view of the UK’s live music
landscape. We’ll be examining
key issues, innovations and
challenges across the sector,
with a new missive each month.
The UK’s live music industry
is facing uncertain times. The
many challenges faced by
venues, the rise of streaming
and – more recently – the
spread of the novel coronavirus,
are all driving change at a rapid
pace.
The London Music Conference
(LMC), which took place in
February, was the perfect
opportunity to take the
temperature of the industry. It
drew a diverse crowd of artists,
venue managers, booking agents
and more to discuss the issues
on their agenda in 2020. These
ranged from strategies for
increasing diversity in London’s
club scene to ensuring artists
are paid fair royalties.
LMC took place in fabric – a
venue more suited to 3am raves
than morning conferences –
but the doors were open bright
and early. Conference director
Sam Speight began the day
36
by reiterating the importance
of grassroots venues and
supporting young artists, in
an era when “streaming has
channelled all the wealth to the
top of our industry.”
Following on this theme
was Ashley Howard of PRS
for Music, a collection society
which distributes royalties to
artists whose music is played
in UK venues and shows. PRS is
working with tech companies
which can use algorithms
to fill in its royalty forms –
meaning venues and festival
organisers can eliminate the
manual labour of labelling
tracks. The standardisation of
this technology across venues
and festivals is one of the
projects being pursued by the
Association for Electronic Music
(AFEM), which was exhibiting
at LMC. This standardisation –
which is already present in some
European cities like Amsterdam
– should go a long way towards
ensuring upcoming artists get
paid properly.
Elsewhere, a panel on mental
health in electronic music
welcomed Stuart Glen, founder
of The Cause. The Cause is a
temporary DIY club space in
North London, which stages
events to raise funds for mental
health charities such as Mind.
The venue has recently extended
its permit, allowing it to host
fund-raising house and techno
nights further into 2020.
Also featured at the
conference was a panel
containing high-profile
members of Extinction
Rebellion, in conversation with
Ninja Tune label head Matt Black
and Tristram Hunt of AFEM.
The group discussed the power
of live music in activism, as well
as AFEM’s green initiatives
working group. Among the
working group’s projects is
a collaboration with climate
specialists myclimate, which
allows the electronic music
community to calculate and
offset the greenhouse gases
produced from touring and
attending events.
The variety of panellists
and keynotes at LMC offered
a glimpse into some of the
cutting-edge projects taking
place across the industry. Live
music might be facing uncertain
times, but it’s in good hands.