the musician, autumn 2014

The Musician

Journal of the Musicians’ UnionAutumn 2014theMU.org

Your rights on YouTube What do the new terms really mean for our music makers?

Film man David ArnoldFrom Björk to Bond themes – an incredible musical journey

Black music in BritainCharting the profound impact of black music over the years

Confirming bookingsKey advice on ensuring proof of contract in the digital age

Regional OfficesLondonRegional Organiser: Naomi Pohl33 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PEt 020 7840 5504f 020 7840 5599e [email protected]

East & South East EnglandRegional Organiser: Paul Burrows1a Fentiman Road, London SW8 1LDt 020 7840 5537f 020 7840 5541e [email protected]

MidlandsRegional Organiser: Stephen Brown2 Sovereign Court, Graham Street,Birmingham B1 3JRt 0121 236 4028f 0121 233 4116e [email protected]

Wales & South West EnglandRegional Organiser: Paul Westwell199 Newport Road, Cardiff CF24 1AJt 029 2045 6585f 029 2045 1980e [email protected]

North of EnglandRegional Organiser: Morris Stemp61 Bloom Street, Manchester M1 3LYt 0161 236 1764f 0161 236 0159e [email protected]

Scotland & Northern IrelandRegional Organiser: Sheena Macdonald1 Woodside Terrace, Glasgow G3 7UYt 0141 341 2960f 0141 332 8709e [email protected]

Union HQGeneral Secretary John F Smith

Assistant General Secretary Horace Trubridge (Music Industry)

Assistant General Secretary David Ashley (Finance & Administration)

National Organiser Bill Kerr (Orchestras)

National Organiser Diane Widdison (Education & Training)

National Organiser Ben Jones (Recording & Broadcasting)

National Organiser Dave Webster (Live Performance)

Head of Government Relations & Public Affairs Isabelle Gutierrez

In-House Solicitor David Fenton

Legal OfficialDawn Rodger

Communications Official Keith Ames

Recording & Broadcasting Official Michael Sweeney

Royalties OfficialPhil Kear

Sessions Official Peter Thoms

Live Performance OfficialKelly Wood

Orchestras OfficialDanny Longstaff

Music Education OfficialFran Hanley

Education & Equalities OfficialBindu PaulUnion HQ

60—62 Clapham Road London sw9 0jj

t 020 7582 5566f 020 7582 9805 e [email protected]

w theMU.org@WeAreTheMU

contacts

mailto:[email protected]







http://www.theMU.org

http://www.themu.org


report

John Smith, General Secretary

To hear more from John, visiT ThemU.org

John Smith reports on music in the party manifestosWith the elections coming up, the MU is working hard to get arts and culture included on the parties’ manifestos.

We are approaching a very interesting period in the political life of the UK. This September sees not only the referendum on Scottish Independence, but the last TUC and party conferences before next May’s General Election. The MU has written to the main political parties asking for arts and culture to be included in the manifestos. Last time round only the Lib Dems made any reference to culture in the run-up to the election, and to be fair ensured that the Coalition delivered, albeit through a private members’ bill – the Live Music Act.

I’m optimistic that the Labour Party will make reference to our sector in its manifesto, particularly since the MU has been successful in getting the Labour Party National Policy Forum to adopt four amendments to be included in the document that will go forward to the team that is working on the manifesto.

The first of these highlights the need for a realistic level of state and local authority arts funding, pointing out that philanthropy, while welcome, will never replace core funding.

The second asks for the full implementation of the National Plan for Music, so that music education is moved up the agenda. Our other amendments call for stability in the funding of the BBC and a new focus for the Intellectual Property Office (part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Science) so that it becomes a champion of creators and performers, and acts on their behalf rather than supporting the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple.

On the last point there is still unfinished business in the intellectual property area. The Copyright Exception, which will legalise private copying but not give fair compensation to rights holders, has now moved through the parliamentary process and been accepted. The MU and UK Music have consistently said that we support the private copy exception. We believe that, in this age of iPods, MP3 players and the like it is nonsense for the law to make copying copyright material onto these devices for personal use an illicit act. However the EU 2001 Copyright In The Information Society Directive makes it quite clear that a system of fair compensation must be introduced to run alongside the exception.

In most EU member states this takes the form of a levy on the hardware manufacturers, which is used to compensate the contributors. The UK government will not introduce this or any other method of compensation to the clear

detriment of writers, performers and others who hold rights in the material that will be copied. We will not accept this without a fight, and along with UK Music, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) we are currently considering our options. I will have more to report on this in the next issue but we will challenge this decision. It could be a long process but this is an important matter of principle which must be pursued on behalf of UK creators.

John Smith

“A system of fair compensation must be introduced to run alongside the Copyright Exception.”©

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The Musician • Autumn 2014

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ContentsAutumn 2014


“The dynamism of black music in Britain has spread far and wide beyond the migrant communities whence it originally came.” 24

Steel Pulse: one of Britain’s

most influential reggae bands

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l Insurance schemesl Legal assistancel Nationwide networkl Rights protectionl Career and

business advice

MU Contributors

This issue...

For more on benefits see page 51

On the Frontline 6 Funding boost for music

education in England 7 MU backs Fair Digital

Deals Declaration

Reports 3 MU General Secretary 8 How one complaint can

spell closure for a venue20 Creating new revenue

streams with library music 23 Celebrating the 80th

anniversary of PPL32 A whole new outlook

for Help Musicians UK

Inbox10 Emails, tweets and letters

Features12 Is YouTube imposing

restrictive contracts on music makers?

24 Charting the huge influence of black musicians in Britain

34 The role of the modern state in supporting the arts

Profiles16 David Arnold 28 Moulettes

Advice36 A guide to booking gigs

in the digital age 40 Increasing your fees

Reviews43 CDs and downloads

Union notices 2 Key contacts42 Ask Us First46 Tributes49 EC & Regional

Committee nominations50 MU Pension Scheme51 Member benefits

Will SimpsonWill has

contributed to a range of music magazines, including Total Guitar, Guitarist and Mixmag. He recently published his first book, Freedom Through Football. p20

Andrew StewartAndrew writes

for The Times, The Guardian, Classical Music and BBC Music Magazine, among others. He is also Director of Southwark Voices. p32

Find out more at

musiciansunion.org.uk/join-the-

mu/benefits/Helienne LindvallSwedish-born

Helienne is an award-winning songwriter, musician, journalist and blogger, and writes regularly about music and media for The Guardian. p12

Katie NichollsKatie is a

freelance journalist and editor whose features and reviews have appeared in titles such as MOJO, The Guardian and Kerrang! p16 & 36

Kevin LeGendreKevin writes

about soul and jazz for Echoes, Jazzwise, The Independent and The Guardian. He has also presented programmes for BBC Radio 3. p24

Anne WollenbergAnne is

an award-winning journalist who has written for The Guardian, The Independent and Film Four. She also sings and plays guitar. p40

Top 5 benefits

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Front cover: Chris Vinnicombe from The Lash

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22July

recognising the importance of giving children the opportunity to learn instruments at school.

“This is excellent news for music education and for hubs in particular,” she said. “However, we have seen hundreds of teachers lose their jobs in music services over the past three years and we still feel the aspirations of the National Music Plan can only be achieved if there is the workforce there to inspire the next generation of musicians. This is one of the reasons we launched #SupportMyMusicTeacher – to raise awareness of the issues affecting music teachers

MU welcomes fresh funding for music education in EnglandThe MU has welcomed the government’s announcement in July that music education for children in England will receive an £18m boost in funding. The additional revenue will be allocated to music education, including to the national network of 123 music education hubs, established in 2012. Diane Widdison, MU National Organiser – Education & Training, said the MU is pleased to see the government

On the frontlineThe latest news, views and events from the world of music.

Autumn 2014

Children will benefit from an extra £18m of music education funding

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“This is excellent news for music education and for hubs in particular.”everywhere, and celebrate the work of music teachers in creating the musicians and music lovers of the future.”

The Support My Music Teacher campaign was created by the MU and the Music Industries Association (MIA) to help support the invaluable work carried out

by music teachers around the UK. The campaign encourages people to share experiences – via social media platforms – of how music teachers transform students’ lives and help them to realise their ambitions. A motion has been tabled for the TUC Congress in September 2014 to support the MU and MIA’s Support My Music Teacher Campaign. To find out more about #SupportMyMusicTeacher, visit tinyurl.com/support-mmt

The MU distributed leaflets at the BBC’s War Horse Prom


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14July

frontline

Mu action at War Horse PromThe MU’s ongoing fight to save the War Horse band – the five members engaged in the West End production of the show, whose contracts were terminated – continued on 3 August at the BBC’s War Horse Prom. MU members and officials distributed leaflets at the Royal Albert Hall. The Proms were collaborating for the first time with the National Theatre (NT) for a concert inspired by the award-winning play. The action was part of the Union’s response to comments allegedly made in The Stage by National Theatre executive director, Nick Starr, who was reported as saying that, “We should have axed War Horse musicians in 2009”. Please sign the petition at change.org/organisations/musicians_union, follow @WeAreTheMU for updates and use #KeepMusicLive on Twitter to spread the word.

tuC lGBt ConferenceDelegates from across the trade union movement were represented at the annual two-day LGBT Conference at the TUC’s Congress House in London. The MU’s Bindu Paul and Nicola Dancey were among delegates from 28 unions at the event. Keynote speakers talked about LGBT bullying in the workplace and classroom; civil partnership conversions; ending discrimination in sport; and the plight of gay Africans. In all, 20 motions were passed. The day after the conference ended, the MU sent a delegation to the London LGBT Pride march, defying the rain to wave the MU’s flags and celebrate equality.

Mu appointment for Scotland & n ireland regionCaroline Sewell has been appointed to the post of Scotland & Northern Ireland Regional Officer, based at the Union’s office in Glasgow. Caroline, whose career in the music industry has included elements of artist management, publishing, labels, touring and live performance, said she was delighted and extremely proud. “I look forward to utilising this experience in order to best serve the members of the region,” she said.

new pledge heralds hope for digital music dealsThe MU has given its full support to The Fair Digital Deals Declaration, launched in July by the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), a global forum for the professional independent music industry. The declaration is a statement of commitment made by independent record labels to treat their artists fairly in agreements relating to digital exploitation of artists’ work in recorded music agreements with third parties (see our story on page 12). Those labels that sign up will agree to attach a signed copy of the Declaration to their artists’ royalty statements. Labels wishing to sign up can download the Declaration at winformusic.org/ fair-digital-deals-pledge/ and then return it to [email protected].

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26June

arts Council pulls plug on Jazz Services fundingUK jazz musicians, fans and promoters were dealt a blow when Arts Council England (ACE) announced it would no longer be funding Jazz Services as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) from April 2015. Jazz Services is the UK’s foremost charitable support organisation for jazz music and the announcement comes as part of ACE’s investment portfolio for the arts over the next three years. Dave Webster, MU National Organiser, Live Performance, said: “It’s a great shame that an organisation that has supported jazz musicians for many years has had its funding cut by a government that seems to know the cost of everything but the value of nothing.” Members can sign the petition at tinyurl.com/jazzpet or show their support at facebook.com/Jazz.Services.Ltd and via Twitter using the hashtag #4JazzFuture.

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Jazz Services supports many

musicians, including

saxophonist Jason Yarde

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MU Assistant General Secretary Horace Trubridge outlines a worrying rise in the number of live music venues that have already shut down, or are at risk of closure, due to noise complaints from a handful of neighbours.

“It only takes one or two complaints to spark a flurry of noise abatement notices.”

Did you know?This article first appeared in Horace’s online monthly column in The Huffington Post. huffingtonpost.co.uk/horace-trubridge/

So, you knock yourself out for years and years to establish a live music venue. You build a profile for your establishment so that agents and promoters start putting some of their better bands in. You give local bands the chance to cut their teeth live and you establish a popular destination for people in your community who want to experience live music. All good then, so good in fact that you would naturally expect your local authority to recognise the importance of your music venue as a valuable component in the rich cultural tapestry of the community. Wouldn’t you?

If only this were true. Unfortunately, the reality is very different. There is a worrying trend that has emerged over the past few years whereby it only takes one or two complaints from neighbours in the vicinity of a venue to spark a flurry of noise abatement notices from the local authority’s environmental office, often culminating in the closure of the music venue. Here’s a select list of premier music venues that are currently under threat or have already closed: Night & Day Café, Manchester: An objection from one local resident and the venue is fighting for its survival. The George Tavern, Stepney: Developers want to build apartments next to the venue; noise complaints are an inevitable consequence. The Blind Tiger Club, Brighton: A new resident moves above the venue and complains about the noise, eventually leading to The Blind Tiger Club’s closure.

Now, I like my sleep as much as the next person and, while the Trubridge offspring are now of an age that means they are more likely to be in the venue than in a cot, I still remember how hard it is to get a baby to sleep when there is a distracting noise. Nevertheless, if I choose to move into a flat or a house situated near a music venue then surely I’m likely to know that there will be times when I will hear music coming from that venue, and if I have young children or a predilection for insomnia, then maybe I should consider moving somewhere else. When the local authority processes noise complaints do you think they ask the complainant the key questions? Such as, ‘how long have you lived there?’ Or, ‘did the estate agent not tell you that there is a live music venue next door?’ I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. I suspect they just process the complaint and fire off the noise abatement notice. The next thing you know, the venue is under threat, the owner is contemplating closing down the business they have worked so hard to establish and Live Music UK suffers yet another casualty. Perhaps even more alarming is the scenario whereby the music venue is situated in an area that – prior to the establishing of a successful music venue – held no attraction for property developers. However, with the emergence of a popular music venue, the area suddenly becomes more attractive, the developers move in and Bob’s your uncle: following complaints from the new neighbours, the venue closes down. This particular practice is on the increase and seems totally unfair to me. Of course, by shutting down the music venue a valuable piece of real estate

Live venues under threat


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then becomes available in an area that property developers are keen to utilise but far be it from me to suggest that anything underhand has gone on, I’ll leave that for you to ponder, dear reader. I think it is about time that the UK adopted a new law that has worked very well in countries like Australia. The law is sometimes referred to as ‘The Agent of Change Principle’. You can read about it here: dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/publicationsandresearch/codes-and-guidelines/live-music-taskforce#agent. What it basically says is that it is the legal responsibility of the person or persons who have brought about the changes that inadvertently affect an individual or an individual’s business to take steps to remedy the problem.

In other words, in the case of the property developer who builds homes near a music venue, it is the property developer’s legal and financial responsibility to use sound proofing to prevent any inconvenience to the

Nile Marr, who performs as Man Made, at Manchester’s Night & Day Café (left), which is fighting for survival after a complaint from one neighbour

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residents. The music venue bears no responsibility. This would seem to me to be a fair and proper arrangement and it’s about time we adopted this law here. In the meantime, support your local music venue and let them know how much you appreciate their, albeit precarious, existence.

The MU and its members are concerned about a worrying trend of long established music venues being forced to close after only one or two complaints from neighbours, which often result in the issuing of noise abatement notices from the local authority. This is becoming more problematic as a result of the increasing numbers of new flats and houses being built in the vicinity of existing music venues. New residents are often unaware of the music venue when they purchase the property and then put in noise complaints. We would like to see the introduction of an ‘Agent of Change Principle’ law, such as that in Australia, which would put the legal responsibility of remedying any issues on to the person or persons who have brought about the changes that inadvertently affect an individual’s business. Under this law, in the case of a property developer building homes in the vicinity of a music venue, it would be the property developer’s legal and financial responsibility to use sound proofing to prevent any inconvenience to the residents and the music venue bears no responsibility, other than to continue to operate within the terms of its existing licence. Congress calls on the General Council to support the MU’s calls for a change in the law to protect music venues.

Motion to TUC Congress 2014

A welcome ruling by Bristol City Council just as The Musician was going to press could prove to be a test case for music venues across the country. The Council approved plans to build flats next to seminal music venue The Fleece, but said the new homes would be subject to strict acoustic conditions. The Save The Fleece campaign was led by local MP Kerry McCarthy and backed by a 41,500-name petition.

The Fleece saved?


report

Morris majorJust got off the phone with the MU’s Morris Stemp. Excellent service, felt like he had all the time in the world for me. Cheers MU!KTB Music @ktbmusic

Keep it liveTook part in the inaugural meeting of the MU’s Live Performance Committee today. I reckon this could be the start of a good thing!Guitar George– Cielo @GuitarGeorgeUK This means war I can’t believe this whole War Horse band fiasco is still going on. Aside from the obvious breach of contract, if the NT follows its own logic, it would pay the actors once, video the whole thing and show it on a big screen!John Spiers @squeezyjohn

Come on fellow musicians! We should have 30,000 names on that petition for starters. It’s your job on the block next. #warhorseGavin Greenaway @gvngrnwy Pension pointsCalling all West End MU members. Make sure your employer is paying into the MU Pension and get the most from them.Hencilla Canworth @Hencilla

inboxThese pages reflect the diverse range of multi-channel communications between the Union and its members. We welcome your contributions via email, Twitter or letter.

Mr RobinsonGreat interview in The Musician with Tom Robinson @freshnet about opportunities to get your new music heard.Sam Duffy @samduffysinger

Sweet retweetWas enjoying the MU magazine and found myself retweeted in print. Nice one folks! :) Alison Diamond @ADsaxist

Sound adviceThe band I’m touring with are full of praise for the MU for consent form advice and cheap NCP parking.Rick Finlay @rick_finlay

New signing Signed up to the MU the other day. Very much looking forward to some instrument and public liability insurance – very handy! :)Kyle Stuart Howie @TheKyleOfLife

That’s not the ticketIt’s not just consumers fed up with extra charges, the MU says ticket fees can damage the artist/fan relationship. whi.ch/1va1O87Which? News @WhichNews

A good readCongrats to the MU on another very fine members’ journal! A compelling, colourful, interesting read! Love the new look and structure.Gareth McLearnon @garethmclearnon

Well done @WeAreTheMU! This month’s mag has saved us up to £900 in accountant’s fees thru the article on tax and MU members’ legal cover!Tom Makes@tommakesmusic

Follow us on Twitter @WeAreTheMU

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Find us at theMU.org

Email us [email protected]

YOUR EDiTOR

Welcome to the Autumn issue of The Musician.We hope you appreciate the wide range of reports, features and interviews.

We have also enclosed your MU Diary for 2015. Many members have told us how much they value the range of MU printed publications, from The Musician and the Members’ Handbook through to the Musician Extra newsletters and the Diary.

Please stay in touch and keep the feedback coming.

Keith [email protected]

Tom Robinson was profiled in the summer issue of The Musician


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All information contained in this journal is for informational purposes only and is, to the best of our knowledge, correct at the time of going to press. This journal is published by Future Publishing Limited on behalf of Musicians’ Union. Neither Future Publishing Limited nor Musicians’ Union accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies that occur in such information. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers direct with regard to the price of products/services in the journal. Publication of an advertisement does not imply any form of recommendation. Organisations offering financial services or insurance are governed by their relevant regulatory bodies and problems with such services should be taken up with those bodies. Neither Future Publishing Limited nor Musicians’ Union accept any liability for the quality of goods and services offered in advertisements. We do our best to avoid inaccuracies, but if you believe that an error has been made, please contact the editor straight away before taking any other action and the Union will take appropriate steps. If you submit material to this journal, you automatically grant Future Publishing Limited and Musicians’ Union a licence to publish your submissions in whole or in part in any edition of this journal that is published worldwide in any format or media throughout the world, and you grant Musicians’ Union a licence to publish your submissions in whole or in part in any format or media for the purpose of promoting any products or services referred to in your submissions. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and neither Future Publishing Limited nor Musicians’ Union nor their respective employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for any loss or damage. © Future Publishing Limited and Musicians’ Union 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be used or reproduced without the written permission of Future Publishing Limited and Musicians’ Union.

Editor Keith Ames (MU)Consultant editor Neil CrossleyArt editors Stuart HobbsEmma SwiftWriters Helienne LindvallKevin LeGendreKatie NichollsAnne WollenbergNeil CrossleyAndrew StewartKeith AmesWill SimpsonEllie O’HaganRoy DelaneyClive SomervilleProduction editorsRoy DelaneyAndrea BallProduction and procurement manager Matt EglintonClient production co–ordinator Tracy Nugent

Director of FuturePlus UK Jayne CapleSenior account manager David ParkerGroup account director Fiona McDanielEditorial director Mark DonaldArt directors Stuart Hobbs Dermot RusheRepro Future Pre-PressPrinted at Precision Colour PrintingSee page 02 for the contact details of Musicians’ Union offices.

Fee not freeTo all promoters: I do NOT accept unpaid gigs, unless charity or festivals. I have to pay my band members. #WorkNotPlayMUXSARA @XSARA_

Music festivals of the shires, please stop asking musicians to play for free. Unless the catering comes free too. And the stages, loos, security, advertising… #worknotplay #sickofbeingaskedtodo- ourjobforfreeDavid Booth @DaveRecordingB

Yep, the value of our work isn’t reflected by fees or reality. If we work for ‘free’ we’re paying to play when you factor in parking/food.Daren Callow @Daren68 I have an MMUS and professional training. In any other profession would I train for years to work for free?Eve Williams @EveLMWilliams Don’t bash the buskersBuskers arrested in London while the MU met the Mayor’s Office to discuss a code of conduct to cover them. Trade Union Group @TradeUnionGroup

I don’t think musos are the real nuisance on our streets! Terl Bryant @TerlBryant

Save The FleeceAnother established live music venue facing challenges – @FleeceBristol. Musicians and music lovers show your support. bit.ly/1tinhCF Graham Russ @GrahamRuss1

Travel advice Travelling with instruments made of rare or potentially endangered materials? musiciansunion.org.uk/advice-downloads/playing-live/2014/06/30/ travelling-with-instruments-made-of-rare-materialsMartin Weller @Ramones74

Feel the benefitsJust joined the MU. Amazed by all the benefits you get from joining! Thank you!Tanya Stephens @RainbowSoundKM

Many thanksThanks to the MU for its nice little piece about my CD The Space In Between in The Musician. #newmusic Hannah Scott @hannahscottuk

Taxing afternoonIn Leeds for the MU tax talk with Andy Levett and Ajay Jassal from @HWFisherUK. A lot to take in, but very glad I went! #taxes #soreheadJenny Dyson @_jdys_

Singing and signingDelighted to run a workshop at the MU Teachers CPD Weekend in October on Singing and Signing @aamedia_org_uk. musiciansunion.org.uk/event/mu-teachers-cpd-weekendSam Dunkley @SamDunkleyMusic

Support your teacherGreat music teachers give an invaluable emotional connection to the school syllabus. So important. Support the arts! #SupportMyMusicTeacherGeorgina @gmorris5

Has a music teacher changed your life and helped you achieve your ambitions? #SupportMyMusicTeacherSteve Haynes @stevehaynestbn

“Thank God for the MU – every artist should sign up for help with any difficulties!”Rita Morar @ritamoraruk

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http://www.futureplus.co.uk/

Is YouTube using its position as the world’s premier music service to impose restrictive contracts and low royalty rates on the people who make music?Feature by Helienne Lindvall

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Where do you go to check out a new record or artist that’s been recommended to you? Chances are the answer is YouTube. If you’re under 25 years old, it almost certainly is. With more than a billion users worldwide, YouTube is by far the biggest music service in the world – and as such, it’s extremely important as a promotional tool for both pop stars and self-releasing independents.

But in June 2014, news emerged that YouTube will remove music by independent labels that have refused agreements with the site. When added together with concerns about ultra low royalty payments, music writers, performers and producers are all expressing grave concerns for the future of commercially released music across the globe.

YouTube is not just a great means for musicians to promote their new music, for many it’s the prime listening source, and these days it even allows the user to make playlists. This has led to speculation that YouTube may also be cannibalising music sales. A recent study by researchers from Fairfield University and the University of Colorado, called Online Music, Sales Displacement, and Internet Search: Evidence from YouTube, came to this conclusion, pointing to a period in 2009 when Warner Music blocked videos by not only their own artists, but by anybody using bits of their music on YouTube. The blackout, the study concluded, had both statistically and economically significant positive effects on album sales. It claimed that not having videos on YouTube increased sales by on average 10,000 units per week for top albums.

But getting YouTube to block all unlicensed videos is easier said than done for all but the major labels. It can involve sending endless take-down notices only for the videos to pop up on the site again within hours, uploaded by its users. If you get accepted by YouTube as a content partner, you’re able to use its Content ID to streamline the process, although it’s worth pointing out that it only identifies 50-60% of the songs that are uploaded). YouTube won’t, however, use the tool to pull down songs it doesn’t have a licence for.

l Google, which owns YouTube, refuses to specify how much of its revenue comes from the streaming service. Its ad revenue for 2013 has been estimated to be anything from $3.6bn to $5.6bn. It’s expected to bring in $7.2bn in 2014, according to eMarketer.l There are currently over a billion YouTube users uploading well over 300,000 videos a day.l The most recent royalty statements show that, if a songwriter has written 100% of a track, he or she would need about 952,000 YouTube streams a day in order to make the UK minimum wage of £50.48. “Someone must be making money out of the music on YouTube but it certainly isn’t the people who write the songs,” says songwriter Barry Mason. “Delilah would need to be streamed roughly 113,250 times for Les Reed and I to earn enough for a coffee each at Starbucks.”l The new YouTube contracts are offering lower rates of payments than other on-demand services. While Spotify pays through about 70% of its revenue to labels and publishers, the YouTube deal offers 55% to labels and 10% to publishers and performing rights organisations for its premium audio-only service – for music videos it will pay out 55% of revenue, with 45% going to the labels and 10% to the publishers.

YouTube in numbers

Monetising your videosMany labels and musicians choose to apply to be ad partners with YouTube rather than file endless take-down notices. This means that YouTube will monetise even user-generated videos of your music, and share the revenue with you. However, you can only be a partner if you have enough views. The rights holder that becomes an ad partner can choose what type of ad is served with the video, such as pre-roll ads that are run before the video starts, and pop-up ads. How high a percentage of the ad revenue YouTube pays through varies, but the most it will pay through, according to the labels we’ve spoken to, is 55%.

It’s impossible to say exactly how much YouTube pays per stream, as all its licensing deals are covered by non-disclosure agreements. It also depends on what type of ads are served with the video. Record labels report that they earn between $1,000 and $3,000 – Cooking Vinyl said it could earn as much as $5,000 – per million streams. The

highest rate comes from videos that have non-skippable pre-roll ads, though many labels choose not to use those, as they fear users will simply refuse to watch the video if they have to sit through an ad.

But YouTube has received criticism from music creators, labels and the MU for devaluing music. Billy Bragg has suggested that artists who criticise Spotify for its low royalty payments “should be marching to YouTube central with flaming pitchforks”.

“Anecdotally, we know that YouTube pays about a fifth of what other on-demand streaming companies pay the rights owner of the recording,” says MU Assistant General Secretary, Horace Trubridge.

“YouTube is not just a great means to promote new music, for many it’s the prime listening source.”

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And that’s only for tracks that are identified by Content ID. You can find almost any full-length album on YouTube, uploaded by users, from which the creators of the music receive no revenue, and arguably no promotional value.

The cannibalisation conundrumThe worry about cannibalisation has increased recently, as YouTube is preparing to go head-to-head with audio streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer by launching a subscription service. Google is notoriously tightlipped about its operations, but the New York Post reported back in March that it would be called Music Pass, and would likely cost $5 a month with ads, or $10 a month for an ad-free version.

The major labels have already concluded licensing deals for the service, and have reportedly received huge upfront payments. Many independent labels, however, were not offered the option to negotiate as they simply received click-through contracts saying that if they did not agree to the terms, their YouTube channels would be terminated and they would lose the ability to monetise any of their music across the ad-supported site.

Although the contracts (which are with Google and not with YouTube, meaning that they could cover services across the Google spectrum, including Google Play) are covered by strict non-disclosure agreements, there have been multiple leaks to the press. Judging by these leaks and label sources, there are a number of issues that the independent label community finds unacceptable:

l The contract stipulates that if the label releases a song on any other service, the new YouTube service must also have it. This completely negates any opportunity for so-called windowing – giving exclusives to one particular service for a limited time.“YouTube’s demand for all the catalogue denies the opportunity for it to be used as a promotional tool any longer,” says songwriter, producer and former frontman of The Longpigs, Crispin Hunt.

l There’s a permanent “least favoured nation” clause in relation to the majors, meaning that if the majors decide to lower their royalty rate at any point – which they could do in return for, say, a large up front payment – then YouTube is able to lower the rates for smaller labels to match, as long as it gives a 30-day notice.

l The label must promise to never sue either Google, or a member of the public who illegally uploads the label’s music to YouTube. In theory, this would mean Google could accept user-generated copies of a label’s music, make money off the advertisements – and refuse to pay the label.

l The leaked YouTube contract doesn’t offer a minimum rate for streaming, meaning that on its ad-supported component it will only pay if ads are connected to the video, but it’s not in any way required to put ads on every video. A YouTube source told Billboard that if every video had ads against it, it would drive away users and reduce plays. However, other streaming services, such as Spotify, do have minimum per-stream rates and so are incentivised to monetise every single stream. Hunt explains: “I haven’t seen the contracts but, from what I understand, if you don’t have a video for a piece of music, YouTube will supply a video for it – but they will own the copyright to that video. This leads the way for enormous copyright confusion later on.”

Many indies deemed these terms unacceptable, but claimed that the contract had been presented as non-negotiable by YouTube. The Worldwide Independent Network said its members had been

threatened with having their videos blocked from the user-generated web platform if they did not accept these terms.

“The MU is supporting the indies in their efforts to get a fair deal with YouTube on the new streaming service,” says Horace. “The one thing we are absolutely against is non-negotiable contracts. We enter into agreements every day in the business we’re doing – and we never do business with a third party who isn’t prepared to negotiate.”

YouTube explained to The Guardian newspaper that it had “successful deals in place with hundreds of independent and major labels around the world, however we don’t comment on ongoing negotiations”.

However, the technology news site The Register noted that ripping up existing contracts and blocking royalty payments (while continuing to host the material) would put it in breach of most competition laws anywhere in the world, given YouTube’s self-proclaimed status as “the world’s de facto (and free) jukebox”.

Hunt puts it more bluntly: “Banning independent labels who haven’t signed up to the agreement, while allowing people to cover those songs on their service, is tantamount to complete legalised piracy. It wouldn’t be legal in any other sphere but the internet.”

The European indie label trade body Impala is filing a complaint with the European Commission calling on it to red card YouTube

It’s not just the small underground acts that are affected. High profile artists such as Goldfrapp and Arctic Monkeys release their music on independent labels too

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for abusing its position as a gatekeeper to the online market. It also suggested the EC could issue a fine of up to 10% of YouTube’s turnover worldwide. WIN and Impala are not only asking the EU competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia to investigate, but also to annul any contracts that have already been signed.

“Google has over 90% of the online advertising market in Germany – 80% in Europe,” explains Alison Wenham, chief executive of WIN and the Association of Independent Music companies (AIM). “YouTube has over 90% of the online video-viewing audience worldwide. They are not just monopolies, but monopsonies so they are must-have customers. The development of online markets now appears to entail a single dominant player in each market. They are not part of the marketplace – they are essentially THE marketplace, the only gatekeeper, the only route to market.”

After an outcry from the creative community, YouTube postponed its controversial plan to block those record labels that don’t sign its deals from the video platform in order to allow time to negotiate a solution. However, the threat of being blocked if an agreement isn’t

reached is still hanging over the labels.YouTube claimed in the press that this was a marginal problem, that only 5% of the indies were holding out for a better deal. “That’s simply not true,” says Wenham. “It’s a lot more than 5%. I don’t want to speak to the actual market shares, because I don’t want to dignify the argument. In a world where customers expect everything, 1% would be enough to compromise the service.”

Hunt, who is also chief executive of the Featured Artist Coalition (FAC), says the streaming service’s behaviour poses a wider threat by commoditising music. “Personally, as a musician, I listen to and create music in order to avoid commercialisation and adverts, rather than in order to be a lure for an advert.”

“We’ve only just got over the trauma of having to come to grips, as musicians, with music on streaming services being about access rather than ownership,” he adds. “Now YouTube will

make it about attention and not ownership. The things that command the most attention get paid the most. This forces musicians to make ever more extreme videos, with singing bunnies and naked twitching girls, which completely

circumnavigates the quality of the music and becomes more about the quality of the video. It’s about attraction rather than access. Musicians need now more than ever to work together and sing with one voice in order to create a movement that denies the complete devaluation of what we do for a living.”

CHanging attitudes the Worldwide independent network (Win) launched its Fair digital deals declaration, with a worldwide sign up day in July.

WIN has underlined five key points in the declaration:

l We will ensure that artists’ share of download and streaming revenues is clearly explained in recording agreements and royalty statements in reasonable summary form.l We will account to artists a good-faith pro-rata share of any revenues and other compensation from digital services that stem from the monetisation of recordings but are not attributed to specific recordings or performances.l We will encourage better standards of information from digital services on the usage and monetisation of music.l We will support artists who choose to oppose, including publicly, unauthorised uses of their music.l We will support the collective position of the global independent record company sector as outlined in the Global Independent Manifesto.

More than 750 independent labels from more than 21 countries have signed the declaration, at the time of writing, and many more are expressing an interest. Some of the more high profile labels who have already signed up include: 4AD, Beggars Group, Cooking Vinyl, Epitaph, Fat Cat, Flying Nun Records, Kill Rock Stars, Matador, Mushroom Group, Mute, NinjaTune, Rough Trade, Sub Pop, Tommy Boy, Tuff Gong, Warp Records and XL Recordings.

The campaign can be followed on Twitter from the @winformusic account and using the hashtag #fairdigitaldeal4artists. For more information on the campaign and the background behind it, visit winformusic.org

“They are not part of the marketplace – they are essentially THE marketplace.”

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The Musician contacted YouTube for its response to the issues raised in this feature. A YouTube spokesperson provided the following statement:

“We’re always working on new ways for people to enjoy YouTube content across all screens, and on giving our partners more opportunities to reach their fans and generate revenue. We’ll be adding subscription-based features for music on YouTube with this in mind, and look forward to sharing them with music fans.”


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From Luton to Hollywood: The Musician talks to David Arnold about his journey from gigging musician to award-winning composer. Feature by Katie Nicholls

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Arnold’s James Bond soundtracks balance bombastic drama with an edgy atmosphere and a strong emotional connection.

Fresh from performing his live concert debut at the Royal Festival Hall, David Arnold sat down with The Musician to discuss his journey to success, his favourite collaborators and how he puts a soundtrack together.

You started writing soundtracks at sixth form with film director Danny Cannon…I didn’t start writing to picture until I met Danny at the Arts Centre in Luton. He wanted to be a film director and I wanted to be a film composer. We’d grab our friends on a Sunday morning, head to a field just off the M1 and film them walking across the horizon with long coats on looking important! For a good couple of years we were making films together. That was when I was 19, 20 and to put it into some perspective, I didn’t get a job writing music until I was 31. In the ensuing period there was an awful lot of stuff done, but zero reward for it in financial terms. It was Danny who ended up doing his first feature film. He asked me to score it and that got me into the world professionally. Until then it was me gigging at nights and the weekend, doing part-time jobs in B&Q, selling carpets, digging holes in roads…

Which composers inspired you as a child?John Barry had the biggest influence on me, but also Lionel Bart. Seeing Oliver, You Only Live Twice and The Jungle Book – watching films that were very powerful musically in terms of score as well as being very idiosyncratic visually. All of those films were hugely iconic. I loved the feel of it: the visual noise and the aural noise seemed very exciting. I lived in Luton and everything looks exotic when your bedroom backs onto a factory car park.

What form did your musical education take? It was largely informal. I never had piano lessons. I didn’t have a formal university education in playing or composition, but I’ve been writing songs and instrumental pieces since I first picked up a guitar aged nine or ten. When they first put a recorder in my hand and the class tambourine was passed around, it used to annoy me that people couldn’t keep time. I could never understand it. I was always hearing harmonies in my head. I loved the idea that people were making a sound that wasn’t speech. I remember feeling that the music teachers seemed to be the happiest in the school. Good education and enthusiastic

Whether you realise it or not, David Arnold’s mercurial talents have ensured that his sublime compositions will have undoubtedly found their way into your sitting room. His reach extends from the West End, as the writer of musical Made In Dagenham; through the BBC, as the man behind Sherlock’s signature soundtrack; to Hollywood, where he was composer on Independence Day, Godzilla and five Bond movies. He’s picked up a Grammy, a couple of Ivor Novello awards and a few BAFTA nominations on the way; and if you were wondering which musical maestro matched Danny Boyle’s unforgettable dramatics at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, that was Arnold too.

It wasn’t always red carpets and glitter. He paid his dues for many years working small-time gigs in pubs and clubs. His break came at the age of 31 when his long-time friend Danny Cannon secured the gig as director of the 1993 feature film The Young Americans. He asked Arnold to score the soundtrack from which Björk’s rendition of Play Dead was a chart hit. The doors opened and within weeks Arnold was flying out to LA for a date with Stargate director Roland Emmerich.

Born in Luton in 1962, Arnold was growing up at a time when the dynamic power of the relationship between film and music was being fully realised. Inspired as a young child by the visual and aural punch of films such as You Only Live Twice, he would later became close friends with his mentor John Barry. They would share more than friendship and, like Barry,

My perspective is slightly different because I’m not a working musician in the same way that the guys we employed on Sunday night at the Royal Festival Hall are. They don’t know what they’re doing the next day. They get a call and they come down, and whatever is in front of them they’ll play. Either that or they’re playing in the West End. I know all those players and I know how precarious the business of being a working musician is. The possibilities for exploitation are greater because there are hundreds of great violin players but there might not be hundreds of great composers for the particular work for which they think you’re suitable. Most of my experience of the Union is when they come in to see if everything is alright with my sessions – they turn up and make sure everyone is looked after properly. That’s the great value of it. It’s there to protect people’s rights, and to make sure that they’re compensated fairly and looked after, and not exploited.

David Arnold on the MU in the 21st century

“It used to annoy me when people couldn’t keep time. I could never understand it,” On his school music lessons

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music teachers are the secret. Music teaching is about so much more than just learning music. It teaches you how to communicate, to listen and work democratically within a group, and when to play loud or quiet – so many life lessons to be learned.

Throughout your career you’ve forged a wide variety of collaborations – Jarvis Cocker, Iggy Pop, Paul McCartney among others. How do you choose the musicians you work with?Sometimes people ask me, which is a huge treat and an honour. Sometimes I’ll have someone particular in mind and it’s just a matter of making a phone call. I really like working with other people – I don’t know if I get a bit irritated or bored with myself. Also, there’s always an element of surprise that you would never achieve if you’re doing your own thing. People say to me it must be amazing hearing your work played by an orchestra, but the performance is always in my head. When we do get to the point of ‘that’s the take’, it’s more a sense of relief than excitement. You don’t go, ‘Oh my god, this is my music being played by an orchestra,’ you think ‘this is how I conceived it.’ It’s a team sport.

How do you approach writing for film? Does it differ from writing for Sherlock, for example?It doesn’t really differ from TV. You have a series of moving images and you have a set of problems that those images present you with, and music is the solution to that

Fitzgerald and Hoagy Carmichael? You can’t hear them on the radio unless you seek out the specialist programme that puts them on. What worries me is that there is a shrinking sphere of amazing songs in terms of how they influence future generations of writers.

When did you first join the MU? When I started recording stuff myself. My dad was a big union fan and a socialist-minded person. He used to sing in a 12-piece dance

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“There’s a big difference between a songwriter and a record maker,” On new technology in music

problem. Whether it’s Sherlock or James Bond or Independence Day: it’s me in the same room with the same equipment looking at the same screen trying to respond to something that’s in front of me. The first thing you do is make a decision about what the tone of the music is going to be. Is it electronic, acoustic, jazzy, orchestral, techno? You have to find the language of the film stylistically, and that comes from your own response to the work in front of you as well as from discussions with the director. I used to write themes based on the script and I’d start putting music to it once they’d sent me the film. Now I wait until they’ve finished shooting. Sometimes I read the script, sometimes not. I ask filmmakers if they can assemble sequences for me. If it’s a character study, for example, I ask them to send me scenes they’re in. The way they move, talk and look – something that tells you the kind of person that they are. Then I write a suite of music inspired by the film – not the story, but by location, light, character and dialogue. I write suites of parts, and the filmmakers put them into the film in different places. Then you start the process of rescoring based on how they’ve reused the music that you have given them. By the end of that process, before you start ‘scoring scoring’, you might have 50% of the music ready. That’s when you sit down to decide where the music should go and what it should be doing.

How has the development of technology affected the way young songwriters approach the craft of songwriting? I think it’s democratising the idea of producing sound recordings, but there’s a big difference between a songwriter and a record maker. I think software has allowed people who don’t have musical training to express themselves musically, and that’s a good thing. What worries me more is that it allows you to make music with a limited scope and reach. I’m not saying you can’t write an amazing song with three chords – plenty of people have. I suppose it’s a bit like learning a language and only knowing five verbs. But if that’s all that’s required for that style of music there’s obviously no problem. I’m not the person to criticise the state of songwriting because I think there are great songs being written. Are there classic songs being written? I guess there still are, aren’t there? If you’re talking about classic songwriting: Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, my main concern is that I don’t know where you’re going to be hearing that material in 50 years time. If you’re a teenager, where are you going to discover Ella


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band. They were all MU members and the newsletter used to be around the house. I always thought, ‘This is a good idea’, because there’s no other way of being represented. When I was 21, 22, I used to use the legal services, because in the early days when you got a contract you didn’t know what you were looking at. You just wanted to know what time to turn up, what you were going to get paid and if you got a sandwich. It was very useful in that there were consequences if people messed you about.

How is the way music is consumed affecting the industry?We can all agree that the idea of being able to sell music to people is something that is disappearing, and probably won’t be around for that much longer. Technology has effectively allowed illegal behaviour to flourish, but we have to adapt to the fact that that’s the world we’re living in now. That cat is definitely out of the bag! People share music on devices and they don’t consider the implications because there are no consequences. The consequences are that we will lose grassroots skills. We’re already losing the smaller and medium-sized studios… if the recording studios go, the engineering skills go, the knowledge to mic up a piano, or mic up an orchestra – that will go and the support network will go and then what’s the point of learning an instrument if you’re not going to play anywhere? I’m talking about 50 years in the future when our core group of astonishing, world-class musicians will have passed on to the next generation. I wonder if people will bother investing all that time and trouble in learning – and we know how much time that is – and the sacrifices you end up making to be a player of excellence. I wonder whether that will just fall away and we’ll stop being the centre of excellence in music. I think we need to protect our studios and we need to protect our musicians’ inheritance in terms of allowing them to do what they do so brilliantly. There’s a reason why the world comes to this country to make recordings. The industry is not dead. It’s lying on the ground twitching a little bit! I’m thinking if we kick it hard enough it might get up and walk but there’s a possibility that it might not. It might need some intervention.

As a prolific composer, producer and writer, David Arnold likes to mix up his portfolio. Here are just three of his career highlights…

1996When director Roland Emmerich was looking for a composer who could supply dark drama and rousing anthems to accompany his film Independence Day, Arnold was the obvious choice. A great decision that earned Arnold a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television.

1997As a longtime Bond fan, David Arnold paid homage to John Barry by producing an album of versions of tracks from the Bond films. Jarvis Cocker, Propellerheads and Björk were among the artists who joined Arnold on the album. Barry liked it so much he recommended Arnold as the composer for the next Bond movie and the pair became close friends.

2010Sherlock, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s sharp, edgy interpretation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective hero, needed music to match. Working alongside collaborator Michael Price, Arnold’s compositions and signature theme tune have become inextricably connected to the show’s intelligent wit, and the complex characters that inhabit it.

Shaken and stirred

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Above: Alone in the studio. Far left: The BBC Electric Proms with Dame Shirley Bassey. Near left: On stage at the John Barry Memorial Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Below: At the BMI Film & TV awards in Beverley Hills with Clint Mansell and Brian Tyler.©

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Composing library music for TV, radio and film can be a great way to earn extra money.

Will Simpson investigates…

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Compared to playing in front of a live audience, or creating and honing your own artistic vision, the world of library music might be sorely lacking in romance and glamour. But for a writer/composer, it can provide a decent income to supplement your potential earnings as a musician.

Library music is the incidental music that you hear on TV and radio, and it differs from most commercial music in that in most cases the library owns the copyright. Essentially it’s a convenient solution for TV and film producers, that is considerably cheaper than commissioned music.

In the UK, library first rose to prominence during the 60s and 70s – the so-called golden age of British TV. Indeed several of that era’s best loved themes were originally library tracks. Approaching Menace by Neil Richardson is instantly recognisable as the theme from Mastermind, while a generation of 30- and 40-somethings could probably hum Alan Hawkshaw’s Chicken Man note for note. (It’s better known as the Grange Hill theme, in case you were wondering.)

As the number of TV channels has multiplied in the digital era, so has the number of libraries and library musicians. In fact, according to composer Andy Hamilton, the sector has never been more competitive. “Technology has made it easier for everybody to make music. But I also think it’s the sheer number of people who have realised that it’s a way to earn money, and so are flooding the library companies. I’m amazed that the companies haven’t got every kind of music that has ever been written in the whole world.”

Most libraries hold the copyright of a track for perpetuity and split royalties 50/50 with the composer. However, recent years have seen the growth of so-called royalty-free or copyright-free library music, especially in the US, where instead of MCPS the library pays a flat fee up front to the writer. Many in the industry feel that this represents a bad deal for all concerned.

“The advantage is that programme makers would take a punt on dozens of different pieces of music to see what worked,” says Andy Hamilton. “But I don’t think many musicians are interested because the whole idea of putting your life and soul into a piece of music is that at some point in the future it might get used extensively and you’ll reap greater rewards.”

Ray Russell is more succinct. “It’s a false economy. And it devalues the music.”

Royalty-free library music

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Hamilton has been writing library music for 18 years. After making his mark as a sax player, he turned to writing library when he had many pieces that he couldn’t find a home for. “My wife said: ‘why not send them to a publisher?’ I got some negative responses, but the head of De Wolfe Music came back to me. He liked what I’d done, one thing led to another, and I have now done five albums for them.”

Hamilton now freelances for a number of libraries, but the commissioning process isn’t as free and easy as it used to be: “They used to sometimes say ‘do you fancy doing an album of this kind of thing’, like travel music or late-night jazz type stuff. You’d forward a few MP3s to see if you were on the right track.

“Now, with it being so much more competitive, it has become difficult even for established writers to get their calls returned. Even though I’ve done dozens of albums for companies, they still don’t phone me back when I phone them! It’s like the conventional music business in that respect. Now, if you have written a lot of stuff for a company, they will send out a brief to all their writers, saying: ‘We’re doing this, have you got anything like this? Send it in and we’ll tell you if we like it.’”

The commissioning process varies from library to library. “Some of the guys I work with are much more hands on,” says composer Paul Honey. “They’ll say ‘yeah that’s working’ or ‘that’s not, how about adding this, how about taking this away’. And with the mix they’re much more hands on too.”

Others, like the Eastbourne-based Made Up Music, have a relaxed attitude. “Probably the difference between us and a lot of other companies is that they (the writers) approach us,” says co-owner Ray Russell. “They say, ‘look we really really want to do this, what do you think?’ If they’re lucky we say ‘yeah’. But we do have very stringent quality control – it has to sound really good and it can’t be a bedroom recording. It has to be recorded properly and mastered to meet what we think is the right audio quality.”

Russell says that he listens to every submission sent on spec by aspiring composers. “I think most companies do. We’ve struck up a couple of very good relationships that way, and what is great for us is if it sounds good, we can react reasonably quickly. It’s quite a simple process for us to put it out.”

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FEATURE

So what makes a good library track? Well unlike nearly every other field of contemporary music, library tracks do not draw attention to themselves – in most cases they are there to provide underscore, a musical bed upon which images and dialogue can be laid. Essentially, it’s background music. What is a term of abuse in the world of commercial music couldn’t be a higher compliment when it comes to library.

“It’s a very specific skill set,” says library composer Matthew Moore. “You have to switch off your sense of art and attempt to write music that could be used in lots of different ways rather than pigeonholing yourself. It’s really developing those skills in listening, and thinking about how many different usages it might get? It’s not easy. I’ve made some great rookie errors, like writing too much melody that can get in the way of dialogue, or not putting enough variation in. Or a massive change of texture. The knack is keeping it constant.”

Of course, trends come and go – in the 60s and 70s library music was synonymous with easy listening mood music. In the 90s it was difficult to switch on your TV without hearing library trip-hop. These days, though, it is perhaps best to think outside the box.

“You have to think: ‘where is there a gap?’ says Honey. “Sometimes, rather than thinking ‘oh the trend is to do this type of thing,’ why not think ‘there’s not much of this going on out there’. For example, Andy Findon and I recorded an album of fairground-type music called Cirque Du Freak for the In-spired library. I think if you throw yourself into an existing trend, well, there is no point adding more tracks to a very crowded market.”

Then when your track has been accepted, the best thing you can possibly do is sit back and forget about it. “If you’re waiting expectantly every month for something to be used then you will drive yourself slowly mad,” says Honey. “The best thing is not to worry about it.

“There is no rhyme or reason how this music gets used. My work has been used on everything from a series of historical documentaries to Embarrassing Bodies. One thing I’d completely forgotten about – a cheesy George Shearing-type piece with vibraphone and piano that I had written 15 years ago – popped up in Poland. It probably hadn’t yielded many royalties in all that time, and then it gets picked up and is used absolutely masses on a Polish series.”

That’s the thing about library – it’s very much a long-term investment. Everyone we spoke to for this article agreed that you’re very unlikely to become rich overnight from this kind of work. However, if you’re patient and prolific enough to build up a substantial back catalogue of tracks it can become a nice little earner. “It’s a nickel and dime industry, but those nickels and dimes all add up,” says Russell. “A body of work is how you make money.”

And it is entirely possible to earn a living from it. “I do know some people who do just library and live off it,” says Honey, “although they are probably writing a huge volume of music to earn that amount. It’s certainly not a guaranteed income, and I wouldn’t recommend doing it solely. Use it as just one of your strands of income rather than devoting your whole life to it.”

“You have to switch off your sense of art and attempt to write music that could be used in lots of different ways,” Matthew Moore

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Andy Hamilton has boosted his earnings as a sax player by writing library music

Ray Russell insists that aspiring library music should have top-notch production and sound

Advice for aspiring library composersl Do your research. Have a look around at what the libraries are releasing. Think about the sort of music they need, and any gaps they might have in their catalogue.

l When you put your tracks up on SoundCloud, make sure they are recorded on the best quality equipment you can get. Cheap-sounding music is unlikely to be commissioned.

l Think about how to make your music appeal to libraries through words. Give your tracks titles that instantly conjure up memorable images. Ray Russell suggests: “You need to have a concept. When an editor listens to a track they usually listen to about three or four seconds, so they’re more likely to commission tracks with keywords that explain what the music is like.”

l Try to make your music timeless. A track that sounds bang up to date in 2014 might not be used in five years’ time, let alone 20.

l Write as much as you can. And don’t be put off if at first the libraries don’t return your calls.


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Licensing company hits major milestone as strong growth in performance rights continues.

It is now eight decades since the creation of PPL, the music licensing company dedicated to collecting payments for labels and, more recently, performers. As the copyright landscape has changed, PPL’s role has expanded and it has significantly grown the revenues that it pays out to its members.

PPL works on behalf of more than 90,000 record companies and performers to license recorded music played in public (at pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, shops, offices and many other business types) across the UK. Created by EMI and Decca, its members include major record labels and independents, as well as globally successful performers and session musicians, ranging from orchestral players to percussionists and singers. The majority are small businesses, all of whom are legally entitled to be fairly paid for the use of their recordings and performances.

As physical sales of music have continued to decline, performance rights have become a major income stream for all those involved in

creating recorded music. PPL is managing more rights for more members with revenues continually increasing: the £1m collected in its first full decade of business had grown to almost £180m a year by 2013. It also operates an international royalty collection service. With 68 reciprocal agreements in place in 34 countries with other international music licensing companies – or Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) as they are sometimes called – PPL helps members to get paid when their music is played internationally. The firm has agreements in the USA, as well as most European countries, and in Asia and South America.

The organisation’s continuing investment in new IT systems, staff training and better processes have helped to make music licensing more comprehensive and efficient. Given that PPL now licenses more than 300,000 public performance sites (including shops, bars and gyms), broadcast and online channels and more than 3.6 billion seconds of broadcasting airplay, it is imperative that the

technology is in place to enable the company to process this information in the most efficient way possible.

Board representation In the past few years, PPL has also worked to increase the number of performers represented on the PPL main board and performer board, so as to better represent the needs of both record companies and performers. At the most recent Annual Performer Meeting, in 2013, performer, songwriter and producer Crispin Hunt and performer and songwriter Mark Kelly were elected as performer directors, taking the total number of PPL performer directors to five. Two performer directors are nominated by Equity and the Musicians’ Union respectively.

PPL CEO Peter Leathem said: “The needs of our members are at the heart of everything that we do, and we look forward to being able to serve them with even greater effectiveness, efficiency and transparency as the industry continues to evolve.”

Performers wanting to find out more about how PPL can help to maximise their royalties, both in the UK and internationally, should visit ppluk.com – or check PPL out on Twitter at @PPLUK #becauseitsyours.

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Performance rights are an important source of

revenue for artists

PPL celebrates 80th anniversary in fine health

PPL member and T.Rex Drummer Bill Legend explains why he finds his PPL membership so valuable: “I really appreciate all the work that PPL does on behalf of those musicians, past and present, whose musical performances are now finally rewarded – sometimes after long periods of time when their creative input and musical inspiration have been disregarded. We now have true recognition and just financial reward.”

Why join PPL?


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To celebrate Black History Month in October, Kevin LeGendre takes us on a journey through the traditions and innovations of black music makers in Britain.

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BLACK MUSIC IN BRITAIN


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Any study of black music in Britain hinges on an understanding of black people in Britain. For the most part this brings to mind West Indian and African immigrants as well as their children, who claim a dual heritage that is as politically complex as it is culturally rich. However, the other key part of the equation is the numerous African-Americans who have been coming to our green and pleasant land for many centuries. Put simply, there is no single, monolithic black community in Britain. There are several black communities with histories that converge and diverge, as the lived experience of the different members of this human mosaic are in a near constant state of flux. Trinidadian calypso singers who arrived on the Windrush in 1948 met an England quite unlike that which awaited Rwandan DJs and producers who disembarked in 1998. Assuming that there was a kind of grand inventory of black music in Britain, an alternative Domesday Book that recognised the songs, instruments and audiences rather than the monies of musicians of colour, we might be astounded if we flicked through it.

Broad appealWho do we find in 1810? A one-legged fiddler by the name of Black Billy Waters. He is entertainingly ‘scraping the catgut’ for dandyish punters on his pitch outside London’s Adelphi Theatre. And what about 1940? Jamaican double bassist Coleridge Goode. He plays jazz in several groups in Glasgow where he’s studying electrical engineering. 1900? Classical composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose father was Sierra Leonean and mother English. He sees his immensely popular oratorio The Song Of Hiawatha performed at the Royal Albert Hall.

This is but a cursory roll call of significant names in the history of black music in Britain. But even this relatively small cross-section reveals how musicians of African and Caribbean descent have made their presence felt in both highbrow and populist settings. The hundreds who flocked to hear Coleridge-Taylor’s richly layered, jaunty and appealing score may also have been interested to know that when he successfully toured America he was dubbed The African Mahler. Less

Although Samuel Coleridge-Taylor remains the iconic presence in black British classical music, there were notable others who came before and after him. George Bridgetower was a virtuoso violinist and composer who was a sensation among European aristocratic circles in the 18th century for his recitals and work with Beethoven, who composed the notoriously demanding Kreutzer Sonata for him. Another significant composer was Joseph Emidy, who once played at the Opera House in Lisbon, before he was kidnapped and brought to Cornwall where he greatly developed symphonic music.

A contemporary composer who has drawn inspiration from Emidy, and who has imaginatively incorporated elements of his African heritage into his work, is the cellist-kora player Tunde Jegede. His superb 1995 CD Lamentation was recorded with members of the London Sinfonietta. While the lack of black representation in major national orchestras has been a subject of intense debate over the years, the achievements of some of Jegede’s peers such as Paul Gladstone-Reid should not be overlooked. He has proved to be irrepressibly eclectic and has frequently brought soul and pop influences into his work. He has composed for string quartets and the Royal Philharmonic, and there are improvising musicians – a key example being the alto saxophonist Jason Yarde – who have worked with the London Symphony Orchestra.

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edifying was the fact that there had initially been reservations over his enrolment at the Royal College of Music for fear of the unrest a ‘coloured’ student would cause among fellow pupils. This paradox – an embrace of black music and contempt for black people – is not an isolated phenomenon, and whether the historical period in question is the Victorian or post-war age the trend proves recurrent.

Britain’s history as both a slave trading nation and colonial power that once ruled large parts of the West Indies and Africa made this very problematic engagement with blacks inevitable. Entrepreneurs who realised the 18th century plantation economy was a vital means to power the Industrial Revolution saw the Negro as a source of untold wealth. But they were always more than an efficient beast of burden. Slaves throughout the Americas displayed enormous aptitude on banjos, violins and percussion instruments, and British audiences did not resist the charms of black music. Tours of Britain by African-American minstrels, such as Haverly’s Genuine Colored Minstrels, drew large crowds.

Those who followed down the ages – 19th century gospel legends Fisk Jubilee Singers; 30s jazz big band leader Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson; 50s calypso singer Lord Kitchener; 60s ska pioneers Millie Small and Ernest

“There was discrimination, police brutality, murders, mob violence and riots while Britain learned how to skank.”

Classical composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a hugely popular musical pioneer, but still struggled to embed himself into the establishment©

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Ranglin; 70s Afro-rockers Osibisa – enjoyed great success while the debate on immigration and race relations took hotly contentious, if not tragic, turns. There was discrimination, police brutality, murders, mob violence and riots while Britain learned how to skank.

What brought things to a head was the rise of far-right groups such as the National Front, whose merciless and vicious targeting of ‘wogs’ and ‘Pakis’ reached untold proportions in the 70s. That, as well as the shocking racist comments made by white artists, such as Eric Clapton in 1976, formed the backdrop against which the Rock Against Racism (RAR) campaign was launched in 1978. It was a watershed moment that united superlative reggae acts such as Misty In Roots, Steel Pulse and Aswad, and punk icons The Clash, Buzzcocks and The Ruts in a series of concerts up and down the country. “The real importance of Rock Against Racism was that it gave a platform to all genres, and just allowed people to hear punk and reggae and other genres together,” recalls Aswad lead vocalist Brinsley Forde. “And it wasn’t just the racial thing. It was an opportunity to voice opinions on many different things, while all kinds of people were coming together and dancing.”

Rich heritage No greater symbol of the cultural unity fostered by RAR was the emergence of the 80s Two Tone movement spearheaded by bands such as The Beat, The Selecter and The Specials. Quite apart from the fact that they were multi-racial, and in the case of The Selecter fronted by a woman, these bands also made the important point that the heritage of black music in Britain was simply too rich to ignore. Their template was the bluebeat or ska that had proved hugely popular in the 60s.

The Specials et al were reaching back in time to hail the influence of the form of Jamaican music that had preceded the reggae expounded by the aforementioned Aswad. Instead of Bob Marley, Prince Buster was the primary source of inspiration, and this made the essential point that the cultural history of the African diaspora was multi-faceted and ultimately post-modernist. The music of the past was plural rather than singular, and often evolved in mysterious ways. Political voiceTo their great credit, The Specials went beyond the anachronistic. In Ghost Town, they created an intensely shadowy, beautifully bleak anthem to the hopelessness of the Thatcher years that was much more than facile West Indian pastiche. It showed how the deep roots of black music could flower into new forms of British pop, if the exponents tuned into the political as well as musical frequencies of the original models. The hue of Jamaica’s shanty towns of the 60s was recast as the cry of Britain’s wrecked council estates in the 80s. Fascinatingly, this time travelling was paralleled by developments on the jazz scene. A few years after the Two Tone revival there came a new wave of improvising musicians born in Britain to West Indian parents who took their cue from 50s and 60s post-bop legends such as Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, and developed their own acoustic rather than electric music. The scene’s prime movers, Steve Williamson, Courtney Pine, Gary Crosby, Cleveland Watkiss and Orphy Robinson, who played together in the much-loved Jazz Warriors big band, were weaned on all kinds of black music. In fact, they debuted with funk groups like Hi-Tension and reggae singers such as Carroll Thompson. This education was very important, as Robinson explains. “Our background is the Caribbean. So we’ve had that strong heritage, and the culture, the traditions, the food, the music. It’s always been there whether it’s Burning Spear, from my background in reggae. We’ve always had people speaking very strongly about the world from their viewpoint, and how they see things. I’ve always grown up with that, so let’s not pretend that we only eat fish and chips.” Since the heyday of the Warriors, this cultural duality has crystallised in startlingly fresh

ways. The blackness and the Britishness have intermingled in 90s forms such as drum ‘n’ bass, a genre whose barrelling subsonics owed an obvious debt to Jamaican dub, but whose frenetic speed and icy tonal austerity reflected the starkness of a dimly-lit England. Most impressively, the music went all around the world, influencing many DJs and producers from Shibuya to Sao Paulo.

“The hue of Jamaica’s shanty towns of the 60s was recast as the cry of Britain’s wrecked council estates in the 80s.”

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Ultimately, Britain has proved the place where black artists have been able to entwine genres and flout conventions with regard to how music is made, let alone what it sounds like. The key examples here are three trail-blazing acts that came to prominence in the 90s – Soul II Soul, Massive Attack, and Roni Size/Reprazent. They were not bands per se, but rather collectives of DJ-producers, rappers, singers and players who blurred the lines between tradition and modernity, and built inventive bridges between soul, jazz, hip hop, dub and drum ‘n’ bass.

Far-reaching influenceRoni Size scooped the coveted Mercury Music Prize in 1997 and brought a greater degree of gravitas to, and media interest in, electronically-based black music that has consistently undergone myriad transformations, from trip-hop to UK garage to grime, all of which have experimented with rhyme, rhythm, tempo, texture and the whole art and science of the beat that acknowledges the weight of the past – there would be no Dizzee Rascal without Tricky and no Tricky without Rodney P – all the

while reflecting the thrust of the present.However, the dynamism of black music in Britain has spread far and wide beyond the migrant communities whence it originally came. Therein lies its real magnitude. Blues, soul, funk, reggae and dubstep have all significantly affected rock and pop acts over time, even though the artists are as disparate as The Clash, Portishead, James Blake or, with the greatest of irony, Eric Clapton. Put simply, black music has radically changed Britain. While this is cause for celebration there is still considerable ambiguity over the status of black people, whether or not they are musicians. The new wave of artists such as Tinie Tempah have shown that urban pop can sell, but that doesn’t mean the doors have been flung open for all black musicians, especially those who are hard to pigeonhole.

Which is why Bindu Paul, Education and Equalities Official of the MU, is keen to make this point. “Young Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic people need to have role models that they can relate to and aspire to be like. Black music has made the British music industry rich with different influences from around the world and from different cultures. There is still a long way to go in order to maintain opportunities for young people who will continue to add to this contribution.” Where black music in Britain will go next is anybody’s guess.

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Black trailblazers in British music. Page 24: Osibisa. Left to right: Soul II Soul, Courtney Pine, The Specials, Tinie Tempah, Aswad, Roni Size

Since the early 60s Britain has had a strong blues scene powered by the likes of Alexis Korner and John Mayall, but as the music evolved in America, new British artists embraced its changing sound. Rhythm & Blues, with its jazz influence, was brilliantly played by Georgie Fame while the next stage of R&B’s development – soul – was made popular by the likes of the great American expatriate Geno Washington.

In the early 70s the visionary West Indian combo Cymande mixed soul and rock grooves with Rastafarian drumming and chanting, and the end of the decade saw the rise of a funk movement whose exponents were children of Caribbean immigrants – Hi-Tension, Light Of The World, Beggar & Co. By the end of the 80s there was another explosion of soul-funk acts led by the Brand New Heavies, Omar and Young Disciples. These artists tapped into the music of James Brown and Curtis Mayfield and championed live playing, particularly with horn sections, at a time when hip hop was making the DJ-producer king. It was a highly significant development as the huge popularity of the Heavies and Omar would greatly influence a new wave of American neo-soul artists such as Maxwell, D’Angelo and Erykah Badu.

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Cosmic prog-tinged folk band Moulettes explain the stories behind their songs and tell of their collaboration with some famous friends… Feature by Neil Crossley

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Ask most bands to describe their sound and it’s unlikely the answers will correspond with those of the music critics attempting to define them. Such is the case with Brighton-based band Moulettes, whose unbridled, idiosyncratic style has been dubbed variously as indie folk, alt folk or just plain old folk rock, tags that fail to reflect the band’s diversity.

“People can listen to Moulettes and hear Shostakovich, Björk, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Pentangle and Skrillex,” explains founder, vocalist, cellist and principle songwriter Hannah Miller. “That is where we’ve all come from. Everyone shares in over 80 years of recorded music history.”

Moulettes’ broad sonic palette and soaring live performances have helped define the band from the outset. Formed in 2002 in Glastonbury, they rose to prominence playing Den Of Iniquity nights at London’s 12 Bar Club. By 2005 they’d forged friendships with Mystery

Jets, Noisettes, Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons, then, in 2009, Seasick Steve’s management and label offered to release the band’s eponymous debut album.

This was followed in 2011 by The Bear’s Revenge, described by MOJO as “complex and beautiful… intriguing and unique”. Since then, the band have been almost continuously on the road. In June 2014, they released their third album Constellations, a work steeped in rich stories, characters and imagery.

As they prepared to undertake a series of summer festivals, Hannah Miller and Oliver Austin (drummer, co-founder and producer on this album) spoke to The Musician about their sound, gigging abroad, and the challenges of navigating the digital music marketplace.

You have some guest artists on this album, including Arthur Brown and Herbie Flowers. What did they bring to the mix?Hannah Miller: It’s a real pleasure to work with both of them. They’re legends. We went on tour with Arthur Brown. Jim, our bassist, has been the MD with Arthur for a few years now, and I think there was a mutual appreciation and friendship. He sings on a couple of tracks. We multi-tracked him to get a whole choir of Arthur Brown – the God Of Hell Choir. When do you get an opportunity to do that?

Oliver Austin: He’s got more energy than any of us, and he’s got such great pipes still – he can really belt it out. I sometimes drum with him, and I did a gig with him where he did the fire helmet. And of course it’s even more of a shock now because of people’s health and safety perceptions. I think a lot of the health and safety rules that were implemented were because of Arthur! When you see it in a venue it’s primeval and just incredible.

How did Herbie Flowers get involved?OA: Again, through our bassist Jim, who had a few lessons from him. Herbie was a real innovator in youth project music 20 years ago. He kind of set up the rock school model. Jim was a product of that and he struck up quite a good relationship with Herbie. He’s just such a genuine person.

HM: He’s always played the same two basses – the electric Fender and the double bass (as played on Walk On The Wild Side) – and when he started to play on Land Of The Midnight Sun you could hear this familiar warmth. It was amazing. I really enjoyed that day.

Hannah Miller: “I think the MU is a very positive force. I wish that more people would use it and use it to its full potential, because I think it has a lot more to give on a political scale, and I think we need people to be part of that.”

Oliver Austin: “We keep getting told that the left, the strong left, is becoming less of a niche thing. But maybe we have a warped perception because there’s a lot of idealism in and around the arts. I mean, we’re big fans of comedians like Stewart Lee and Josie Long, who are actively out there. It’s frustrating that the messages are getting out there, but mobilising people is a whole different challenge. We need to try bringing in some of the more independent artists. There’s a lot of support for the MU in the folk world and there’s a strong relationship in the classical world. If we can try and encourage a better relationship between independent music – rock music, and hip-hop and dance – if we can do that, there’s potentially a sleeping giant there.”

Moulettes on the MU

“People can listen to Moulettes and hear Shostakovich, Björk, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Pentangle and Skrillex,” Hannah Miller


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proFile

“People now realise that the live thing is so important in terms of revenue,” Oliver Austin

You’ve always been broadly dubbed as a folk-based band. Is that true of the new album?OA: I think there are actually very few folk moments in there. And I think that’s kind of a conscious thing because we definitely want to try and appeal to a broader audience. That’s who we are anyway as musicians. I wasn’t brought up on folk music at all. I mean, I love it now – Hannah’s introduced me to loads of it, particularly the Scandinavian stuff.

HM: I really love the storytelling element of Scandinavian folk tunes and the traditional instruments they use. There is something very magical about those tunes. I think Moulettes as a band get accused of having too much going on and people struggle to pinpoint what we’re actually doing a lot of the time, but that’s where we’re at musically at the moment. I mean, people have been saying ‘keep it simple’ for quite a long time now, and although there are merits to that, I don’t think we should shy away from complex music. We’ve worked at it, but I don’t think we’re cramming things in for the sake of it. It’s a very organic thing – we’re always trying to serve the song.

You’ve enlisted the help of dubstep producer Mike Dennis on this new album. OA: He’s consistently done really great remixes for us before, and we worked with him specifically on Land Of The Midnight Sun and Keep It As A Memory on Constellations. I think folktronica – acoustic instruments with electronica – has been a real innovation in a lot of production in the past 10 or 15 years, and I don’t think we should shy away from it at all. I definitely just wanted to experiment a little bit with programming.

Since you formed in 2002, the music industry has undergone a profound transformation, with artists now struggling to define where their recorded music revenue will come from. What impact has that had on you?

OA: I don’t think anyone really knows the answers or the solutions. Like all these things, you always have to think innovatively about how to make money. That’s obviously not our main ambition, but as we all know it helps. But trying to sustain the thing is difficult.

HM: It is bad because it does clip your wings, you know? I don’t think anyone could ever accuse us of not being ambitious, but the things that we could have achieved had we had the means… that’s kind of sad.

Have you felt the effect of the downturn in terms of live work?HM: Yep. I think it’s fair to say that small venues are shutting left, right and centre, which is really sad because they can be the real heart of the community. And, because of the scale of them, there’s generally a lot of love in those places, from the people that promote them and work there. Middle-sized venues are also getting pretty scarce, and they can be some of the best venues to play as well – those 300-capacity places.

OA: It takes a long time to be able to get to that level. That’s when bands can actually turn over a little bit of money. But that’s one potentially positive thing that’s come out of the industry’s changes – people now realise that the live thing for musicians is so important in terms of revenue. And that’s our main stream of revenue. It’s still difficult, but it’s real. And it’s ongoing from day to day – we’re constantly on tour. And at least it creates cashflow.

What about touring in other territories such as Scandinavia and Europe?HM: Yeah, Norway’s especially good.

OA: It’s been slower for us than we would have hoped overseas. Our previous management and label were convinced that we would be able to do better in the UK, and that it would then make it so much easier to do the deals in the different territories. And although we’ve had some tangible success it’s not as much as I think was hoped, so we took a gamble. Only now are we really starting to hard graft it in different territories.

Do you have any plans to tour North America?HM: I went to Canada to do that very thing, but I went in January and we drove through the Rocky Mountains with no winter tyres,

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Moulettes frequently expand their four member core to a six-piece for live work, bringing in Eliza Jaye (above, second from left) on electric guitar, synth and vocals, and Mikey Simmonds (above, far left) on violin, viola and vocals.


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so it was hairy. And expensive. But Canada’s great – there’s such a healthy scene out there. I really want us to get to Canada which is why I took this chance. Somebody offered me a little grass rootsy solo tour. I think there’s a lot to be said for the way we’ve done it in other places, which is just get out there in a van and build it up yourself. At least you have a kind of human element going on, which is always nice.

In addition to your live shows, you do quite a bit of outreach work. How did that happen?HM: Yeah, we nestle it in between our touring. We do workshops and sing in care homes and extracurricular stuff like that. There’s so much more need for that with the government cutting so much funding. Once you get into these places and realise how transformative it is, it’s enough to galvanise you into action. We’ve also done vascular post-surgery and dementia. One of our number, Ruth Skipper, is a doctor actually.

OA: She’s got a passion for it, I think. She really wants to make the wards in the NHS better. And you can tell that the patients really love it. Last time, when we went into vascular, it was amazing. A guy who had just had surgery said, ‘Oh I like your guitars’, and asked to have a go. He started playing, so we had an impromptu 12-bar blues wig-out on the ward.

Looking to the future, what’s next?OA: More records, more touring. Going into Australia and Canada – these are things that are at the forefront of our agenda. We do need to be gigging all the time to keep the thing alive. We’re already thinking about the next record. Our first album came out in 2010, and it took quite a while to come out. But the way that I see it, if we can put out as many albums in this decade – say two a year – that will be six albums. That’s my personal goal I think.

HM: And bigger shows, bigger productions, given half the chance. I’d love to do scores. We’ve done some theatre scores, and we’re working on a videogame score at the moment.

OA: It’s one of those videogames that, if it takes off, keeps on building. So new music ideas will need to be added. Which is totally our scene – building worlds.

“The other day we did a workshop with Alex Mann from the MU,” Hannah explains. “Pete Flood from Bellowhead was there too. We were in a school doing a few workshops, just outside Winchester. It was for young people who want to work in the music industry, and I thought that was just a really positive thing, just to speak to these kids and hear what they had to say. They were really into getting signed up and getting clued up as soon as possible, which is so important because otherwise you don’t realise how much you have to do everything, and not, regrettably, just the music.

“There were a lot of motivated young women, and one of them in particular was really keen to become a producer. I was like: ‘Definitely do that. Please do that.’ I mean there’s such a scarcity of female producers in an industry that’s still dominated by men. Very tiresomely.”

Spreading the word

Moulettes line-up

HaNNaH MillerVocals, cello, hammered dulcimer, percussion, autoharp, synth

oliver austiNVocals, drums, guitars, percussion, electric bass, autoharp, synth, piano, waterphone, vibraphone

rutH skipperVocals, bassoon, autoharp

JiM MortiMoreVocals, double bass, electric bass, guitars, percussion


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The Musicians’ Benevolent Fund charity has rebranded as Help Musicians UK, a new, more inclusive organisation.Feature by Andrew Stewart

Professional musicians understand the value of self-reliance. It belongs to the list of personal attributes necessary for a career as a performer, helping individuals deal with fallow periods and driving them on when the workload reaches fever pitch. The music industry would cease to function without it. But what happens when that is not enough to deal with life’s difficulties? Most musicians will be aware of the MU’s work, but it seems that only a minority know about another significant source of assistance – a charity dedicated to the cause of working and retired musicians. The Musicians’ Benevolent Fund may be familiar to many – small wonder given that it has been around for over 90 years. And yet the charity’s own research suggested that it had become ‘the best kept secret in the music business’. Its management team responded by launching an ambitious programme of evolutionary change, one intended to inform all musicians in the UK about the charity’s broad remit to provide the greatest possible number of those in need with help, support and advice. The old name, regarded by many as an exclusive fund for retired musicians, was replaced at the beginning of this year by the more inclusive title, Help Musicians UK.

New direction Graham Sheffield, director arts for the British Council since 2011, was appointed as the charity’s chairman in April. His career credits include an acclaimed period as artistic director at London’s Barbican Centre and music

director at the Southbank Centre, having started his career as a musician. “I was aware of the charity and that it had been through challenging times,” recalls Sheffield. “I also knew it had moved beyond its traditional role but without people necessarily recognising how it had changed. When I heard about the charity’s new management team and the ambitions they held, I felt I could bring some leadership to the organisation.”

Sheffield intends to be a hands-on chairman, speaking on behalf of Help Musicians UK, presenting its message to potential users and donors, and recruiting prominent ambassadors. “I’ve never done a job where I’ve been there to mind the shop,” he notes. “I felt I could lead the next stage of the change process.” He aims to work with the charity’s executive team to challenge received opinion about its activities. The charity’s rebrand, he notes, is part of the story.

“I believe it helps articulate what we’re trying to do, in terms of reaching more musicians and making it evident that we are addressing the full range of music professionals.”

New relationshipsIn 2008, the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund made headline news following its decision to close Ivor Newton House, a 21-bed care home for retired musicians run by the charity. The falling number of people who wanted to live there and the home’s limited ability to care for residents with complex disabilities were cited among the reasons for its closure. While the MU accepted the charity’s case in principle, the Union was

“Help Musicians UK provides long-term support, one-off assistance and appropriate advice.”

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concerned for the future welfare of the 15 elderly residents still living there. “We had a massive issue with them over that,” recalls John Smith, General Secretary of the MU. “We feel we were right to call on the charity to keep the home open for the rest of its residents’ lives. But they chose to close Ivor Newton House. It was a very unfortunate episode, which happily we’ve put behind us.”

Smith pays tribute to the work of David Sulkin, executive director of the charity since 2008, and welcomes the charity’s forward-thinking development under his leadership. “We have worked closely with them on things such as health and wellbeing, and are about to sign a memorandum of understanding and partnership deal. They will assist us with our wellbeing workshops and we will help them where we can. So we’ve moved forward extraordinarily since the Ivor Newton House


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one-off assistance and appropriate advice to emerging artists, musicians in crisis, retired people whose principal career was in music, and individuals employed as sound engineers and record producers or in other music-related professions. The charity also offers support for the relatives and dependants of musicians. “As far as we can, we wish to help musicians plan their careers, and for later life,” explains Sheffield. “That will allow us to shift the balance of our resources towards helping in early career, rather than picking up the bits later on. Of course we will continue picking up the bits, because we all make mistakes, we all have unforeseen circumstances and we all get old. But I think we can help people plan for those eventualities more systematically, not in a patronising way, but by offering the kind of help and advice that we all need.”

At present Help Musicians UK funds around 400 emerging artists each year, provides support to an equal number of musicians affected by accident, illness or other career-limiting crises, and offers assistance to around 500 musicians in retirement. According to its 2013 Impact Report, the charity also helped 670 musicians to access expert healthcare advice, contributed to the costs of professional training for 106 music students, and supported 64 musicians with long-term or terminal illness. It directed around £3.2m (79%) of its £4.1m income to charitable activities, including £626,000 to emerging artists and £180,000 to the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM).

“We need to raise money to do this work,” notes Graham Sheffield. “The demand for what we do is increasing, and as we get our message across to more musicians, the need to raise more funds will also increase.” Like most charities, Help Musicians UK relies on donations, legacies and fundraising initiatives. While income from gifts in wills fell in 2013, the yield on its investments and money from fundraising grew. “It’s important for us to show that we are supporting those who create an art form that is enjoyed by a significant part of the population,” comments Sheffield. “If I can help this charity to support the profession even more effectively than it has done before, I will have done my job.”

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days. We saw them then as a patriarchal organisation, but that has changed under David’s watch. We look forward to a close cooperation with Help Musicians UK in future.”

New ways to helpHelp Musicians UK is open to applications from across the community of professional musicians. It provides long-term support,

RetiRed MuSiciAnSLauretta Boston – jazz singer and pianist (top left)“Help Musicians UK has helped me quite a lot. They pay for the piano tuning, the help I get with housework and shopping, and also to meet up with other musicians. It’s always good for retired musicians to keep in touch and remember that they are musicians. The other week I performed, part of it playing the piano, part of it singing and the rest talking about music. It helps having an organisation that helps musicians.”

MuSiciAnS in cRiSiSMandhira de Saram – violin (top right)“One of the biggest challenges I’ve had in my career so far was getting ill. I had thyroid cancer, and that put things on hold while I had an operation and some radioactive treatment. When I first got sick, I panicked. Because I have a string quartet, it meant that three other people lost work as well. I know a lot of musicians who try to work through illness and end up more sick. Help Musicians UK helped me financially and gave me emotional support, too. I would advise any musician who has serious health problems or needs support with their career to ask for help.”

eMeRging ARtiStSUnited VibrationsKareem Dayes – bass and vocals (bottom)“Our unique style is influenced by music from all over the world, from the past, present and future. But it doesn’t necessarily fit into the models which the music industry has currently. Help Musicians UK has helped us carry our vision forward without having to box ourselves or limit our musical creativity.”


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&Should the state’s responsibility include promoting and funding the arts? The debate is discussed by an MU-backed think-tank.Feature by Ellie O’Hagan, media and communications officer at Class

Societies across the world have some kind of ‘state’ – the question is not whether the state should play a role, but what sort of role that should be. Now, a new series of papers published by the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class), a think-tank backed by the MU, will explore questions around what a state should do, and in whose interests.

Neo-liberalism – the dominant political ideology in Britain since the 80s – sees the state as authoritarian: it should defend national sovereignty, protect private property, and maintain social order. Under neo-liberalism there is no role for the state in promoting sustainability, social justice or celebrating arts and culture.

Initially, the financial crisis of 2008 seemed also to be a crisis of neo-liberal thinking, but a serious debate about the role of the state in a post-neo-liberal society has not taken place.

Five years after the financial crisis, and with an ecological crisis looming, it is time to ask how a modern state can play a major role in securing social and ecological justice in the UK, and how it can improve quality of life for ordinary people.

Future visionThe new series from Class is entitled ‘In the public interest: the role of the modern state’. The series features policy papers and think pieces by leading academics and journalists over a range of subjects, including public ownership of the railways and other public assets, local government, and wage-led growth.

Andrew Cumbers, Professor of Political Economy at University of Glasgow, and Roger Seifert, Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management at University of Wolverhampton Business School, use their papers to examine the role of public services in the modern state. Cumbers argues that public services, such as the rail industry, energy, housing and water are now concentrated in the hands of a narrow set of vested corporate and financial interests. He says the consequences are that decision-making is geared towards short-term profits, at the expense of more longer-term thinking and, in particular, how

Statepolicy

public services work for the common good. Seifert agrees, stating: “Whenever public services have been privatised the outcomes have been generally worse with rising prices, restricted services, more scandals, more corruption, less long-term investment, worse pay and conditions for staff, and a transfer of money from the pockets of users and taxpayers to those of shareholders and senior managers.”

Wage driveÖzlem Onaran, Professor of Workforce and Economic Development Policy at University of Greenwich, suggests ways in which the government can intervene in the market to end falling real-pay and ensure that the economic recovery is wage-led. Her paper will give an overview of the free-market, trickle-down myth and highlight some of the state interventions already in place to benefit big business at the expense of working people. She makes several recommendations to reverse this trend and increase people’s wages. These include strengthening the

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The Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) is a hub for debate. Established in 2012, Class works with academics and experts to develop political policies that support working people. Through publications, events and seminars, Class discusses issues on, among others, the economy, work and pay, trade unions, housing, equality and welfare.

What is Class?


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bargaining power of trade unions so they can fight for a better deal for workers from the outset; increasing the statutory minimum wage and putting in place processes for the incremental increase to the level of a living wage; introducing and enforcing pay ratios (which ensure bosses don’t get paid significantly higher wages than their

employees); ensuring a more progressive tax system which includes higher corporation tax and a tax on wealth; and ending the public sector pay freeze.

James Murray, Executive Member for Housing and Development at Islington Council, looks at the need for a strong democratic local state and the need for the left to reclaim the concept of a ‘progressive public localism’. His paper will provide a brief overview of the changing role of local government, addressing why we need to move away from New Labour’s

“Whoever wins the next election is projected to inherit a deficit of nearly £80bn.”

IsabEllE GutIErrEzMu Head of Government relations & Public affairs, has

been elected to the officer level position of Vice-President of Class.

“Class is producing exactly the sort of intelligent and exciting policy work which is so desperately needed at the moment in order to counter the narrow-minded and unimaginative rhetoric of the Conservative Party and others on the right. The MU is proud to be involved with this organisation, which we believe is already helping to reinvigorate and shape left-wing politics for the 21st century.”

focus on the New Public Management model and discuss what a progressive vision for local government would entail.

Finally, Yvonne Roberts, leader writer at The Observer, ties all the ideas together. She looks at the changing role of the state over the past century, and the effect this has had upon the

wellbeing of citizens, as well as the quality of public services and the success of business. She writes: “Whoever wins the next election is projected to inherit a deficit of nearly £80bn. Paying for borrowing will be the third largest cost after

spending on welfare and health. So far, Labour has accepted that the straitjacket of further cuts will dictate the way ahead. In theory, the state will shrink regardless of which party is in power. That makes it all the more urgent that the prevailing neo-liberal mold is broken, a new social contract is urgently forged, and a positive narrative developed as to the function, capabilities and extraordinary resources that a proactive state can command.”

Ongoing debateAs we move further towards the May 2015 general election, the debate around what a state is for, who it benefits and how it functions will become more and more important. Members of the MU will already be aware of this debate following eye-watering cuts to the arts under the coalition government. Those cuts alone pose questions about the purpose of the state: should it be the state’s responsibility to enhance people’s enjoyment of the arts by funding artists and arts venues? Or should the state focus its abilities on providing services essential to survival and maintaining law and order? A neo-liberal answer would be that the state should provide as few services as possible and concentrate on protecting private property and preserving the ability of businesses to trade with one another.

There is a growing consensus that neo-liberal ideology has failed ordinary people; not just in the UK, but around the world. As more and more people move away from neo-liberalism, there needs to be a progressive alternative in place for people to gravitate towards. We need to debate the ideas and ideology that might form an overarching vision of what the modern state would look like. To find out more visit classonline.org.uk

In 2009, David Cameron said research in the ground-breaking book The Spirit Level (Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett) “has shown that among the richest countries, it’s the more unequal that do worse according to almost every quality of life indicator.”

Since the introduction of neo-liberalism in the late 70s, inequality has expanded to levels not seen since the 20s, matched by a decline in trade union membership and collective bargaining coverage.

In a paper for Class, the authors of The Spirit Level argue that the relationship between trade union membership and inequality demonstrates the weakening of the political and ideological influence of the left in the era of neo-liberal ideology. It is only through creating a progressive alliance, with trade unions playing a central role, that the levels of inequality brought about by neo-liberalism can be tackled.

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Have you ever booked a gig with a promoter via text or email that goes something like: “Cheers, m8. See u at 7 nxt sat 4 gig”? Fine if you’re planning a night out, but if you’re the one taking to the stage it not only lacks professionalism, it will also be hard to use as evidence in court if the arrangement goes awry. In the context of the casual nature of communication via social media, and the current culture whereby venues often expect musicians to play for no fee at all, a haphazardly arranged booking can result in the band picking up the bill having spent time and expenses getting to a venue to find conditions have changed, or worse still, there’s no gig at all.

Of course, the ‘my friend-of-a-friend who’s a promoter and likes your band’-style of booking is nothing new in the music industry, but when the majority of arrangements are taking place via social media, by text or by email, musicians need to protect themselves against unscrupulous promoters by ensuring that the process of booking a gig is as professional as possible.

A new way to communicateRich Gordon is a Scottish musician, bagpipe player and songwriter who arranges most of his bookings via social media. “It tends to be the most direct way of getting in touch with promoters and venues, primarily

because of the reach it has,” says Rich. “Many venues and promoters use social media as an alternative to a website.” The problem, it seems, doesn’t lie with the medium but rather with the message. “Communicating via social media or email doesn’t present a problem on the face of it as long as the content is clear and certain,” says Dawn Rodger, MU Legal Official. “To bring a claim for unpaid fees you need to provide documentary evidence to prove that a contract was in place. Ideally the member would use a signed MU contract. Often, though, it is a clear exchange of emails or even a print out of a Facebook chat or tweets. The evidence required is the same, regardless of the format of your agreement. You have to have enough detail down on paper to prove a contractual agreement was in place and that all of the relevant terms had been agreed.”

North London four-piece Hot Under Collar fell foul of the casual nature of a booking when they travelled to the Isle of Wight only to miss out on their gig “due to the lack of organisation of the promoter. That wasn’t the only problem,” say the band. “We waited at least two hours before we could soundcheck due to them using the same old default email in regards to what time we should arrive. We weren’t even given a contact number.”

A serious professionCommunications via social media, by their very nature, tend to be informal and chatty,

“There’s a culture of believing that anyone who performs music isn’t doing a serious job,” Rich Gordon

so taking a more serious approach with a venue or promoter can feel strange. “Even if the parties have never met, there’s often an air of casualness contained in social media exchanges that doesn’t exist in traditional contracts,” says Dawn. “It’s important to remember that you may need to print and use these conversation exchanges as evidence if you don’t get paid. They are all you have to prove that you had a contract in place so they must set out all the agreed terms. If your messages are peppered with text talk, for instance, it’s going to be harder to prove that there was a serious intention to create a contractual relationship.”

Rich believes that the lack of seriousness arranging gigs is exacerbated by the expectation that musicians are all hobbyists. “I don’t think that the medium has an impact on how the promoter views the seriousness of the booking,” Rich considers. “I think there’s a culture of believing that anyone who performs music isn’t doing a serious job, and that if they’re looking to perform in small venues or pubs it’s very much a case that the musician is a hobbyist and exposure is payment enough. I think this is partly down to the mixture of hobbyists and professionals who are doing similar things, but also the feeling that only people who have made it big should be taken seriously. I’ve certainly been on the receiving end

ARE WE BOOKED?Texts, emails and social media may have made it easier to book gigs, but musicians need to be aware of the pitfalls, as Katie Nicholls discovers.


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of this several times. I think in many venues musicians are viewed as an abundant resource that can be easily replaced.”

While there undoubtedly needs to be a cultural shift in attitudes towards working

musicians, acting in a professional way is a signal to venues and promoters that you are worth taking seriously. Asking

a venue or promoter to sign a contract, or explicitly express the terms and conditions for each booking, is an outward expression of how you value yourself as a performer. “There’s definitely a degree of informality in the business,” says Dawn. “As a lawyer rather than a musician, it took me a while to get used to that. However the reality is that if you don’t get paid the judge isn’t going to listen to an argument that ‘no one uses contracts’ or ‘I’ve done lots of gigs for them before’. Each claim for an unpaid gig will be looked at on its own merits and your history of working with the engager isn’t necessarily going to help you in trying to prove that you were booked on that particular occasion. You need to prove it.”

It’s understandable that musicians at the very beginning of their careers are often reluctant to use contracts. “Members who are starting out are naturally wary of scaring a venue off. If an engager refuses to sign, though, or even to confirm the booking in writing, alarm bells should ring. Of course you want to get the gig, but you also want to be paid. These formalities aren’t optional. The MU contract is a simple one-page document that we supply to members. It protects the promoter’s position as much as the member’s, so they really shouldn’t object.”

Rich agrees that terms and conditions need to be clarified as a prerequisite to accepting the gig. “Pretty much all of the gigs I’ve been booked for as a hired piper have been through email, but in those instances I lead the process by providing the agreement and the terms of

booking. I’ve never booked anything through text. I’ve always used that as a medium for informal discussion and the confirmation always comes through email. In short, if you don’t take yourself seriously as a musician and conduct yourself in a respectable and self-respecting manner, no one else will. At the end of the day, this is a business venture.”

360° protectionGetting the terms and conditions of a booking in writing or getting an MU contract signed is an ongoing process and not a one-off transaction. Dawn says that a common pitfall is that musicians become complacent when it comes to regular gigs where they have a good history with a venue or agent who normally plays fair. “Unfortunately it’s not going to help your claim to say, ‘I always got paid before,” advises Dawn. “It’s this particular unpaid gig that you need to prove the terms of. I hear from members who say, ‘We had a contract last time but there weren’t any problems so we didn’t use one this time’.”

Another common mistake is to arrange the gig with Bob the barman who neither has the authority to hire bands nor is anywhere to be found when the band turn up. Check that your contract is with the right person, and when you sign make sure it identifies the ‘legal person’ (either an individual over 18 or a limited company) who is engaging you as the hirer. “The contract should not simply name the hirer as The Fly Bar or Fantasia or Queen Victoria,

“Good organisers ensure that acts are promoted and paid,”Tracey Howard-Baker

crEating a papEr trail If you’re not using the MU Standard Contract when booking gigs, you need a paper trail to prove that a contract was in place. Here’s what it should include: l Date of the agreementl The names and addresses of both parties: hirer/engager and the musician (or ‘leader’ in the case of one person representing the band)l A description of the job for which you are being hiredl The specifics of the gig: date, start time, finish time and feel The number of musiciansl Clarification of time needed for soundcheckl Confirmation of the equipment neededl The nature and time period by which the musician/leader will be paid

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Whatever instrument you play, if you don’t want to end up out of pocket after a gig, make sure you get the terms and conditions agreed in writing first


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get it in writing A Twitter, Facebook or text booking is

still better than arranging a gig over the phone. “At least you’ve got something in

writing,” says Dawn.

check their authorityAlways make sure the hirer who has

signed the contract or made the agreement has the authority to do so;

Bob the barman probably doesn’t.

Only sign with a legal person A legal person is anyone over 18 or a limited company, and they should be named as the hirer. If the booking is with a company, check that it exists.

What do you mean they’ve gone?

Your contract is with the person you made the booking with, even if they move on before the gig takes place.

talk to the MU The MU can offer legal help and advice

to all its members. If you have a disagreement with a venue, promoter or

agent, contact your Regional Office.

top tips5The key points to remember when

arranging a booking

tOptip

valUE yOUrsElf as a MUsicianDon’t be afraid of asking to be taken seriously. Using contracts and agreeing terms demonstrates that you expect to be respected.

“Your contract certainly isn’t with Queen Victoria and we can’t help you to bring a claim against her,” Dawn Rodger

followed by an address,” Dawn advises. “Your contract certainly isn’t with Queen Victoria and we can’t help you to bring a claim against her. These names are not ‘legal persons’, they are either simply part of an address, and you can’t sue a building, or business or trading names of the legal person using them.”

MU supportProfessional vocalist Tracey Howard-Baker has had her fair share of dubious dealings with promoters. Most recently, she fell foul of a venue who had booked her and her band, Roxi & the Blue Cats, via Facebook without

giving her the full terms and conditions. Of course, there are many hard-working, honest promoters out there who support the music industry and the musicians working within it. “There are some good organisers/promoters using social media who plan, book and promote their events to the max, and try their very best to ensure that the acts are well-informed, promoted and paid,” says Tracey. Rich goes as far as to suggest that sometimes it’s the musicians themselves who create issues when it comes to the terms and conditions of a gig booking. “I think it can be very difficult dealing with some musicians. They can have very exacting demands that cannot be fulfilled.”

Ultimately, the onus is on the musician to ensure that the contract is fair, legal and binding, and if only one member of the band is in the MU, they should be the one doing the negotiating: “A claim is much more straightforward if it’s the MU member who’s dealt with the business side of things,” says Dawn. “Although it’s important that they get their colleagues to join the MU as well.”

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As the cost of living continues to rise, negotiating a good rate of pay is more important than ever. But how can you go about raising your rates when it’s challenging enough to raise the subject in the first place? “Give yourself the okay to talk about money,” says Dave Webster, MU National Organiser for Live Performance. “Be very straightforward and make sure you have your business hat on when you have this conversation.”

This applies whether you’re dealing with an industry professional who has similar discussions on a daily basis, or a member of the public who has never booked a band before. It’s a business transaction either way, so be sure to treat it like one.

Broaching the subject of payment shows that you value what you do. It’s worth trying to get this right from the beginning, says Louise

if it’s wise to rock the boat. The trick is to approach the subject in a way that makes you sound reasonable. It can help to cite external factors such as inflation, so do your research first. “The Retail Price Index is a good benchmark for increasing your fees,” says Dave Webster, who suggests visiting the Labour Research Department website for relevant statistics (lrd.org.uk). “It’s also useful to look at rising fuel prices and to be aware of what other musicians are earning.”

How to increase your

FEESBolotin, a freelance journalist who co-tutors the Pitch and Deal course for the National Union of Journalists.

“People don’t necessarily think about how they should be speaking on the phone,” she says. “If you mess up at the start, you’re immediately putting yourself at a disadvantage when it comes to selling what you’re selling and making sure you get the right money for it.”

Practise your approach. Try rehearsing what you plan to say out loud until you can deliver it with confidence. “People tell us money is the thing they find really hard to talk about, so they don’t talk about it,” says Bolotin. “That’s why role-playing is an important part of our course. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. And if you don’t negotiate beforehand, you may find there’s no incentive, or even no obligation, to pay you.”

Agreeing a higher fee could prove pointless if the gig gets pulled, so it’s important to make a deposit part of the deal, too. “This can help flush out people who aren’t really in a position to put gigs on,” says Kelly Wood, MU Live Performance Official. “If they pay a deposit, they may do more of a push on the promotion, which can also be a good way to negotiate on price,” she continues. “If you’ve got active social media platforms that will reach your committed fans, you can say you’ll use these to help plug the show.”

Your rates should rise as your reputation grows, but asking a happy client for more money can feel risky, and you may wonder

we all want to get paid fairly, but talking about money can be a difficult thing. anne wollenberg offers tips for getting what you deserve.

Playing live can be a valuable experience in itself. But don’t sell yourself short, and be sure to get paid what your experience merits

“Diplomacy is vital at all times. If you’re rude or difficult, word can get round.”


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CaSE Study: dark BluES“It’s more competitive now than I’ve ever known it,” says Nigel Tully, band leader of in-demand function band the Dark Blues. “But you don’t always get the gig by quoting more cheaply.”

Tully recommends finding out as much as you can about potential bookings and emphasising any unique selling

points your act may have. “Our vocalist, Annabel Williams, is a vocal coach on The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, so I make sure I work that into the conversation early on.”

“Be prepared to talk directly and clearly about money. If you quote £3,000 for a function band and someone else is quoting £1,500, you’ve got to find a way of justifying that to your client,” he says. “Ask how long their sets are, who’s in the band, how big their setlist is and if it’s fixed,” he continues. “Do they only know 20 songs? Does their price include a PA? You need to be able to say: if you book my band, this is what you’ll get.”

venue Urban Forest. “Promoters don’t see money from the bar and venue, so they have to try to get the venue as cheaply as possible – and you’re not going to get a sell-out deal if the venue isn’t actually likely to sell out.”

Roberts says diplomacy is vital at all times. If you are rude or difficult, word can get around quickly. “If there are any issues with a band, people will hear about it,” he says. “Be nice to people on the way up, or they won’t be nice to you on the way down.”

“It shouldn’t be a grabbing exercise,” adds the MU’s Kelly Wood. “If a promoter pays a fee they can’t afford, they might put ticket prices up, which could put people off coming and stop you from getting a repeat booking.” One possible strategy is to ask for a guaranteed fee and a percentage of the potential door takings. “Be realistic,” says Wood. “Don’t sell yourself short, but don’t be greedy. You might say: ‘that’s less than I would normally work for, and if you want me to commit to doing this gig you’ll need to meet me halfway.’”

People are less likely to feel short-changed if they understand what they are paying for, so it’s a good idea to keep things as transparent as possible – which is especially advisable for members working in education. “Whoever engages you, whether schools or parents, they need to know what they are paying for,” says Dianne Widdison, MU National Organiser, Education & Training. “Being open about your charges and policies will encourage professionalism on both sides.”

Teaching rates should factor in the cost of tax and National Insurance, and should reflect your training and expertise. The MU currently suggests a guideline fee of £31, based on an average take-home rate of around £24-25 per hour, although fees vary according to location and experience. If you’re teaching in a school, find out how much they’re charging parents. When there’s a middle man involved, it helps to know how big a cut they’re taking.

“Make sure your fees reflect your skills, experience and qualifications, and communicate with parents and schools about when increases will take place,” Diane says. “It is really important to establish your professionalism from the onset, and setting fees is an important part of this.”

The MU’s suggested minimum rates are a useful starting point. They can be found in the members’ area of the website, and the Regional Offices will be happy to advise, too. Remember to differentiate between the price you charge and the amount of profit you’ll see after taking off tax, travel and other costs, as well as factoring in the time commitment involved. A corporate trip abroad may involve several days in which you are effectively held captive. These are all potential bargaining points when trying to negotiate rates.

Try to see the fee from the client’s perspective. If they’ve suggested a price, they’re unlikely to have plucked it from thin air. If it’s a function, what’s the overall budget? If you are booking a gig, will there be room to manoeuvre after the venue has covered its costs?

“Some venues do door splits after the cost of opening, which includes things like security and technical staff,” says Joe Roberts, a freelance promoter rep and venue manager who recently worked on the launch of London

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The latest edition of the Ask Us First list can be obtained from the ‘Advice & downloads’ section by logging into theMU.org

ASk US FirSTIt is in the interest of all MU members to read this list carefully.

— Andrew East-Erskine / Wish Music Ltd

— Big AL Entertainment Group / Big AL Entertainments Ltd* Scotland & N Ireland Office on 0141 341 2960

— Bigfoot Arts Education Fran Hanley on 020 7840 5544

— Brian Soundy / UK Jazz Radio & Now Dawn Rodger on 0161 233 4007 or Scotland & Northern Ireland Office on 0141 341 2960

— Celtic Music / CM Distribution Horace Trubridge on 020 7840 5512

— Classical Festival Company Ltd* / Serenata / Anthony Malpas / Lesley Malpas Paul Burrows on 020 7840 5536

— Craigholme School for Girls (Glasgow) Scotland & Northern Ireland Office on 0141 341 2960

— David Shepherd and Brian Daniels t/a D and B Productions Ltd Dave Webster on 020 7840 5512

— English Martyrs Roman Catholic School Fran Hanley on 020 7840 5544

— European City Guide Jo Laverty on 020 7840 5535

— Expo Guide Scotland & Northern Ireland Office on 0141 341 2960

— Getty Images Music Ben Jones on 020 7840 5557

— Grubser’s Limited* Naomi Pohl on 020 7840 5532

— Hemmings Leisure

— Isle of Wight Jazz Festival Limited* / Isle of Wight Folk & Blues Festival Limited* / Philip Snellen / Geri Ward Paul Burrows on 020 7840 5536

— Keko Promotions London Paul Burrows on 020 7840 5536

— Leo Alexander Jo Laverty on 020 7840 5535

— Live & Unsigned Kelly Wood on 020 7582 5566

— Music Management (UK) Limited; Sally Civval

— The Music Practice Ltd Scotland & Northern Ireland Office on 0141 341 2960

— Online Music Ventures Limited* / Andrew Smales

If you are offered any work or agreements by anyone listed below, before you accept, please consult either the contact shown here, your Regional Office, or MU Legal Official Dawn Rodger (tel: 0161 233 4007, email: [email protected]).

ArTiST proMoTion ServiceSMU members are sometimes asked to sign up to artist promotion services that demand an up-front fee. Members are advised to view any such company that requires an up-front payment with caution and to consult their MU Regional Office before signing any agreement or parting with any money.

— Orchestra Europa Limited

— The Orion Orchestra Management (Jan Cassidy)Dave Webster on 020 7840 5512

— Pamela Aird at the Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon

— Play Recording Studios Ltd* Naomi Pohl on 020 7840 5532

— Ptarmigan Productions Ltd* / Mr Brian Willets / Ptarmigan Promotions Ltd* Dave Webster on 020 7840 5512

— Royal Shakespeare Company Productions in London Naomi Pohl on 020 7840 5532

— Speckulation Entertainment Limited

— Wayne Maughn / Maughan * Dissolved


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reviews

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A look at some of the new albums, EPs and downloads released by MU members for 2014, together with links for more information on the featured artists.

ailing from Devon, Sam Dowden is a singer/guitarist in the mould of James Morrison. He’s been sharing stages with Jack Johnson and Ben Howard, while garnering BBC airplay and much acclaim for his performances and the contemporary style of his fluid songwriting.

Sam DowDen

Potential chart-bound, media-friendly hits can be found liberally sprinkled throughout Sam’s latest album: the instantly likeable and upbeat Lucky Stars; the effect-driven mid-tempo Just Friends; and Silver Skin with its Sheeranesque percussion. Each track positively blossoms with the

North Devonian artist’s focused, gimmick-free writing and hook-ridden guitar work. His enduring vocals, with their naturalness and unaffected style, are a breath of fresh air. A modern day Colin Blunstone, Henry Gross and David Gray in waiting.samdowdenmusic.com

To get your CD reviewed send recordings, full contact info, biog and PR material to:

Reviews, The Musician, 60-62 Clapham Rd,London SW9 0JJ.

You should also forward your cover artwork and/

or photos (minimum 300dpi resolution) to:[email protected] of the recording must be available to MU members, the industry

and public. We try to help as many members as possible, and preference is given to members not previously reviewed.

Sam DowDenOut Of The Blue

Clever wordplay, funky rhythms, singalong toplines and Sam’s attractive voice must surely gain further traction for this rising artist. Able to sound utterly up-to-the-minute and yet echo classic elements, Sam is building rapidly on his early promise.

Reviewer: Keith Ames

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reviewS


jazz folk/roots rock

Button upBeat Street

Coatbridge’s mod heroes step out with an album of brass and organ dancefloor fillers. The setlist leads with It’s A Trip with a Northern Soul feel, yet it is I Can Fall which absolutely hits the RAF target. Fab.buttonuprecords.com

the BaSin Street BrawlerSIt’s Tight Like That!

The dynamic seven-piece serve up piping hot 20s and 30s rags. Solos surface from the waves of group playing, and when rounded off by a bluesy vocal, underline the timeless appeal of a swinging outfit.tinyurl.com/bsbrawlers

SkyhookAt The Stringsmith’s Forge

The acoustic trio treat us to another album of exceptional airs, dances and ballads. Opener Snowing Up The Hill sets an ear-catching high standard, before Bonny Light Horseman has feet a-tapping and any chair-bound listeners heading to the dance floor.skyhookmusic.com

heaDS SouthOn The Way

Instantly light, refreshing and adventurous, this album boasts 11 tracks of uplifting originals with welcome interpretations of Horace Silver’s The Preacher and The Odd Couple theme mixed in for additional flavour. Spirited solos and understated rhythms blend to make a delightful whole.headssouth.com

the rooZ Caught In The Sun

This teenage four-piece markedly avoid being pigeonholed into one genre and present hard rockers, ballads, boogie woogie and rock‘n’roll. The occasional addition of keys only serves to highlight their range.therooz.co.uk

John verityTone Hound

Best known for his tenure with Argent in the 70s, John Verity has maintained a long and influential career. Still gigging to acclaim with both acoustic and electric outfits, his search for the ultimate blues tone continues, and here he’s nailed a classic British take on the genre. johnverity.com

the CuriouS inCiDentMight As Well Swim

The debut from this London-based foursome brings some much needed aural sunshine. Happily, the sun-kissed, hook-laden melodies never fall into irritatingly chirpy territory. facebook.com/thecuriousincident

SpiCe FuSionTrying Too Hard

Arranger/saxophonist Simon Niblock and drummer/composer Elliott Henshaw are the driving force behind this big band, formed to encompass their joint love of jazz, Latin, cabaret, soul and swing. A consummate example of big band power.spicefusion.co.uk

the GaSCoyne o’hiGGinS QuartetThe Real Note, Volume 2

This captures one of our leading jazz line-ups in blistering form. Delivering new compositions based on established chord sequences, there is a genuine depth and imaginative scope present here.geoffgascoyne.com

We’ve picked out two albums that have taken the pole position on our playlist and just get better every time we press Play…

aliSon raynor QuintetAugust

Alison has been wowing audiences for many years, whether in the jazz-Latin Guest Stars or working with Tal Farlow. This disc is packed with her own prime fusion and swing compositions, such as Mr Stanley II and Half A World Away.blowthefuse.com

StanD out

a liGht leFt onBurning The Candle At Both Ends

Melodic acoustic folk/pop with striking lead guitars, subtle strings and the occasional blissful harmony. Last To Leave and the George Harrison-like Don’t Throw Me Away are the pick of the bunch.alightlefton.co.uk


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countryJan leSZCZynSkiOver The Horizon

A Lincolnshire-based classical guitarist and writer who specialises in tender instrumentals. Starting out in rock and blues, he went on to study classical guitar, perfecting the wide-ranging solo style at the core of these 14 heartfelt tracks.guitarmanjan.co.uk

anDy QuinTocatta No.1 In C

Pleasingly indebted to 19th century composers, with nimble ornamentation in the style of Chopin plus a Debussy-flavoured approach to tonality. A gorgeous example of modern repertoire masquerading as a salon piece, this is a real treat for the ears.tinyurl.com/andy-quin

DaviD wooDCoCkOpen Secret

This Southend-on-Sea based songwriter has quietly established himself as one of the most intriguing musicians to emerge this year, with an excellent run of smart, catchy and urgent singles that will surely bear endless returns.tinyurl.com/dwoodcock

niCk tann3am

With his lyrics at the heart of the project (‘The rain on my windscreen and the sun on my back, nothing left in this place that can ever hold me back, I’m coming home, coming home’), Nick steps into a crowded marketplace with an assured sound.nicktann.co.uk

roSie BanSBe Bold

A talented writer of intensity and integrity with something to say about modern life and everyday challenges. The influences of Tori Amos, Imogen Heap and Hazel O’Connor bubble along under the surface but Rosie has defined her own space in which to create melodic and finely observed songs.rosiebans.com

meaDhBh BoyDConfrontation

This arresting release comes from an ethnomusicology graduate whose conversational vocals over a looping riff are interspersed with frenzied bursts of fiddle. Boyd’s off-kilter approach may not be for everyone, but its simplicity should be enough to appeal to musicologists and Regina Spektor fans alike.meadhbhboyd.com

riCk ChriStianIt’s About Time

Rick ensures his pick of standards (The Fields Of Athenry, Love Hurts) benefit from the same emotional content as his tuneful originals (Haunted By The Memory, The Things I Didn’t Say). rickchristian.co.uk

laura roSSiVoices Of Remembrance

A landmark orchestral and choral collection, alongside readings by Vanessa Redgrave and Ralph Fiennes, to commemorate the soldiers of World War I. Complete with informative liner notes, it’s an important and timely production.laurarossi.com

Belle ChenListen, London

Australian-Taiwanese pianist Belle Chen is developing a growing reputation thanks to her impressive solo pieces, chamber music recitals and concerto performances. This is an excellent introduction, with seven original pieces focusing on the aural soundscape that is our capital city.bellechen.com

Catherine aShByTennessee Tracks

A homegrown Americana singer/songwriter, Catherine marries classic Nashville with a British sensibility and lyrical warmth to illustrate the best of both musical worlds. catherineashby.com

Charlie SaviGarGet In Line

This country rock release parades a commercial touch and the influences of rock royalty such as Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi. Light-hearted, and life-affirming.charliesavigar.com

Charlotte CampBellBlue Eyed Soul

Released after a PledgeMusic drive, the 10 tracks burst with melodies laced with sunshine and delicate acoustic settings, which never fail to demonstrate her impassioned, commercial appeal. tinyurl.com/charlottec

classical

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writer/composer


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tributes

Rod Franks

Kathy Stobart

Hugely respected former principal trumpet with the LSO.

In July, a car crash robbed us of a prodigious talent, aged just 58. Rod Franks’ contribution to the LSO over a 25-year tenure has been simply immense. With 23 of those years as principal trumpet, he had recently requested to step back to third trumpet, following ongoing health issues from an operation to remove a brain tumour in 2002.

“It’s very far from normal and I can’t always tell how loud I’m playing,” he said to The Times in 2008, adding that he relied on his co-principal Maurice Murphy for an honest appraisal. “I have made him promise to tell me if the day comes I should give up.”

Born in Shipley, West Yorkshire in 1956, Rod played with the Brighouse and Rastrick Band and the Bergen Philharmonic, before becoming principal trumpet of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. He joined the LSO in 1988, appointed artistic director

of its brass ensemble, then principal trumpet two years later.

While towering performances and an avuncular charm hallmarked his playing career, Rod’s selfless determination to continue educating the next generation, through the LSO’s brass academies and as professor of trumpet at The Royal Academy, drew equal admiration. The LSO recalls a colleague “passionate about the education of future generations of musicians,” while the RA’s principal, Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, “will remember his incisive understanding of what students needed, his genuine warmth and, of course, his legendary and remarkable courage. And what a player.”

A refusal to let health problems compromise a career he loved only enhanced his reputation among colleagues and fans. “His resilience and strength over the past few years were astounding,” says the RA’s head of brass, Mark David. “So much so that he seemed invincible.”

“Rod was hugely respected and immensely popular with members of the orchestra, conductors and audience alike,” said the LSO, in a warm tribute. “He will be missed for his ever-welcoming friendliness and brilliant playing.”

Clive Somerville

“His resilience over the past few years was astounding,” Mark David

Innovative saxophonist regarded as the first lady of British jazz.

But for a chance encounter, we might be remembering Kathy Stobart the light entertainer rather than the pioneering jazz musician. “The grounding in music I had covered classical, light and dance music,” she recalled in an interview in 1974. “I certainly didn’t hear anything about jazz in those days.”

Born into a musical family in South Shields in 1925, she picked up tenor sax swiftly and was touring wartime Britain at just 16 with the all-girl Don Rico’s Ladies Swing Band, adding singing, dancing and Gracie Fields impressions to her repertoire.

When the Blitz forced a return to the North East to join Peter Fielding’s Ballroom Orchestra, she chanced upon sax supremos Keith Bird and Derek Neville, then stationed at the local RAF base. They bought her 10 jazz records for her 17th birthday and taught her the rudiments of the genre. She never looked back.

Once the bombing abated, the war provided unbounded opportunities, even if a female sax player was something of a novelty in 40s Britain. “It was

wartime and everybody was so hard up for players they had to give me a job,” she recalled. She took full advantage, playing jazz all over the capital, from bottle parties in bombed-out basements, to the 100 Club and the BBC, working with Denis Rose, Ted Heath and Art Pepper, among many others.

After briefly fronting her own band, a call from Humphrey Lyttelton in 1957 changed the course of her career. Their long collaboration produced the album Kath Meets Humph, the man himself marvelling at her “huge, booming sound, imbued with total originality and commanding presence”.

Kathy also enjoyed the “amazing… very gratifying” experience of teaching at London’s City Literary Institute throughout the 60s and 70s, while continuing to delight audiences with solo and collaborative performances, until her retirement in 2004. She was, as many observed, a true original.

Clive Somerville

“A huge, booming sound, imbued with total originality,” Humphrey Lyttelton

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Kathy Stobart: a most innovative sax player


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Martin ListerSynth pop maestro and member of Alphaville.

A musician, songwriter and producer for more than 25 years, Martin Lister died unexpectedly in May. As a session man, programmer and producer he worked with artists such as Mel B, Beverley Knight, Gabrielle, Paul Carrack and Peter Andre, and played a major role in the BBC show Fame Academy, recording songs at short notice.

But it was as a member of German synth pop band Alphaville that he was perhaps best known. Joining in 1995 when the band began to play live shows more regularly, he was at first the band’s keyboard player and musical director, but in time became an integral part of the act, writing songs for many of their later albums. Alphaville’s lead singer Marian Gold remembered Martin as “a marvellous keyboard player, a competent and gifted composer of music and a most precious friend”.

Roy Delaney

John Leach The sound of the Cold War spy movies.

John Leach, composer of soundtrack and library music and player of exotic instruments such as santur, koto, cheng, kantele and cimbalom, has died aged 82. Born in London in 1931, John was evacuated to a musical family during the war, and started learning the piano at 10. Upon leaving school he learned flute at Trinity College of Music. By the age of 21 he had played for the Sadler’s Wells Ballet Orchestra, D’Oyly Carte Opera and the Liverpool Philharmonic. While playing in Liverpool he spotted an opportunity that would help make his name. John noticed that the players brought in to play the Hungarian dulcimer-like instrument the cimbalom were unaccustomed to orchestra work, so travelled to Budapest to have lessons. This brave move paid off, and soon he was the go-to guy for cimbalom work, most famously appearing on the opening credits of the The Ipcress File and many other great movie soundtracks.

Roy Delaney

Steve DawsonBrass maestro and much-loved teacher.

Steve played trumpet and flugel horn, and had been a well known face on the London music scene for more than 30 years. His close understanding of brass playing in the jazz and Latin spheres helped guide the development of many musicians from their first tentative steps with the horn all the way through to becoming professional players.

As well as becoming a regular face in the bands at West End shows, Steve recorded with artists as varied as Mezzoforte, Jimmy Page, The Style Council and The Cure, and within the Latin-jazz scene he worked extensively with Roberto Pla, Alex Wilson, Omar Puente and The Big Three Palladium Orchestra. Steve had also been developing an advanced trumpet, called Ursa Major, with Leigh McKinney at Eclipse Trumpets.

Over the last two years Steve had been fighting a battle with a rare form of brain tumor. His last project was to record a song for the recent World Cup, with any profits from its sales going to a brain cancer charity. Sadly Steve never got to see the full fruits of his labours, as not long after recording, his condition worsened, and he left this world on 16 June.

Roy Delaney

Arthur JerromOne of the best British steel guitarists. Steel guitarist Arthur Jerrom has passed away. Performing under the stage name Jerry West, he was reputedly Slim Whitman’s favourite steel-guitarist and played in the country singer’s band during the 60s, touring Australia and New Zealand.

He also played with country greats such as Willie Nelson and Hank Locklin, and formed his own band, Spinning Wheel, who found success in the 50s and 60s touring US bases in the UK, entertaining homesick servicemen.

It was while serving in the Navy that Jerrom learned to play steel guitar, practising during his months at sea. After he was discharged he joined The Tumbleweeds, playing alongside bassist Dave Peacock, later one half of Chas & Dave. He later gigged with Rod Clarke and Terry Edwards, with whom he formed Spinning Wheel.

Garrick Webster

Robert MastersSublime violinist and music educator.

English violinist Robert Masters has died at the age of 97. A fellow of the Royal Academy, which he first attended at the age of 16, he specialised in music education.

He was instrumental in helping Yehudi Menuhin found his School in Surrey, where he also tutored a young Nigel Kennedy. “There is no other person with whom I have shared as many ideas on the violin, on interpretation, and on music in general,” Menuhin wrote.

Robert performed at the Coronation in 1953, and was director of the Bath International Music Festival. He helped assemble Menuhin’s violin ensemble.

While touring in Australia, he met his wife Noel, and later emigrated. He passed away in Sydney, and soon after his death the Menuhin School performed Fauré’s Requiem in his memory.

Garrick Webster

“We have shared so many ideas on the violin,” Yehudi Menuhin

Martin Lister: keyboard whiz for Alphaville

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Robert Masters with a young Nigel Kennedy


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The Musician • auTuMn 2013

Kenneth ThorneMulti award-winning TV and movie score composer.

Born in Norfolk in 1924, Kenneth Thorne cut his teeth playing piano with the big bands, before turning to composition in his late twenties. He began to score music for the movies in 1948, and worked on films including The Beatles vehicle Help!, Inspector Clouseau, The Bed Sitting Room, Hannie Caulder and How I Won The War, as well as classic British TV series The Persuaders, R3 and The Zoo Gang. But perhaps his most well-known work came when his friend and

regular co-conspirator Richard Lester hired him to recompose the original John Williams scores for the action blockbusters Superman II and Superman III.

Over his career he collected a string of awards nominations, including Best Original Score at the Grammys for Help! and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music And Lyrics at the Emmys for A Season Of Hope. But he topped the lot with a prestigious Oscar win for his score of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum in 1966.

Known as a kind and gentle man, he passed away at his Californian home in July, and is survived by his wife Linda, and twin daughters Emily and Claire. Roy Delaney

“Over his career he collected a string of awards nominations, and won an Oscar.”

Popular big band drummer and friend of the stars.

Freddy hailed from a small village in Yorkshire. After working locally in Hull he joined the Jack Parnell Big Band, and drummed with many well-known big bands of that time, including those of Oscar Rabin, Eric Winston, Ken Mackintosh and Vic Lewis.

He worked on many top West End musicals, touring Scandinavia with the original production of West Side Story, as well as Sweet Charity, Godspell and the ill-fated

Inspirational viola player and educational pioneer.

Described by everybody who knew her as a formidable character, Kay was a viola player, chamber musician and educationalist who kept working well into her eighties.

The wife of renowned violinist and leader of the English Chamber Orchestra Emanuel Hurwitz, Kay was a founder member of the Melos Ensemble under her husband’s leadership, and they were both regulars at Aldeburgh.

Kay Hurwitz

Freddy Adamson Twang. He accompanied top artists of the day both at home and abroad with Engelbert Humperdinck in Las Vegas, and had a long and happy association with Bruce Forsyth for over 20 years.

He was an enthusiastic mentor to students, and always advised them to read. Moving to Walmer, he played regular Sunday Concerts on the Royal Marines Memorial Bandstand. Freddy died on the 15 April after a long illness. He leaves Jean, his supporter and fan of nearly 60 years.

Jean Adamson

In 1967, she set up the Youth Music Centre in Hampstead, which went on to become one of the best respected Saturday morning music schools in London, and was a regular tutor on the Monterosso string courses in the 1970s and at the Dartington Summer School.

More recently she gained an unexpected late bloom of fame among Harry Potter fans after a poster for a Mozart concert she once gave was seen on a bulletin board in Hermione Granger’s bedroom.

Roy Delaney

Kendrick PartingtonLifelong musical educationalist.

Born in Nottingham, Kendrick learned to play the organ at a local church while in his teens, and received advanced tuition from Boris Ord when he went to study at Cambridge. He started out in teaching as assistant director of music at Malvern College, and

after a period as director of music at Wellington School in Somerset he moved back to Nottingham in 1957 to take up the same role at the city’s High School.

He was organist at St Peter’s Church in the city centre until 1994, and founded the St Peter’s Singers, recently celebrating its 25th anniversary with members past and present.

Roy Delaney

Alan SparkesSession guitarist who sat in behind many greats of stage and screen.

Alan began his professional career playing at the Gaiety Ballroom in Grimsby. He began learning guitar in 1956 and was largely self-taught, but by 1968 he had graduated from dance bands at the regional ballrooms to getting booked for sessions in London. During the 60s and 70s he backed acts such as the Bee Gees, The Dubliners, the Bay City Rollers, Barbra Streisand and André Previn, and toured regularly with James Last. He was a regular on movie soundtracks and could play virtually every style of music, from jazz to country and western and folk. Later he turned his skills to TV, playing

on shows as diverse as The Two Ronnies, Top Of The Pops and as part of Laurie Holloway’s band on Parkinson. After developing serious heart problems in 2003, he retired to France with his wife Val, where he still managed to organise regular jam sessions. Sparky was a great all-round musician and a good friend. His humour and sheer exuberance was infectious and could brighten up the dullest of sessions. I shall miss him greatly, as I’m sure will many others in the music business.

Mike Townend

The MU also notes the sad passing of saxophonist Johnnie Gray. A full tribute to Johnnie is now available on the MU’s website.


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Your Executive Committee and Regional Committee nominationsPaid-up members will have received their printed copy of The Musician Extra from their Regional Office during August or early September. This contains information on standing for any vacancies on their own Regional Committee (RC) plus standing for any vacancies on the national Executive Committee (EC).

notices

The Musician in audio and on CD In addition to providing The Musician on CD to visually impaired musicians upon request, the large print versions of The Musician Extra, plus all documents provided by the MU, including rates and advice leaflets, can be requested in large print.

Nominations for Regional Committee Candidates for a Regional Committee must be nominated by another member of their Region. To be eligible for nomination, candidates must have held MU membership for at least one year immediately prior to the date of nomination, as well as be a resident, or undertake the majority of their work as a musician, in the region in which they are nominated.

Nominations must be made using the form contained in your Extra (photocopied if necessary) and must be received by the Regional Organiser at or before the appropriate Regional AGM, details of which can be found in your Extra.

Nominations for the Executive Committee Candidates for the Executive Committee must be nominated by another member of their Region. To be eligible for nomination, candidates must have held MU membership for at least three consecutive years immediately prior to the date of nomination, as well as be resident, or undertake the majority of their work as a musician, in the region in which they are nominated.

Nominations must be made using the form contained in your Extra (photocopied if necessary) and must be received by the Regional Organiser at or before the appropriate Regional AGM, details of which can be found in your Extra.

Full details of the elections can be found in the autumn issue of your Musician Extra and on the Union’s website: theMU.org

Members are alerted to impending changes to VAT rules, coming into effect on 1 January 2015. The changes only affect B2C transactions where the customer is a private person based in another EU member state. The changes apply to supplies of telecommunications, supplies of broadcasting services – including radio or television programmes transmitted over a radio or TV network and live broadcasts over the internet; and to supplies of e-services – including video on demand, downloaded apps and music downloads. Currently, where these services are supplied to private customers in other EU member states, UK VAT should be charged. In the new year it will be necessary to charge VAT at the local rate where the customer belongs. This can be done by registering for MOSS (Mini One Stop Shop) which allows for all such transactions to be accounted for on a single return submitted online to HMRC. In the case of broadcasting services, if an MU member arranges a live broadcast of a concert on the internet, and private persons pay to watch it, then this would appear to be caught by the new rules. In the case of e-services, music downloads are affected by the new rules so if the MU member has a website and charges people for downloading content, then supplies to private persons in other EU member states would be caught by the new rules. The new rules only affect MU members who are VAT registered. Members are advised to contact their accountant in the first instance, while further help can be obtained from HW Fisher.co.uk. In the meantime, more details and documentation can be found at theMU.org

VAT Place of Supply of Services – changes due in 2015


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Since the relaunch in 2000, the Musicians’ Union Pension Scheme (MUPS) has established itself as the first choice in pensions for musicians working in the UK in theatre, television and radio. Designed specifically for the needs of working musicians, the MUPS is the only stakeholder-compliant pension scheme into which participating employers will contribute.

Administered by Hencilla Canworth, the MU’s preferred insurance advisers, the scheme’s funds are managed by AVIVA, the UK’s largest insurance group.

MUPS offers great flexibility, with policy holders contributing only when they want to. The scheme has been designed

Saving for the futureA flexible, competitive Personal Pension Scheme designed specifically for musicians. The Musician explains what it can offer…

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR UNION

in particular to allow policy holders to make personal contributions outside of contracts, and starting personal contributions now will obviously help improve retirement prospects. Contributions can be made on a regular or ad hoc basis and at a level you want.

Reassuringly, MU members who sign will have full control of their involvement in the scheme, as only they have access to their pension fund. It is also possible to consolidate existing pensions into one place, as they can be transferred into the scheme. On top of that, it comes with a low and simple charging structure.

Company contributionsMany high profile employers are part of the scheme, and make a contribution alongside that of policy holders. These include Birmingham Royal Ballet, Society of London Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Opera House, Royal National Theatre, BBC, ITV and the ENO. Recently the scheme has expanded to cover Subsidised Repertory and Commercial Touring Theatre.

But MU members do not have to be attached to a professional orchestra or ensemble to take part in the scheme. Part-time and freelance musicians also have access to MUPS, and Hencilla’s advisors will be able to tell you exactly what you need to do to join – and what the benefits are likely to be.

What’s in it for me?So who can join the scheme? Andrew Barker of Hencilla Canworth explains: “The scheme was designed for use by all members of the Union, no matter what side of the business they are on. We have solo artists, band members and orchestra members in the scheme. The key benefits include access to a quality product, a product into which members can make regular and one-off personal contributions, and of course the additional benefit of contributions made by production companies, if they are working under a qualifying MU agreement. Anyone can join – they just have to be over 16 and under 75.”

Further informationFor more financial advice, and information on any of the other great benefits offered by the MU, visit theMU.org. For more specific pensions advice, go to Hencilla Canworth’s site at hencilla.co.uk.

Is there something that we do within the MU that you would like to know a little more about? Or perhaps there is an element of your professional life that you need a little advice on? Either way, we might be able to help. Drop us your questions to the appropriate address at the front of the magazine, or via Twitter @WeAreTheMU

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“The scheme was designed for use by all members of the Union, no matter what side of the business they are on.”


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While membership of the MU offers a wide range of free services, there are a number of benefits that you need to register or apply for.

Full details of all the benefits of membership can be found in your MU Members’ Handbook.

Have you registered for your MU benefits?

member benefits

MU websiteTo fully access our website —

theMU.org — you will need to register on your first visit using your membership number.

Instrument and equipment insurance

For £2,000 worth of free musical instrument and equipment cover, register for the scheme by calling Hencilla Canworth on 020 8686 5050.

The Musicians’ Union pays royalties to a growing number of musicians for the secondary exploitation of their recordings. In most cases we know which musicians performed on the recording and already have their contact and payment details, so the royalty income can be distributed straight away. However, there is a certain amount of income we have collected that we cannot distribute as we have not been able to identify who performed on the recording; or

we do know the names of the musicians but we have been unable to trace them or their next of kin.

If you can assist the Musicians’ Union with line-up information or contact details, visit musiciansunion.org.uk/advice-downloads/royalties Here, you will be able to find more information on the types of royalty income we collect, as well as lists of musicians and recording line-ups we are currently trying to trace.

Are you due a royalty payment from us for the use of any of your recordings in television programmes, films or adverts? Are you the next of kin of a musician who used to receive royalties from us?

musiciansunion.org.uk/ advice-downloads/royalties


MU Sections 2014To join, contact the relevant MU Official.

Live Performance SectionDave Webster National Organiser – Live Performance60 – 62 Clapham Road London SW9 0JJT 020 7840 5512F 020 7582 9805E [email protected]

Music Writers’ SectionBen Jones National Organiser – Recording & Broadcasting60- 62 Clapham Road London SW9 0JJT 020 7840 5557F 020 7793 9185E [email protected]

Orchestra SectionBill Kerr National Organiser – Orchestras61 Bloom Street Manchester M1 3LYT 0161 233 4002F 0161 236 0159E [email protected]

Recording & Broadcasting SectionBen Jones National Organiser – Recording & Broadcasting60 – 62 Clapham Road London SW9 0JJT 020 7840 5557F 020 7793 9185E [email protected]

Teachers’ SectionDiane Widdison National Organiser – Education & Training60 – 62 Clapham Road London SW9 0JJT 020 7840 5558F 020 7582 9805E [email protected]

Theatre SectionDave Webster National Organiser – Live Performance60 – 62 Clapham RoadLondon SW9 0JJT 020 7840 5512F 020 7582 9805E [email protected]

Motoring serviceThe MU Family Motoring and Accident

Aftercare Services provides 24/7 cover. — Register now via telephone or the web. w mu.freerecoveryplus.co.uk

Contract advice — before you signReceive professional advice on the terms

and implications of any complex agreements via our Contract Advisory Service. Contact your Regional Office to find out more.

Partnership adviceIf all the members of your group are already MU members, or decide to join,

we can offer free partnership advice and an agreement. Contact your Regional Office

for more information.

Medical assistanceThe British Association for

Performing Arts Medicine delivers specialist health support to musicians. Visit bapam.org.uk

Musician’s Hearing Services (MHS)

MHS offer a top range of hearing related services for MU members. For an appointment, call MHS on 020 7486 1053.w musicianshearingservices.co.uk

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the musician, autumn 2014

Documents

music makers

live music act

general secretaryto

london sw8

party conferences

party manifestoswith

mays general election

profound impact of black