Thursday 8 December 2011
Music And Politics
The aim of this blog will be to look how politics interacts within the music society and how artists react to political situations and events. Also, we will be looking into how the UK government might support the creation of music as well as looking at how some governments or organisations may try to use censorship to suppress musical works. Furthermore, we will try to define patronage as an artist, and look into the advantages and disadvantages of being a patron.
Dear Mr.Cameron
One of the biggest ways the government supports the creation of music is with the British Arts Council which was set up in 1940 during World War 2 under the name of Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) , and initially for promoting and maintaining British culture. The council was government funded and given the name 'The Arts council of Great Britain' when the war had finished.
The British Arts council target young adults aged between 16 and 35 and put together there work with collaborations from other countries or artists, and they have a specialist music team that goes out to watch these performances. This team score your performance and if your music seems appealing for any other countries they will help promote your music to these countries, giving us a wider audience and more fans, thus more money. For example they got Mumford and Son's and Laura Marling a tour in India in 2009. This is one of the collaborations they did on whilst on the project "Sound pad"
Although Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling are probably very grateful for the chance The Arts Council gave them, it was hard to find any evidence of a reaction to the involvement with the government and their success, which could lead to the question, does the government do enough to support UK artist, enough to make the artists want to credit their involvement at least? but it's best not to go down that road for now.
The next example, is a story of how Ian Hogarth, the founder of Song kick won the British Council UK young entrepreneur award in 2010.
In this instance then, you can see more of a reaction to action from the government, where Hogarth is asked "When you got there, how did you find it in terms of what you thought it would be and where it actually was?". He replies with things like "I met the biggest festival promoter in China, who the British Arts Council introduced us to" and "I really got a top down view that there is opportunity there and I can go and start doing things".
The British Arts council target young adults aged between 16 and 35 and put together there work with collaborations from other countries or artists, and they have a specialist music team that goes out to watch these performances. This team score your performance and if your music seems appealing for any other countries they will help promote your music to these countries, giving us a wider audience and more fans, thus more money. For example they got Mumford and Son's and Laura Marling a tour in India in 2009. This is one of the collaborations they did on whilst on the project "Sound pad"
Although Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling are probably very grateful for the chance The Arts Council gave them, it was hard to find any evidence of a reaction to the involvement with the government and their success, which could lead to the question, does the government do enough to support UK artist, enough to make the artists want to credit their involvement at least? but it's best not to go down that road for now.
The next example, is a story of how Ian Hogarth, the founder of Song kick won the British Council UK young entrepreneur award in 2010.
- http://blog.britishcouncil.org/2010/05/songkick-founder-wins-british-council-uk-young-music-entrepreneur-2010/
In this instance then, you can see more of a reaction to action from the government, where Hogarth is asked "When you got there, how did you find it in terms of what you thought it would be and where it actually was?". He replies with things like "I met the biggest festival promoter in China, who the British Arts Council introduced us to" and "I really got a top down view that there is opportunity there and I can go and start doing things".
Dear Mr Cameron part 2
An article from the NME music magazine from March 8 2011 tells us how a Live Music Bill has gained support from our government. The article says "Conservative party peer Baroness Rawlings gave the government's consent to the bill pending assessment". Also, "The bill could now become law, meaning that regulation for live music at small venues could change". This bit of news sounds like it could be helpful for upcoming musicians and artists as well as the venues themselves.
As 2011 is getting further and further away, I thought it would be best to look further into this article to find out how the bill got on, and it is good news. The bill was cleared in The House of Commons on Friday the 20th of January 2012, and means that venues with a capacity not exceeding 200 will not have to apply for a licence or pay for applying for a licence to host an evening of live music. First of all then, this change in regulation is obviously likely to be a help to small venues across the country. Also, it could have positive effects for musicians trying to get work; now the venues don't have to go through too much hard work to get an act on, and small pubs and clubs who previously would struggle to afford paying for a live event can now feel less unsure about it, thus budding musicians such as myself will have more opportunity's to work and get paid.
My personal reaction to this particular involvement from the government is naturally a good one, anything that will help musicians get more work is got to be a help, and it seems that other people have taken this news well, Jo Dipple, chief executive of UK music, says that the bill " will definitely be a boost for small venues when the act comes into force" and that it would "Give up and coming musicians more opportunities to play live."
As 2011 is getting further and further away, I thought it would be best to look further into this article to find out how the bill got on, and it is good news. The bill was cleared in The House of Commons on Friday the 20th of January 2012, and means that venues with a capacity not exceeding 200 will not have to apply for a licence or pay for applying for a licence to host an evening of live music. First of all then, this change in regulation is obviously likely to be a help to small venues across the country. Also, it could have positive effects for musicians trying to get work; now the venues don't have to go through too much hard work to get an act on, and small pubs and clubs who previously would struggle to afford paying for a live event can now feel less unsure about it, thus budding musicians such as myself will have more opportunity's to work and get paid.
My personal reaction to this particular involvement from the government is naturally a good one, anything that will help musicians get more work is got to be a help, and it seems that other people have taken this news well, Jo Dipple, chief executive of UK music, says that the bill " will definitely be a boost for small venues when the act comes into force" and that it would "Give up and coming musicians more opportunities to play live."
That's not suitable!
The main way in which the UK government has changed censorship across the media world is the Watershed. This is deciding what and what isn't shown or played before 9pm. This effects the music industry as it stops the artists ideal idea from being heard by either altering the lyrics or making the video suitable for every age group. Probably the most common way that censorship can be achieved is when record companies get pressure from media or the government and then decide not to let the artist release their work. For example, the Sex Pistols appeared on the "Bill Grundy Show" in 1976, as shown below.
You can see form this the trouble they caused which led to EMI refusing to release "Anarchy in the UK" and the papers giving them some bad publicity the next day.
You can see form this the trouble they caused which led to EMI refusing to release "Anarchy in the UK" and the papers giving them some bad publicity the next day.
The biggest commercial censorship organisation (RIAA) Recording Industry Association of America, in 1985, had to commercially allow people to know when obscure lyrical composition was present and labelled “Parent Advisory, Explicit Content”.
A way in which concealed restrictions were criticised is when Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols) wrote “God save the Queen” both the BBC and Independence Broadcasting Authority declared the song to be controversial at the time (1997) and banned it from all BBC broadcasting stations. The song led to accusations that it was ‘fixed’ because it only reached number 2 in the UK top 40 hits, despite the BBC wrote in March 2001 that the song has reached number 1. This also could have been a factor to the songs success as the negative attention it received made people more curious about the song, increasing sales. It can also show you how companies like this can use this technique to an advantage.
Thursday 13 January 2011
There's Something Happening Here
It has always been common for artists to respond to a political situation or event in the form of song, these 'protest' songs are usually topical, situational or connected to a wider movement. The message in songs of this nature does not need to be explicitly stated, below is Bob Dylan's "All along the watchtower" from 'The John Wesley Harding" album (1967).
This song then is essentially a song wanting change to the society, and is based around the image of "flatland"where everything is neutral, and without any value, as modern thinkers like Ken Wilber would say.
The first line of the song itself gives immediate connotations of drama, "There must be some kind of way out of here" telling us he needs to get out of something, without pointing directly to war or other political situations, and again without naming anyone, this conversation is between the joker and thief, two types of figures that have always been around, and will probably continue stand the test time of time. These two characters then begin to talk about how the values of life in society are wrong, "business men, they drink my wine, Plow men dig my earth. None of them along the line, know what any of it is worth."
We can stop at this point of the song, as you can now see the message behind the song beginning to unfold, and the skill in Dylan's writing which makes this message not so obvious unless you go looking for it.
The first line of the song itself gives immediate connotations of drama, "There must be some kind of way out of here" telling us he needs to get out of something, without pointing directly to war or other political situations, and again without naming anyone, this conversation is between the joker and thief, two types of figures that have always been around, and will probably continue stand the test time of time. These two characters then begin to talk about how the values of life in society are wrong, "business men, they drink my wine, Plow men dig my earth. None of them along the line, know what any of it is worth."
We can stop at this point of the song, as you can now see the message behind the song beginning to unfold, and the skill in Dylan's writing which makes this message not so obvious unless you go looking for it.
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Look what they made for us
Patronage is the act of giving an artist some kind of support be it funding, advertising or anything else that can help the artist, acts of patronage have existed for a long time, it played a big part in the Catholic Church not just with music but also paintings etc.
The following is a link to a website where anybody can perform can perform acts of patronage to artists they are fans of;
https://www.sellaband.com/
The advantages and disadvantages of patronage can vary especially when taking into account the time period it is used in. For example, the renaissance period would probably take kindly to a system of patronage as there wasn't as many ways of spreading news as there is today, and the benefits could be greater for the artist. For an artist to receive acts of patronage form the Church could lead to them having a much higher social status and provide a back bone for a sustainable career.
However, in more recent times, with qualifications etc. being key to success, an act of patronage could mean that people who have higher qualifications in the same subject could lose out, i think it could also be bad for people who have original ideas. For example, if a conservative government were in power and used patronage to help artists then we might find the mainstream music becomes rather similar, which brings us back to the real world and raises the questions, does patronage work today? With things like the internet and social networking sites to help artists, and availability of music at an all time high, would patronage help enough to make a difference in an artists career?
The following is a link to a website where anybody can perform can perform acts of patronage to artists they are fans of;
https://www.sellaband.com/
The advantages and disadvantages of patronage can vary especially when taking into account the time period it is used in. For example, the renaissance period would probably take kindly to a system of patronage as there wasn't as many ways of spreading news as there is today, and the benefits could be greater for the artist. For an artist to receive acts of patronage form the Church could lead to them having a much higher social status and provide a back bone for a sustainable career.
However, in more recent times, with qualifications etc. being key to success, an act of patronage could mean that people who have higher qualifications in the same subject could lose out, i think it could also be bad for people who have original ideas. For example, if a conservative government were in power and used patronage to help artists then we might find the mainstream music becomes rather similar, which brings us back to the real world and raises the questions, does patronage work today? With things like the internet and social networking sites to help artists, and availability of music at an all time high, would patronage help enough to make a difference in an artists career?
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