aeolianblues

They can't be cutting BBC Introducing. It is literally the ONE leveller new artists in the UK have! Without something like the BBC Music Introducing platforms, the gate will close. Introducing do an insane amount of work for the music scene, they are the reason why the UK alternative/independent music scene is so vibrant! Introducing networks covering every region on radio, giving up and coming artists the airplay in regions where people can go and see them live locally, giving them coverage and studio sessions; the larger Introducing coverage on 6 Music nationally. The Introducing stages at so many festivals, giving artists the first stage where they can get a grip on performing to festival crowds! None of this is an automatic process, and not one to take for granted either.

If only artists that have the time to do their own PR (i.e. artists that don't need one or more day jobs), or those that can afford to pay out people to get some of the opportunities that BBC Music's Introducing networks provides, you're very quickly staring at only a certain demographic being able to make music professionally anymore. I know now, some people get quite cynical over the word "professional" and start saying things like "no one deserves to be a professional, why should my taxes pay for your hobby" 1) gross mischaracterisation of the problem here 2) there are far more worrying things your taxes are paying for that you should be bothered about 3) weren't you the same type of fella loudly complaining in 2012 that there's "no good new music these days"? You have to invest in it. You have to give musicians the pathways to get to the places where you might hear them. You're never going to hear your favourite band if they don't have the time or money to get their feet off the ground. I could go on and on about the place expression plays in your general society, and how you do actually need the people that reflect what's going on in the world around you for a number of reasons, but even just sticking to very surface reasons, you're not going to enjoy music very much if entire voices, entire sections of society, very often working class musicians, musicians from backgrounds that don't get much leverage in the music industry, especially not if they aren't sticking to their stereotypical, industry-assigned genre (which is often just the racism talking) are cut out of music. You're not going to enjoy it, and then you'll be whining again.

Don't let them axe the Introducing networks!

It’s so much more than just regular radio airplay indeed. Commercial radio does not like taking a chance on anything. They’re 10 years late to every scene, and as time progresses, it’s becoming clear that they’re willing to be 40 years late. They will never prop up new artists.

I was once tagged in an email by a band sending their new single to a bunch of radio stations. Amongst them were a few commercial stations. One of them must’ve accidentally hit Reply All when emailing them back, they were demanding $200 for airplay for the week. Commercial radio will not save your music scene.

There’s only so much local and community radio can do. What coverage on the BBC can do for artists, holistically, is unmatched: airplay, interviews, sessions, artists in residence, introducing stages at festivals, performances with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, the radio documentaries. These aren’t things artists in a lot of other countries have the support or resources to do!

Make big noise about this, I can assure you the BBC Music Introducing network, spread out across the whole country, is the one and biggest reason why the UK’s independent scene is as vibrant as it is. It has no match across the world. Don’t let them kill it! Don’t let philistinism and Tory austerity kill one of the best tools musicians have at the it disposal!

Sorry to make a long post longer but Tom Robinson, one of 6 Music and BBC Introducing’s leading presenters and champions, is asking people to write in in support of Introducing over on his blog, Fresh On The Net, to which a lot of new and unsigned music is submitted and gets picked for airplay across the BBC. Write in if you can! Make a ton of noise about it!

Here were my tags from the original post from a few months ago:

#it's a result of so many cuts to the BBC that they're forced to look for areas to squeeze #it would be really really bad if this was gone. The introducing network is so important #the kind of airplay small and unknown artists can get just by uploading their tracks to the BBC Uploader is insane#their music will be listened to by the radio hosts and DJs in regions where it is uploaded #often tracks get passed up from bbc regional to 6 Music #it's insane to think in this day and age there are avenues to getting your music heard on the basis of talent alone for no extra costs #people don't understand how important something like BBC Introducing is!

It's happened, and I'm so fucking angry about this. The Introducing networks were the backbone of a music industry that has more doors closing on it than opening. A network of 32 shows on local stations around the UK is being reduced to just 20. Do you know what a celebrated fact it was that an artist didn't have to be from London to get discovered, that Teesside could have its own unique sound and scene, that a bedroom producer in Bristol could get airplay on national radio on 6 Music without having to relocate, that Brighton could have a local scene within its own city!

I don't have time today to explain it all unfortunately, so I'm going to point you to Tom Robinson's Fresh On The Net site, where he's explained the axing in more detail.

They can't be cutting BBC Introducing. It is literally the ONE leveller new artists in the UK have! Without something like the BBC Music Introducing platforms, the gate will close. Introducing do an insane amount of work for the music scene, they are the reason why the UK alternative/independent music scene is so vibrant! Introducing networks covering every region on radio, giving up and coming artists the airplay in regions where people can go and see them live locally, giving them coverage and studio sessions; the larger Introducing coverage on 6 Music nationally. The Introducing stages at so many festivals, giving artists the first stage where they can get a grip on performing to festival crowds! None of this is an automatic process, and not one to take for granted either.

If only artists that have the time to do their own PR (i.e. artists that don't need one or more day jobs), or those that can afford to pay out people to get some of the opportunities that BBC Music's Introducing networks provides, you're very quickly staring at only a certain demographic being able to make music professionally anymore. I know now, some people get quite cynical over the word "professional" and start saying things like "no one deserves to be a professional, why should my taxes pay for your hobby" 1) gross mischaracterisation of the problem here 2) there are far more worrying things your taxes are paying for that you should be bothered about 3) weren't you the same type of fella loudly complaining in 2012 that there's "no good new music these days"? You have to invest in it. You have to give musicians the pathways to get to the places where you might hear them. You're never going to hear your favourite band if they don't have the time or money to get their feet off the ground. I could go on and on about the place expression plays in your general society, and how you do actually need the people that reflect what's going on in the world around you for a number of reasons, but even just sticking to very surface reasons, you're not going to enjoy music very much if entire voices, entire sections of society, very often working class musicians, musicians from backgrounds that don't get much leverage in the music industry, especially not if they aren't sticking to their stereotypical, industry-assigned genre (which is often just the racism talking) are cut out of music. You're not going to enjoy it, and then you'll be whining again.

Don't let them axe the Introducing networks!

It’s so much more than just regular radio airplay indeed. Commercial radio does not like taking a chance on anything. They’re 10 years late to every scene, and as time progresses, it’s becoming clear that they’re willing to be 40 years late. They will never prop up new artists.

I was once tagged in an email by a band sending their new single to a bunch of radio stations. Amongst them were a few commercial stations. One of them must’ve accidentally hit Reply All when emailing them back, they were demanding $200 for airplay for the week. Commercial radio will not save your music scene.

There’s only so much local and community radio can do. What coverage on the BBC can do for artists, holistically, is unmatched: airplay, interviews, sessions, artists in residence, introducing stages at festivals, performances with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, the radio documentaries. These aren’t things artists in a lot of other countries have the support or resources to do!

Make big noise about this, I can assure you the BBC Music Introducing network, spread out across the whole country, is the one and biggest reason why the UK’s independent scene is as vibrant as it is. It has no match across the world. Don’t let them kill it! Don’t let philistinism and Tory austerity kill one of the best tools musicians have at the it disposal!

Sorry to make a long post longer but Tom Robinson, one of 6 Music and BBC Introducing’s leading presenters and champions, is asking people to write in in support of Introducing over on his blog, Fresh On The Net, to which a lot of new and unsigned music is submitted and gets picked for airplay across the BBC. Write in if you can! Make a ton of noise about it!