Beyond The Music: ‘There is no HR department in the music industry’
“The music industry is broken,” says Oli Wilson, founder of Beyond The Music. But he hopes the event can play a part in helping to fix it.
From rapper Aitch to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, independent entrepreneurs to label executives, hundreds of music artists, experts and politicians came together in Manchester this week to discuss the biggest issues affecting the industry – from AI and the economics of streaming, to struggling grassroots artists and venues, and misogyny behind the scenes.
Now in its second year, Beyond The Music is a conference by day, city festival by night – set up as a co-operative as a place to address the “unprecedented and urgent challenges” facing the industry, but also to showcase up-and-coming talent and support the smaller venues in a city famous for its musical heritage.
Rapper Aitch spoke to Apple Music presenter Dotty for an in conversation session at Beyond The Music. Pic: Ailish O’Leary Austin
Wilson, the founder, says the industry is struggling “across the board” – from the economic model that means “all the money’s staying at the top” in both recorded and live music, to the “imminent existential threat” of artificial intelligence (AI).
All of this feeds into a “mental health crisis”, he told Sky News. “It’s unregulated. There’s no HR department in the music industry. If you’re on tour with a band or if you’re working in a venue and you have mental health issues or perhaps you have issues with other work colleagues around you, who do you go to?”
Wilson, son of Tony Wilson, the man behind Manchester’s famous Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub, says the landscape for new artists is tougher than ever.
“There’s 140,000 new pieces of music being released every single day… coupled with the fact that it’s harder and harder for record labels to take the risks and invest in new artists and careers like they used to. It’s really difficult for grassroot musicians at the moment – and grassroots venues.
“The government are taking action to get a levy on arenas to put back into the grassroots. My belief is that it shouldn’t just be in the live context, it needs to be cross-sector – so record labels and publishing companies also should be putting into the grassroots pipeline.”
Read more:
Spiking costs and ‘apex predators’: Inside the UK’s festival crisis
How can Labour help the music industry thrive?
It felt like it might never happen – now, finally, the Gallagher brothers are back
Jen Smith, chief executive of CIISA, spoke on the misogyny panel. Pic: Anna Marsden
In the wake of the previous women and equalities committee’s misogyny in music report, released at the beginning of the year, campaigners also discussed the issues women have faced historically – and still face today.
Jen Smith, the chief executive of the newly formed Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), says the organisation will go some way to bridging the HR gap as described by Wilson.
“There’s a persistent problem with behaviours, there’s a gap in provision for dealing with those behaviours and preventing those behaviours, and CIISA seeks to address that,” she says.
The authority is not an HR body, she adds, but will be the place to call on for confidential anonymous advice and to report any concerning behaviour. “And in serious, the most complex cases, CIISA would investigate. Because we’re a 70% freelance community across the creative industries, you often have these gaps in jurisdiction, if you like, about who is the responsible body.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Zelda Perkins, who has campaigned against the use of non-disclosure agreements to prevent people speaking out about abuse in the creative industries, also spoke at the event.
“It’s cultural and it’s systemic,” she says. “But I do think that if legislation is there to protect people and I think if the legal sector also takes responsibility for its role in protecting powerful people to basically do whatever they want, that would make an enormous difference quite quickly.”
Read more:
VV Brown on racism and misogyny in the music industry
Former X Factor star on the ‘fightening place’ of music industry
Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of the Music Managers Forum, says it can be a lonely industry for artists and managers, as they are essentially “individual businesses”.
When it comes to making money from streaming and touring, she points out that streaming has “brought the recorded music business back into growth” from piracy taking hold, and that there is money to be made – “but it is very much at the top end”, making it harder for smaller artists and those working with them.
“I’m not saying everything is awful – it’s not, but it’s a hard game,” she says. “It’s a long game and it often doesn’t make money for a really [long time]. So people do it because they love it – and sometimes they get to the stage where they’ve been doing it for long enough that they’ve finally convinced enough people that there is an audience there.”
Lala Hayden was among the artists performing at venues around the city’s Northern Quarter area. Pic: Antonio Ross
Despite the serious issues, there is plenty to celebrate, says Wilson.
“It’s my belief – and this is the great thing about doing it in Manchester – that we can create localised markets that will support artistic careers. I think it is possible to create economies in an area like Greater Manchester, or across the North, which would sustain artists’ careers.”
There’s more music than there ever has been in Manchester and across the UK, he says. “We’ve had over 3,000 submissions to play festival this year. The quality of music is really high and it’s across every genre of music, which is brilliant.”
He hopes getting “key players” together will help bring about new ideas and new ways of working. “We’re here to make change.”
Entertainment
‘Love you bro’: Zayn Malik’s tribute to Liam Payne at first show since former bandmate’s death
Entertainment
Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’
Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.
In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.
The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.
In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade
Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.
“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.
“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”
Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.
But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.
Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.
The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.
Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy
While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.
“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.
“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”
In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough
“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”
Read more:
Boy George on the price of fame
The fan club president who joined the band
In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.
“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”
Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway