Its a sad fact that independent music is completely ignored in the UK. My IPOD is now full to the brim with some of the finest music I have ever heard and it has all come from independent musicians around the globe. Leaps in technology now mean studio production quality can be achieved with a home computer and a copy of Logic; it is not a politically motivated decision to fill my portable media player up with this stuff: I actually think it sounds better. I like the rough edges; this is music for music’s sake: pure and simple and free from the constraints of marketing departments and people in suits.

For too long now music has been stuck in an age of over-payed people in large tall shiny buildings deciding what we listened to. It didn’t used to be like this of course - these companies are actually the product of music being able to be caught within media. Now there is no physical product again I truly wonder to their relevance (or use) at all! ITunes now represents 90% of the music market, bypassing the need for any type of distribution network. As an artist I would be hard-pushed to see why I should get 7% of this (the traditional RC rate) compared to the 91% that I can get off CDBaby, for example, for sales through ITunes. The traditional response to this is that a record company can offer marketing expertise to get your stuff heard. Personally, for that type of percentage, I’d rather just use GoogleAds.

Record companies aren’t quite what they were. They are shrinking entities and are all sort of dissolving into one thing. They are letigious things too so I will steer clear of specific facts and figures. Sony just closed their London office though, my point being that your percentage is still given away but to a much smaller company than 15 years ago for example. Personally I think it is piracy taking its toll, and what I will refer to later as “The Simon Cowell Effect”, but, lets be honest, all record companies really did was throw parties for each other. They were bound to get found out eventually.

Which brings me to Auntie. It seems quite popular to bash the dear old bbc these days, and far be it from me to kick a good institution when it is down but I really must raise a point to do with their complete disregard for independent music. If you check the schedule across all the tv stations and all the radio stations - you will find NOT ONE piece of programming dedicated to listening to music that doesn’t have some type of commercial deal associated with it: ie - everyone is signed (with the exception of indiginous music that turns up on Radio 4 from time to time). In fact, since dear old John Peel died I don’t think I have heard one piece of music on the beeb that the DJ actually wanted to play!

So is this a big problem? Does it really matter if the airwaves of the beeb are being clogged up with demos? Well - it is of course a matter of opinion - but I do know this: it is forbidden to say brand names on the BBC, Sellotape is sticky backed plastic etc. However it is not forbidden to say “Robbie Williams” who is essentially a brand belonging to a company. In fact far from this it seems mandatory to drop these type of names every 10 seconds (especially during kids tv programming which I find particularly unappealing). Combine this with the new breed of tv-tie ins (Fame Academy, How do I solve a problem like Maria) and you essentially have a monopoly. Is this really what we want on public service broadcasting? I don’t argue that this type of format has no place on television, but the BBC has a duty to represent the public it broadcasts to and if you combine this with the fact that their is currently no show on either their radio or visual output dedicated to independent music, they are not only making a mockery of this claim (in no other sector would this be allowed) they are missing out on an opportunity to broadcast some quality material that I think deserves to be heard. I am so sure of this that I have set up a shoutcast radio station to prove my point: K-Radio. The criteria for getting on this radio station is that you HAVE to be independent - in complete and direct contrast to the BBC’s apparent approach to music broadcasting.

I think there is a deeper reason to make this switch however. Independent music would give the airwaves the breath of fresh air that it needs. The record industry (with a few exceptions) forgot how to find a good hit. I personally think a huge amount of disregard was shown to writers at a time when the “member of the public” vocalist was given the confidence as the main source at selling records. This approach will only work to a point. Its what I call the “Simon Cowell Effect”. The A’n'R man who actually has never signed anything good or of particular note, but somehow maneuvers himself into being the oracle of knowledge on all things music industry. As Prince Charles put it, people want fame for fame’s sake - not because they have acheived anything, in this case, with song-writing/singing. The Record Industry no longer has trust in writers to second guess what the public wants. They would rather tailor make the music to a certain demographic. This approach, eventually, makes commercial output homogonised and, more worryingly, boring. I think it is no coincidence that so many people stopped watching Top of the Pops that they had to pull it. One of the last acts I ever saw on TOTP was Il Divo, which somehow macarbely summed it up.

Putting independent music on the air in a more vigorous and healthy way - replacing the “free-advertising service” for the 5 majors with a vibrant mix of both commercial independent music - allowing DJs to play the records they want and the BBC’s airwaves to have a more pioneering spirit once again.