So Where Does Actual Culture Belong, These Days?
So, erm, BBC 6Music seems to be closing, does it? Well, firstly, let’s be clear on the fact that this is yet to be confirmed – in a rather strange turn of events even the BBC couldn’t find anyone from the BBC willing to comment. Maybe it’s boycotting itself, in the Alex Ferguson style.
Anyhow, these reports originate from The Times, who are part of Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp media dinosaur who are themselves splashing about rather desperately in the ocean of free content, harried by internetters on one hand and the Beeb on the other. So until this is actually confirmed by a credible source, I’d hold back on the histrionics a little – which is why I have yet to cover this month-old rumour until now as it is.
Still, it worries me because it’s part of a wider trend which I find rather scary at the moment: entertainment holding increasing sway over culture.
Of course, any fan of painting, sculpture, poetry, classical music or anything like that will tell you that this is just the same as it ever was and that basically it’s just our turn now for a change, and that they’ve had this problem for years. If anything is killing the music industry, for example, it’s the fucking vacant populism of the X-Factor, it ain’t the internet.
Anyhow, late last year the Metro closed their regional arts offices, basically swinging the axe on some of the best local arts coverage in the UK. Culture, simply, isn’t all that commercially viable. But the Beeb themselves seem to have little idea what they are there for to begin with. Why the fuck did they start trying to compete with reality TV? Why the fuck did they foist the likes of George Lamb on 6Music and basically date-rape the daytime schedule? Well the answer to the latter question is that apparently Lesley Douglas thinks that women are fucking idiots, but the whole thing speaks of general confusion as to what the BBC is actually supposed to do.
Tax is there to pay for things which commercial concerns will not cover, and to provide accountability to the public which commercial practises do not. The Beeb is pretty clearly covered by the first, but it has slowly but surely been forgetting its remit and trying to compete with commercial channels on their terms. 6Music only costs £7m a year to run (just over a third of Wossy’s wages), and if they wanted to cut costs they could simply fire their fucking dreadful daytime celebrity presenters and return the station to the specialists for whom it was originally intended. This mission creep has left it falling between two stools to a considerable degree
Mrs. Toad said to me once that you used to become famous by being on the radio, but nowadays the only way you got on the radio was by being famous to begin with. This is patently not the Beeb’s job – they are there to ensure that all are represented, not just the most famous. There is a sizeable audience for alternative music outside the Brits and Q fodder who represent the dismal indie mainstream, but the routes to success for small bands are continually being cut off by commercial pressures.
The problem with this is that in craving larger audiences the Beeb destroys the USP of the station, and risks turning it into XFM. The trick is not to neuter your individuality by craving the mainstream, it is to accept what you are and budget accordingly. If (and it is still an if, remember) 6Music goes then the BBC are essentially abandoning all pretense of supporting the development of alternative music culture in the UK. Radio One is too populist, Radio Two too cautious, and therefore that will be pretty much the end of one of the most important points of access to their audience which existed for emerging musicians in Britain.
Or, to put it another way, how the fuck are any of us going to get our music out there now? The States has already seen this happen, as print media failed completely and Clearchannel hoovered up and then euthanised all commercial radio, until all that was left was the blogs. And inasmuch as I like blogs, I feel I need to stress the point that this is not a good thing.
However, there is a note or two of optimism to be struck. As the major record labels have discovered, scrambling towards the lowest common denominator with such desperation leaves a void behind you which can eventually reach such critical mass that it swallows you up. If the Beeb is abandoning the alternative to this extent, all it does it leave that space open for amateurs like us, and eventually they run the risk of making themselves so culturally irrelevant that they will lose their right to participate altogether and will have effectively ceded everything which makes them special to the rest of us.
Good post, though you’re maybe a little harsh on daytime 6Music. When I was off on paternity leave recently, I listened to a lot of it, and although the playlist is gash, the individual shows are all pretty good and play music that you really won’t hear on any other radio station. Yes, even Nemone. And Lauren Laverne’s show is the best daytime radio show I’ve probably ever heard since I started caring about music.
I think that across the board, apart from the lingering Lesley Douglas* legacy of celeb infatuation and thinking that comedians make good music DJs, the station is in the best shape it’s ever been in. Which make it all the more galling that it’s going to (probably) close.
*I don’t even want to be too harsh on her, since she put Marc Riley on weekday evenings, which has become one of my favourite radio shows ever.
Quick point of order: Ross’ £18m deal was over three years.
The commercial sector moans about Radio 1, 2 and 6 in “value for money” terms because it couldn’t do it itself, whether you want to look at the slow and very thoroughly literal homogenisation of local stations or XFM’s Capital takeover, or indeed Absolute ditching Xtreme (it wasn’t) in favour of an 80s station because that’s where the advertiser’s money is – lowest common listenership denominator all the time. Bizarrely, the most outlandish playlist in reasonable hours outside 6 Music is currently NME radio, and as their only regular advert seems to be for chlymidia testing I’m not sure how long that’ll last.
I’ve always felt that the purpose of radio is to listen to music you wouldn’t normally listen to (why else put it on in today’s age), and by taking away a major source of new music for lots of people (just look at the response that this has received from the public) I feel like radio is just being dealt another blow.
You raise a good point that the BBC shouldn’t be trying to compete with commercial stations – they have tax payers money to warrant doing stuff that such commercial stations couldn’t do. This money should be spent advertising the best of Britain’s new music, not what is already popular.
BBC should think about trying to monetize their international audience.
I’m based in the US and listen to countless Radio 1 specialty shows, 6Music, Radio4 documentaries, World Service (news), and even 6Music’s fellow potential casualty, Asian Network (some cool Indian music on there, seriously).
What does it cost me? Nothing. You’re picking up the tab.
And one need only listen to Lamacq, or Annie Mac, or Pete Tong, to hear the countless shout-outs to, and emails from, listeners all over the world. It costs a lot of money for the additional royalties outside of UK boundaries. Yet there are very few broadcasts (archived or live) that I am blocked from, save for live sports coverage.
I don’t pay for satellite radio (XM/Sirius), or Pandora, or Spotify (not technically avail here yet) or anything else. Nor can I endure commercial radio and it’s ad assault. But I would plunk down for access to BBC programming in a second if it ever became unavailable.
Ross’ £18m deal was also for his whole production company I believe, not just his personal take. It’s still a massive amount (and he is overpaid), but not by the amount often described.
That said, £7m is fucking pocket change for the BBC and with a consistently growing audience they can definitely continue funding it.
I have a real issue with the way The Times is reporting this though. They are claiming it’s a certainty – “the BBC will close…” and no-one at the BBC can confirm that yet apparently. Then there is a second story where The Times quotes itself saying “The Times revealed that the BBC will…” again without any quotes or named sources. It is starting to look like some of the Fox News stories in the US which quote themselves for circular coverage quoting themselves to add a source. I would really like to call bullshit on this to be honest – there is nothing but rumour.
Dev – you’d probably run into serious anti-trust problems, with Clearchannel complaining that a government subsidised entity was stealing their audience. I’m surprised it’s not already an issue, frankly, but acknowledging the large international audience the Beeb has would probably force the issue pretty quickly.
This terrotorial issue is basically a relic of the physical age, as it were, and something which is presumably going to cause all sorts of problems in the digitial one. Half the false DMCA attacks against music bloggers came from this kind of cross-territorial confusion.
Tim – you’re right about the Times report and this being no more than rumour thus far. I did try and keep reminding myself of that during the post, but the Outrage!!1! got the better of me a bit.
People will always need chlamydia, Simon.
I was in a pub recently where they were giving away chlamydia test kits on a table by the door. Ok then.
Apparently the ads are working btw, massive uptick on the number of people getting tested which is good – according to my dr sister anyway. Why I was talking to her about stds last week I can’t quite remember…
Someone needs to do some research on WXRT, my local radio station, in the 3rd largest US city, which is NOT a clearchannel station and which DOES feature a huge amount of truely independent music as well as sponsors major Indie concerts. The US is not some sort of monolithic, bloc as is portrayed to you all by the darlings at FuxTV.
Let’s face it, Internet radio is the future just the same as Internet downloading is the future of music consumption (and not your local music store).
And yes, get tested for chlamydia please. Even if you only have one sex partner. It’s mostly symptom-less, has severe health implications if left untreated for both men and women, and very easily transmitted, /publicserviceannouncement thank you xoxo
Not sure how much leverage Clear Channel would have, as long as the rights owners are getting paid. Territorial radio in the US is facing it’s own battle right now with trying to avoid paying the performance royalties that online broadcasters are currently getting screwed… er, charged (radio always got let off the hook because their airplay was “promotional” whereas any online play was seen as just for profit [the irony, I know]). The only place the internet hasn’t reached yet that radio still does reach is the automobile (which is no small market in the US, obviously) but it’s only a matter of time, and how can they stop that? It’s the internet! Besides, yhey couldn’t stop satellite radio from going after that market.
Also worth noting: All of the BBC’s other properties in the US are commercial/for-proft entities that re-purpose, re-package and sell BBC content: TV networks pay for the nightly BBC World News program and various BBC sitcoms; cable network BBC-America is ad-supported; BBC Motion Gallery licenses BBC archival footage and stock images, etc.
But as for BBC Radio: No complaints whatsoever from this side of the pond about being able to enjoy one of your great national treasures at no cost. I owe you all a beer, etc…
P.S. Sorry, just realized how much this diverted from the topic at hand i.e. arts/culture/society. Like anything else, I suspect it will be forced underground and the good will rise again via some other avenue. Which is to say, internet radio (provided they can get past the prohibitive expense of all the royalty licenses that exits presently).
@ Simon: I thought the purpose of radio was to provide ambient non-offensive background noise during the workday…
@Tart — Having grown up in rural America on the wrong side of a hill of a college radio station (stupid hill) where all we could get were either stations that played country or oldies or else were owned by Clear Channel, and maybe if the air was right a few stations from Canada. If you live in a city then there are more options as there’s a greater chance that you’ll find an independently owned radio station – however, those stations are broadcasting on a lower frequency which don’t travel as far. That independent stations exist doesn’t negate the fact that a good portion of America doesn’t live in a broadcast area with one.
Hi Matthew!
I mostly agree with you, and 6Music is pretty much the only pop music station I listen to these days.
But I have a slight problem with the implication that the BBC is only there to fill gaps that the commercial sector can’t fill. I think that actually cedes quite a lot of ground to Murdoch and his ilk who would like to turn the BBC into something a bit like PBS in the US, i.e. worthy but completely unwatched. The BBC can only really justify a universal licence fee for as long as it can sustain large audiences. If it isn’t allowed to compete, it would fast lose that argument.
The BBC was also there first, and pretty much invented most of the formats that the commercial sector uses. (Next time James Murdoch complains about the BBC being a ‘copycat’ , someone should ask him where he got the idea for the ‘SkyPlayer’.)
Also, there’s the admittedly rather unfashionable and elitist public service argument that you can influence people to watch/ listen to things they wouldn’t normally choose to by drawing them in with big names and ‘entertainment’. I think it’s a good thing that the BBC can do that, even if the execution (e.g. George Lamb, who should himself be executed) can be sloppy.
Lastly, I think it’s good to have a public space for culture and even entertainment that isn’t dominated by advertising and product placement. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to watch mindless entertainment without having propaganda stuffed in your eyes…
Dan
@Ducky: I never said that was the sole purpose of radio! That is the sole purpose of dronezone radio on SomaFM, at which it spectacularly succeeds.
Frankly its a race to the bottom, heaven knows why Murdoch feels he has to kill the Beeb – he has far, far, far worse competition in the form of Apple/Hulu etc coming his way.
Also, why should the FA sell football rights to Sky (subscribers 10m in UK) when you could sell games to iTunes (2 billion PCs worldwide). Sure, you need to pay a production company to film it but thats no big deal.
Sky is Fucked. Papers are Fucked and MySpace was the wrong horse to buy in the internet race.
So Murdoch gets his Tory mates and his smarmy son to bust the BBCs balls because its the only influence the sad old sack has anymore.
The pathetic old fuck is going down and its up to people like us to make sure he doesn’t take the BBC with him in his death flailings. Hurrah!
Matthew
It’s actually not true to say that classical is under fire. Boston has one public funded and one commercial classical stations (both of which are excellent), the internet (via itunes radio) grants me access to three other station I enjoy very much (including Canadas publicly funded classical station and another dedicated to you an upcoming Canadian composers) and the Beeb has a classical channel that I get via the web.
Classical is afforded a protection that rock or indie never are because it is considered philistinical to cut classical and despite the vast audience that indie commands it is competing directly with pop in the radio peoples eyes and therefore gets sidelined . At the end of the day indie is still considered pop culture and pop culture is subject to far more cynicism.
Well it is pop culture, really, isn’t it? Just a branch line of pop culture which occasionally breaks through into the mainstream in a big way, so it’s not entirely illegitimate to make it compete on those terms.
And when I imply that classical is under fire I really just mean that it is not commercially viable in a great many of its incarnations and relies heavily on benefactor support. That’s my assumption anyway, but I don’t know how true it is.
It’s very very true. Most classical organisations rely more heavily on money that does not come tickets that from ticket sales themselves. And you have to take into account what you charge to get into a symphony or opera compared to a decent size rock gig. We actually have whole departments dedicated to fundraising called ‘development’.
What is sad is that millionaires and governments think that there ‘ought’ to be classical arts whereas no one thinks thee ‘ought’ to be rock and roll. Now of course art can only justify itself as long as it remains relevant but I dare you to show me a sad/lonely/confused young person who doesn’t think that rock and roll is necessary. Which frankly is all the justification I need to believe that public services like Radio 6 are absolutely vital.
The speed with which public funding vanishes from community center where kids play and learn music, music programs and public arts veers very quickly into the sort of issue that gets my dearest friend Tart so irate.
Alternative music is very much the same, but instead of wealthy benefactors it tends to be subsidised by the people doing the work themselves, in the form of overdrafts, credit cards and other jobs.
I wonder what the world would look like if it was the other way around. I actually think that living in the world of uber-DIY for a while, like we do, might do classical music or ballet the world of good. However, as Sting, the Gallagher Brothers and Bono have clearly demonstrated, living in the world of financial comfort and privilege does absolutely nothing whatsoever for pop musicians.
My problem with DIY ballet of course is that companies of that size can’t afford and orchestra so I lose interest very quickly. But there is plenty of it, it’s just a very small community.
I am actually trying to help someone start a website for classical and jazz musicians to get together and listen to each other. This community stuff is vital because one of the hardest things about orchestras is hearding so many musicians.
What’s this about chlamydia?
Apparently it’s no fun C&B.
Am I right in thinking even the BBC News website contains adverts if accessed outwith the UK? Remember there was a bit of a row over that a few years ago.
I have banged on about this elsewhere but personally I would be happy to see Radios 1 & 2 sold off to the highest bidder. The BBC should concentrate on things (like 6music) which are worthwhile and not commercially viable. The best argument I have heard against this is “you have to give the ordinary man in the street a reason to pay the license fee”. I dunno.
Ironically it seems to be that the protestations of skyfox (that the beeb has parked its tanks on their lawn and that the license fee is unfair) are causing the beeb management’s to try and justify the system by going mainstream to corner more market share. I would be happy to tell James Murdoch this to his face, but I am not sure I would have the balls if it was his dad.
So, now that it has been officially announced, there is the usual “consultation” process, details at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consultations/ (allegedly; the website has, perhaps unsurprisingly, gone into meltdown).
Although I wouldn’t hold my breath,if we don’t make our views known then there’s no point in moaning once it has gone.
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