BBC Director General Mark Thompson today announced that BBC 6 Music will be axed from the broadcasting network’s services, as part of what he called “a radical overhaul.”
As someone working in the independent music industry, this little bird is concerned that BBC 6 Music’s departure will mean the end of truly indie music being granted airplay on the BBC’s national stations.
Although the station is digital only, and operates by and large a similar A/B/C playlist structure to BBC Radios 1 and 2, the station has, since its inception in 2002, been refreshingly receptive to unsolicited approaches by independent musicians.
Tom Robinson’s Introducing show Fresh on the Net in particular acts as a catalyst for independent musicians. It has a national reach- drawing its chosen music from a variety of sources including listener recommendations and artists featured on the BBC’s regional Introducing shows.
My client John Fairhurst, for example, was shown great support by BBC Manchester Introducing before his departure on tour last year, and this week his track Obnox Stomp is included in Tom Robinson’s weekly Introducing Podcast.
Here in Brum, BBC Birmingham and Black Country Introducing DJs Brett Birks and Louise Brierley have been instrumental in bringing the region’s artists to a wider audience. I’m sure that, as Birmingham band Johnny Foreigner completed their recent South African tour, they’d list Birks and Brierley among their first grassroots champions.
With the Introducing Stage at Glastonbury Festival (which notably catapulted Salford unknowns The Ting Tings to number 1 in 2007), and an automatic upload tool which actively encourages artists to submit their music online for scrutiny by its production team, 6 Music is really unique in its receptive attitude to independent artists, who cannot count on the backing of powerful labels.
The consent form I signed to allow Obnox Stomp on last week’s podcast even precludes artists “signed to a major record label (which shall for these purposes mean any label belonging to the following companies: EMI, SonyBMG, Warner, Universal and all affiliates)”.
6 Music’s disappearance from the digital airwaves begs the question, what will be the next step for those artists whose music is being played out regionally on BBC stations, once the national Introducing platform bites the dust? Will these shows also be axed, to make way for more content aimed at women over 50 (the BBC’s regional target audience)?
Just last month, a BBC report showed that listener figures had risen by 12.5% to 695,000 over the last year. The average listener age was placed at 36 years old, which the BBC service review considered “too low”.
This is a worrying statement, as the only national radio service the BBC consciously provides for younger listeners is Radio 1. With a target audience of 15-29 years old and a current playlist of just 47 songs, none of which are decided by the listening public or influenced by independent artists’ attempts to get a few minutes of precious airplay, Radio 1 really pales in comparison to the staunch supporters of independent live music that 6 Music counts among its presenters.
The likes of Mark Riley, Tom Robinson and Lauren Laverne will be sadly missed with the station’s planned closure at the end of 2011, and I’d wager John Peel is turning in his grave. As Chris Addison said this morning, “6 Music serves a minority interest, does it? Then it’s heartland BBC. Leave it a-fucking-lone”
Join the Save Radio 6 Music campaign on Twitter by posting #savebbc6music, get yourself a 6 Music Twibbon here, join the Facebook Group, and fill out the BBC’s Consultation Survey here.
