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18.05.12MusicWeek 5


Martin Mills sees sturdy market for smaller acts M


artin Mills made the case for smaller-selling artists during a Great


Escape panel looking at various aspects of the UK industry, saying that the recorded music ‘middle class’ is very healthy. During a session titled ‘PRS


For Music Presents The Next Movement’, Mills said, “To me the most interesting thing [in recorded music] is what’s happening below 100,000 sales – what’s happening in the 10, 20 and 50,000 zones.” He told the audience: “We


have a lot of artists in that zone such as Warpaint and The Horrors who are doing really well but are well within the 100,000 frame in the UK.” Mills’ words came in response


to a presentation from PRS for Music economist Will Page, in which he divided album sales into five thresholds, between 100,000 sales and rising to sales exceeding 1 million. Page pointed out that, while


big hit albums are continuing to sell like never before, ‘the body’ of album sales is seeing currently seeing a slump. “The number of hits remains broadly constant,” he said. “In


Great Escape panel: [L-R] Will Page (PRS); Martin Mills (Beggars); Tim Chambers (Live Nation); Ruth Simmons (Soundlounge)


2002, six albums got past a million, in 2011 there were five.” Of the albums that sold between 100,000 and the quarter of a million mark, however, 50 fewer albums sold between that range in 2011 compared to 2002. Mills, however, suggested


that there was sturdiness to be found further towards the bottom of the scale. “In contradiction to what was


on the slides, I think the middle class on the recorded side is very healthy and there is an opportunity to sell records in those kinds of numbers these days and build a career based upon those sales. I see that as being very healthy for the market.”


“The whole picture includes


the top end and the middle top end and so on, all of which suffer more from file-sharing and acquiring music illegally. But I think if you’re selling music to fans and you’re selling it in the shape of albums to fans, I think that’s fine.


LIVE NATION’S CHAMBERS: ‘SECONDARY TICKETING MAY TEMPT ARTISTS’


Mills also warned against the


practice of labels discounting releases overzealously, pointing to the importance of perceived value amongst consumers. “If you sell something cheaper


you sell more of it but that doesn’t mean that the total income is necessarily greater,” he suggested. “We haven’t heavily discounted the Adele album at all.” “A couple of years ago Sony


had MGMT out at the same time that we had Vampire Weekend (pictured),” Mills offered as an example. “MGMT was being sold at


£3.99 and Vampire Weekend was never being sold [by Beggars] at less than £7.99. “I think we did the band a lot


of favours by not dropping the price to a point where it appeared disposable.”


Vampire Weekend: Group’s album kept its price at retail


“Secondary ticketing is


sometimes unathorised and morally dubious, but economically viable” TIM CHAMBERS, LIVE NATION


Also present on The Next Movement panel was Live Nation Entertainment’s Tim Chambers, who fielded questions on the live sector. Of course, the issue of secondary ticketing took the focus. “What the Dispatches


documentary showed was that [secondary ticketing] is sometimes unauthorised and morally dubious, but economically viable,” said Chambers. “I think while there is a fizz around some events, they will attract speculators and may well attract some artists and some organisations who want to tap into those revenues that have historically gone off the edge of the gross show receipts and they want to intervene in them.”


Sammy Jacob questions Radio 1’s dedication to ‘distinctive’ remit


XFM founder Sammy Jacob questioned whether Radio 1 was truly sticking to its remit and said, put in the hotseat, he would willingly lose 30-40% of listeners to fulfill the station’s duty of being ‘distinctive’. Jacob - who sold XFM before


founding NME Radio - appeared on a Great Escape panel that asked participants ‘What would you do with Radio 1?’ “You simply cannot be


distinctive and at the same time deliver the numbers that they’re delivering,” Jacob pointed out. “The bottom line is they are a massive station. “I think the real question is,


‘Are they being true to their remit? Are they genuinely being


distinctive and innovative?’” He added: “Looking at some of the stats, 40% of its daytime output is supposed to be from new and emerging artists. I’m not sure that’s the case. “It seems to me that a lot of the music that they play during


Sammy Jacob: XFM founder at The Great Escape


“Looking at some of the stats, 40% of Radio 1’s daytime


output is supposed to be from new and emerging artists. I’m not sure that’s the case” SAMMY JACOB, XFM FOUNDER


the daytime is also played on commercial stations. It may not be all ‘under one roof ’ like on Radio 1 - but the vast majority of music that is played on Radio 1 during the daytime is actually played on commercial radio. “I don’t see it being innovative


or distinctive,” he continued. “If it’s fundamentally a numbers game then they’re doing a fantastic job. But I’m not


sure that’s what they’re supposed to be doing.” Wall of Sound founder Mark


Jones largely agreed with Jacob’s assessment. “Numbers-wise they’re doing a great job,” he said. “But if you are actually asking for challenging music that pushes things on, how does that balance out in the bigger picture? “Maybe I’m getting old, but


sometimes I turn Radio 1 on and everything sounds the same to me,” he added. Jones did accept the difficulty


of the situation: “Looking at it from their perspective, yes it is about numbers and I think 6Music is one of the most inspiring radio stations there is in pushing and challenging things... But the


support we’ve had throughout the years has been limited.” Jones opened up the problem


more widely to describe an industry where “people and record labels are constructing music that isn’t really music - it’s made to get on playlists. And I don’t think that’s right.” Jacob later added, “If I had


the option and wasn’t particularly career minded – which I’m not – and I was asked if I’d lose 30- 40% of my audience in order to play some of the music that I’d like to see on daytime radio, hand on my heart, I’d say ‘Yeah, fuck it.’ That’s what you’re there to do, you’re not there to have as many listeners as possible, you’re there to be distinctive.”


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