PRELUDE
Lost in France...
Therealityof justhow farthe live sector hasovertaken therecordingindustryinterms
of marketsharehit home lastmonth on adomestic levelwhenIcaughtaglimpse of
the latest —and very substantial—PRS royaltystatementreceivedbymydaughter
Rosie, of the band Ipso Facto.
Consideringthe band have so faronlyreleased afew non-charting vinylsingles
andaJapanese CD EP,the sumofroyalties was abit of a(pleasant) shocker. Ithen
looked throughthe playlist summaryand noticed that live performance —i.e.returns
from venues played on tour —accountedfor around 90%ofthe fees.Evensome of
the dough came from thosemavericktypesatYouTube.
It’s heartwarmingtoknowthatwhilst record
companyexecsmaybecontemplatingwhetherto
jumpoff the roof or justoverdothe paracetamol
(they’ve only gotthemselvestoblame... or maybe “It’s always a game
SteveJobs), the bookingagents,promoters
andvenuesare lapping it up.Who needsa of Russian Roulette
conventional label these days anyway?
Will Page, the chiefeconomist at the PRS, was when you go to a
heard on BBC6Music recently,saying: “Wehave
all thedataonlivemusic at thePRS becausewe Bob Dylan gig...”
licenseall live performancesaroundthe UK,so
we’reabletoput anumber on howmuchlive
musicisworth.Byscalingup, factoring in VAT
andaddingbooking fees, we came to anumber
of £904m[forlivemusic]. So then it came to lookingathow much therecorded
musicindustryisworth andin2008itcameinat£896m.”
Late April/early Maywas averybusytimefor yourstruly,the fruitsofwhich will
emerge in ourJuneissue.TPi was warmly welcomedintothe world of Ultravoxwhen
we dropped into the Roundhousetocatch theirreuniontour. Oneofthe best shows
we’veseeninrecentyearswas complementedbythe kindness of EatToThe Beat’s
chef Rachel Collins whose lemon polenta cake was pure nectar!
It’s unfortunate that such courtesy wasn’textendedtousthe followingnight
when we ventured into catering at one of P!nk’s O Arenashows.Alunar calendar2
glitch perhaps? Needlesstosay,wedon’t respond well to blatantrudeness.
TwonightslaterIwas at the delightful Edinburgh Playhousewhere the mighty
Bob Dylanwas appearing. Over theyears, I’ve seen some greatDylan shows(like
Blackbushe)and some very badones. It’s always agameofRussianRoulettewith
Bob.But this was on an entirely newlevel of awfulnessinwhich he played lead guitar
likea10year old novice andbarkedhis waythroughunrecognisableclassics.
ItappearsthatDylanworkstoadifferentsetofrulesandtakestheword‘enigmatic’
to ludicrousextremes—Ifelt Iwas gate-crashingsomeone’s rehearsal. Naturally, the
die-hardswill cursemeand call this artbut although Ihavethe utmost respectfor the
man’s legacy,his ‘hit andrun’approach to playing
live leaves abad taste.
Mark Cunningham
The Editor
TPiMAY09 • 03
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