understand government, politics and parliament at a very deep level as well.”


Some people have questioned your qualifications for the role…


“What I’d say to people is, UK Music is the body that talks to government. And obviously I’ve been brought in because I’ve had very great experience in parliament and they know I’ve got a skillset there. And I hope they know I was at a level in politics that means I can work with a team. The role of chair is very different to that of CEO. So I’d guess the board wanted someone who’d got parliamentary experience and skills and they’ll balance the team in other areas.”


Your role is to unite the biz, despite it being riven by factions with opposing views. Do you have any experience in that area? “[Laughs] Yeah! A lot of this is making sure that all voices are heard around the UK Music table. The goal is always to hide the wiring, speak with one voice for the sector where you can. Obviously, there will be points where there’s disagreement between members and you have to handle that. But if there’s any upside to the current crisis – and there are very few – it’s that everyone is working very closely together. The first task we had was a mapping exercise to see how the industry was looking after its 190,000 people. Three quarters of those are self-employed, and all of them are hurting. The team did an audit to work out where the hardship was, who was supporting whom and where there were gaps. That’s helped fuse a real sense that we’re working together.”


A perennial bone of contention for the industry is that it isn’t taken seriously by politicians, despite its huge commercial value. Can you change that?


“The staggering thing when you look at the numbers is, the creative industries as a whole, not just the music sector, [are worth] £111 billion to the economy; bigger than the auto sector, aero sector, life sciences


musicweek.com


Party Tom: Watson at (top) UK Music’s 2019 summer party and (bottom) with Olga FitzRoy at last year’s Music Week Women In Music Awards


and UK oil and gas combined. It is a massive export sector for the UK. And commercial music alone is £5bn of that – it is, by any scale, a really important part of the UK economy. That’s one of the great successes of UK Music: there is now recognition of that scale amongst politicians that take an interest in the creative sector. And that probably wasn’t the case a decade ago.”


Won’t it be even harder to get the government to listen now the world is falling apart? “When you want liquidity back in the economy after restrictions are lifted, one of our tasks is to make sure the government understands that we’ll be part of that and there are questions we need to ask. For example, we all fully understand why ministers are hesitant to talk about when restrictions might be lifted. But this is a sector that’s so valuable to the


economy it requires planning ahead. Some indication from government about timelines would be really important. You look at the live sector and, even though the Music Venue Trust tells me their 640 members could get bands on within 24 hours of the lockdown ending, if you’re running a tour you need a few weeks to put these things together. That kind of engagement, not necessarily in the public eye, with ministers and senior civil servants is really important so the sector can plan. Tom Kiehl is doing weekly calls with ministers and talking to departments most days. I’m talking to ministers as well. This year’s Music By Numbers report will be really important. It’s been slightly adapted so that we’re left with some very hard numbers to give to ministers and policy-makers about the impact of the virus on our baseline figures. One of the things I’m trying to do is make sure the strategic goals of the organisation pre-the virus are maintained, because eventually this is going to go away and we are going to have to go back to doing what we do best.”


You were literally in opposition to the ministers you’re now talking to. Will that cause you any problems?


“I don’t think so. It’s a different role, isn’t it? And the one thing I’m very 04.05.20 Music Week | 17


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