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Diversity and education the key themes at BPI AGM
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 8 September 2016
Although the streaming boom and the bloody value gap got their customary mentions, education and diversity seemed to be the big themes at the Annual General Meeting of record industry trade group the BPI yesterday.
BPI Chair Ged Doherty began the formal proceedings by acknowledging the criticisms made about the BRIT Awards earlier this year in terms of the annual back-slapping bash’s failure to recognise many of the stars of the UK’s vibrant urban music scene.
Doherty conceded that some of these criticisms were valid, adding that he hoped the solution was to ensure a more diverse BRITS Academy, the big block of industry and media types who vote for most of the awards. To that end the Academy is being overhauled, updates on which were promised soon, and – Doherty added – the impact of that should be seen in next year’s nominations.
BPI CEO Geoff Taylor also talked about the need to assure a more diverse music industry, backing UK Music’s previously reported work in this space, and also calling on government to ensure that all young people had equal access to a good creative education, expressing concerns that recent education reforms were doing the opposite of this.
Indeed, he said, changes in education funding were creating challenges for the BRITs School, the BPI-backed South London facility that has educated a long line of popstars and leading names across all the creative industries, and which remains proud of one of its key USP, ie that the education it provides young creative people is free of charge.
The AGM’s keynoter, the UK’s new Minister For Digital And Culture, Matt Hancock MP, in a supportive if commitment-light speech, also honed in on the diversity point. He said that we need to “spread opportunity to all, not just the privileged few, and in my view it is the very real responsibility of everyone in this room to be a force for social mobility in Britain. No one should be excluded because of their accent, or their postcode, or the colour of their skin”.
He went on: “On stage talent is often diverse, but let’s make sure not only that it remains that way, but that it’s matched by equal diversity behind the scenes, in the boardroom as well as backstage. I feel incredibly strongly about this agenda. There is already some great work going on, but this is still not enough, because music can’t be the preserve of the privileged. Are you doing all that you can to blast open the doors to this industry? I want the answer to that question to unambiguously be yes, because the music industry is not just an industry in the economic sense, it defines how we’re seen as a nation, and how we see ourselves as individuals, as communities and as a country”.
Rousing stuff, hey, even if he did ruin it slightly by then quoting Bono. But, Hancock added, a truly diverse music industry was more important than ever now we have bloody Brexit. Because, in the post-Referendum era, he said, “it is more important than ever that we are, and that we are seen as, and that we insist on being an open, outward looking, progressive, global country; that’s what Britain does when we’re at out best, and we can do that from government, and we can make this case, but by God you can make this case as well, and people are going to listen to what you say and what you do because you can reach all parts”.
Concluding, he said he liked the idea of Britain’s creative industries being the country’s “global calling card”, urging the industry to “find all the raw talent in our nation” and to communicate “our positive story out to the world. Everyone in this room, you move us, you thrill us, you make us dance and sing, you are some of our finest ambassadors, so let’s spread these opportunities to everybody, let’s make UK music go from strength to strength, and in that goal I’ll be on your side”.
So there you go. Let’s educate. Let’s be diverse. Though obviously, more than anything else, please don’t try doing anything too creative and interesting in the London borough of Islington.
