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BBC TRUST SERVICE REVIEW: NETWORK MUSIC RADIO BBC Radio1, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio2, BBC Radio3, BBC 6Music and BBC Asian Network

I. ABOUT BASCA

BASCA, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, is the professional association for music writers of all genres in the UK. With approximately 1,700 members, it is the single voice for British music creators.

BASCA works to foster a sense of community amongst songwriters, lyricists and composers, and to campaign on their behalf in the domestic, European and international political arenas. As the only association in the country made up entirely of music writers, the organisation has an unparalleled insight into the issues affecting music creators in the UK today. We work closely with our members, keeping them informed in a constantly changing environment via our publications, websites, seminars and professional networking events. BASCA also presents the Ivor Novello Awards, British Composer Awards and Gold Badge Awards annually.

Membership of BASCA is open to working songwriters who are members of a royalty collection society, such as PRS for Music, BMI or ASCAP.

BASCA Fellows: John Adams, David Arnold, Sir Malcolm Arnold, John Barry, Don Black, Pierre Boulez, Sir John Dankworth, David Ferguson, George Fenton, Sir Elton John, Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Sir Tim Rice.

For more information about us, please refer to the following website: www.basca.org.uk.

II. BASCA MEMBERS and the BBC RADIO SERVICES

BASCA’s membership is divided in major genre groups: songwriters, classical, jazz and media members, all of which are either professionals, standard members or digital members. BASCA exists to support and protect the artistic, professional, commercial and copyright interests of its members. Since our professional membership now represents 63% of the total membership, a concern is on whether our members receive equitable remuneration under their commercial agreements. It is essential to our members that they benefit from all opportunities to be rewarded for the performance, reproduction and making available of their works to enable them to sustain their professional careers. Most of our professional members are members of PRS for Music, who have granted the BBC a blanket licence which covers them for the use of their repertoire on non- commercial public service activities including radio services. We are very supportive of the BBC and commend the range of music services and opportunities it offers to our members and musicians worldwide. We do however have a few comments to make.

BBC Radio1 Radio1 has successfully maintained an impressive audience statistic of nearly 11million listeners each week, however we understand they have as yet been unable to bring down the average age of its listeners to the target audience of under 30. Despite this we still believe Radio1 is serving the requirements of this age group well;

continually developing new DJ talent who primarily focus their shows on the Radio1 playlist, consisting of top 40 and other commercial music. However, whilst the licence terms for Radio1 require daytime music to contain 40% of music from UK acts, there is little information as to the Radio’s performance in this respect, nor is there any on its ability to meet the broadcasting quota for new and emerging UK artists. This is also the case for the other BBC radio music services and their respective quotas. By way of illustration, 13 of the artists featured on Radio1’s latest Top 40 Charts are British talent, yet there is no mention of this in any official BBC communication.

BBC Radio3 BASCA represents many composers of all genres and has a particular interest in the classical and jazz sector and the future of music on Radio3. We applaud the support BBC Radio3 continues to give as a platform for contemporary classical and jazz composers. The BBC's classical music performing tradition is the envy of the world and there is an illustrious history of important commissions. Its proactive support and development of contemporary jazz performance and composition is also a welcome commitment to the Jazz community. We also welcome Radio3’s licence terms and ambitions to expand listener’s cultural horizons but wish to emphasise that the commissioning relationship between this service and composers and songwriters mentioned above has to be maintained, being underpinned by balanced decisions. Despite the BBC’s insistence that there will be no change to the policy in these areas, we are concerned that the recent reduction in staff and budgetary calculations suffered by the BBC will inevitable see this relationship diminish.

Furthermore, some of our members have expressed concern regarding/discontent over the scheduling programme on BBC Radio3 where they feel under-represented. Indeed, whilst we strongly welcome a purely Jazz-focused show such as Jazz on 3, we feel that the current air time (11 pm on Monday evening) is not the ideal forum for reaching either potential young listeners or older fans since much of the target audience is likely to be asleep. If indeed the aim of Radio3 is to enrich the cultural life of the UK and educate audiences about music, this particular scheduling is a missed opportunity for doing just that. We would suggest that rescheduling this programme to an earlier time would better achieve the licence terms both to the satisfaction of our members and for the benefit of a wider audience and the public in general.

BBC Radio 6Music We also represent many popular songwriter members, many of whom, particularly those starting out on their careers, rely on Radio 6Music for airtime. It is therefore on behalf of these members that we supported the decision by the BBC to maintain Radio 6Music services. Indeed, these services, championed by BASCA member Tom Robinson on The Tom Robinson Show, play an essential part in the promotion of indie bands and showcase the talent which our members incorporates. We can only welcome and encourage the development of alternative music broadcasting and the broadcast of live and specially recorded music alongside that of commercially recorded music.

Suggestions Although the BBC music services are a model of accountability with regards to the music they broadcast and make available, we would like to suggest more transparency in the data that is collected and subsequently accessible regarding the broadcasted content on each radio service. As mentioned above, there is currently little information extracted from the broadcasting data, be it statistics regarding artist demographic or the music genre represented. This renders the task of assessing the application of the licence conditions a difficult one.

Indeed, we believe it is in the interest of all parties involved to be aware of the public service rendered by the radio services and that they are meeting their own licence terms, satisfying their public purpose and the demands of both the public and rightsholders. This would also contribute to the maintenance of the BBC’s good reputation.

III. BASCA MEMBERS SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

We value our good relationship with the BBC and the service they render to the audiences and rightsholders and will endeavor to support their services where we can. Indeed, in the digital economy it is important that stakeholders wishing to use musical works obtain licences, as indeed do BBC Radio Services. Commercial licenses such as these are negotiated privately and are open to flexibility in cases of further technological development. For example, they currently only accommodate online radio services.

We welcome technological developments which allow listeners to consume music digitally and on-demand but would like to emphasise the importance of equitable remuneration for songwriters and composers with these new services. The technological shift provided by developments in the music business mean that songwriters are at risk of being deprived of royalties flowing from online on-demand uses of music which would habitually be licensed and represent an increasing source of income. Indeed, some licensing deals do not always guarantee our members fair remuneration for the use of their works. For example, YouTube, although licensed, is notorious for obtaining very little liability and very low returns to the rightsholder. While we support fully licensed services such as Spotify, Deezer and ITunes the launch of the BBC’s Playlister has rekindled our members’ concerns which also saw this service link to YouTube. This organisation is at the heart of an industry-wide discontent and through its powerful market position it is able to secure terms most favourable to them and not rightsholders. We are concerned that such services and deference/dependence on YouTube/intermediaries might undermine the services the BBC provides all the while enhancing the market power of said intermediaries.

Finally, this new service also raises more technical concerns over the handling of the metadata which is more complicated in cases of classical music along with more complex questions of the rights’ issues involved in the broadcast of recordings which aren’t commercially available.