AIM, the Association of Independent Music, is the umbrella organisation for indie labels. They organise networking events, among other things, of course, for us indie labels on a regular basis. One such event took place this week at the Beeb, where we got to meet the Radio 1 crew. Lots of flashy presentations and chat about how the station works and how and why it wants to support independent music and how we can service it to them.

The perception in the indie community, of course, is that they only play major label records. But that’s not the whole picture. There are a whole bunch of ways for everyone to get a slice a da pie. Admittedly, the biggest slice goes to, and I paraphrase George Ertagoudis, the head of music at R1, from memory: ”the really popular records that our listeners like hearing”. Those records are mainly made by the very popular major label artists.

Shocking news. To think that radio actually would want to play records that people really like listening to! As opposed to my record that I like listening to!

The favourite gripe amongst those trying to get their music heard is that they believe there is a massive conspiracy to help shit songs gain lots of airplay so that the population gets brainwashed into loving them. Now, I like a good consipiracy theory, but according to the peeps at the Beeb, one doesn’t exist. My own experience of trying to get records played on the radio is that it’s hard work no matter who your co-conspirators are.

With so much music being made by so many artists signed to so many different kinds of labels – ALL of them believing that their music is the legit shit – it’s very very difficult for the radio guys to choose what to play. Indeed, it’s clear to me that radio itself is confused about what radio is, how it’s experienced by its listeners, what keeps them tuning back in. Indeed, what keeps them from tuning back in.

Looking at the process from the point of view of the radio station is educational. The Beeb has much more of a public duty than we always give it credit for. It would appear that they take it seriously. They serve a lot of communities in music. As much as I’d like to hear my favourite bossa nova jazz records on the radio, I can’t really argue against the fact that more people want to hear Lady Gaga. The Beeb plays a balancing act to accommodate us all. Long may they be able to continue to serve the country.

Brian Eno was in the papers talking about how recorded music is whale blubber. As in, back the day you could get rich selling whale blubber to be used as fuel, but when gas came along, the guy selling the whale blubber was fucked, obviously. He goes on to say that eventually something will replace recorded music. The party (as in the party of getting rich from selling recorded music) is over.

On the face of it, with declining sales and all that malarkey, so it would appear. But it’s equally true that recorded music has never enjoyed more prominence in our lives. Way more so than when I was a kid. The age of recorded music is about as over as war and famine.

I can use whatever source of energy to heat my house, just as long as it heats it, I don’t care – apart from environmental concerns. That’s another topic on another blog. But only certain types of music stoke the fire in my soul. Music is not a commodity. If I really really want to hear a certain track by a certain artist and there exists the technology to make me pay for the pleasure… it looks like the beginning of another, possibly bigger, party. Innit?

Of course, he is the music industry’s official genius. I’m just the best squash player in Greenwich…

In the article, he spoke about producing Coldplay and U2 at the same time. He had to be careful about labeling the backing tracks on his laptop, because the all sounded so similar that he couldn’t tell which band was which. Ahem… no wonder he feels (hopes, perhaps?) that the age of recorded music is over.