6Music proposed closure
Thursday, 4 March, 2010
As music lovers in the nation would already know, the BBC Director-General, Mark Thompson has made proposals for the closure of 6music. I feel very strongly about this, and have been compelled to write a letter to the BBC about this. Even if Essay Like Nephew are no longer, I feel a great deal of loyalty for the experience they have given us directly, in the case of our radio plays, and indirectly through providing the stage that we played at in Glastonbury.
For those who want to help to campaign against this closure, I urge you to visit this Facebook page as a first port of call.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I felt compelled to respond to the proposed closure of 6Music, as a musician and as a beneficiary of their activities. I am extremely grateful to the people who work at 6music who support programs like BBC Introducing in bringing new, under the radar music to a wider audience. Tom Robinson on 6music gave my band our first ever radio play, which gave us a confidence we never had before. The next year, with thanks to a local BBC radio station, we were playing at the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury (2009), heavily supported by 6music who gave the best acts on that stage prominence. We met Tom Robinson who gave us the advice and confidence we needed to proceed with getting our music "out there".
Although our band has changed in formation, and are changing direction for our own reasons, I feel an enormous sense of allegiance to 6music and the music culture that they help to foster, and I believe there are many artists who feel this. The BBC Introducing program and 6music provide a vital and vibrant platform for new acts to prove their worth to the nation. Names such as The Ting Tings and Speech Debelle are recently "made" acts who owe some of their success to this station. It is no surprise that established artists such as David Bowie, Lilly Allen and RadioHead have come out to voice their concerns about the proposals. David Bowie says on his website: "6music keeps the spirit of broadcasters like John Peel alive and for new artists to lose this station would be a great shame". - I have always seen 6Music as the station that has taken on what I see as the institution built by John Peel, and I am not surprised that Mr Bowie and other established artists feel the same. 6Music provides a space for up-and-coming bands to break through into prominence, where their music is only judged on merit, not on sales and perceived popularity. Without it, I fail to see how independent bands can find success, and British music culture will be poorer as a result.
The music industry is today less driven by big budgets and big labels pushing their songs to be played on radio, but more by independent musicians and labels promoting themselves through channels like 6Music, in the knowledge that their music will be judged on merit alone. The first generation of music acts that owe their success to 6Music and their supported projects are coming into maturation today. These are the Blurs and Radioheads of tomorrow. I sincerely fear if 6music closes, several years later, listeners of other radio stations will start to wonder where the new, exciting music has gone. It would be because that link between the national audience and those who play music without the money has been broken.
I pray that the BBC management, through this consultation, can now see the unique contribution that 6Music makes to music culture in this country.
Thank you for listening,
Kind regards,
Tommy Kaneko
formerly of the band "Essay Like Nephew"
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It would be so bad without 6music
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