Senior industry representatives gathered yesterday for a music summit at the behest of DTI and DCMS ministers and presented a package of measures that government could deliver to help the music sector as it continues its transition from analogue to digital. 

Ministers Shaun Woodward, Malcolm Wicks and David Lammy, as well as Will Hutton from the Work Foundation, called the meeting with the music industry to receive proposals for growing the music industry in advance of the publication this summer of a Green Paper on the Creative Economy.

Industry policy proposals ranged from a fair contracting framework for creators, affordable rehearsal space, tax incentives to encourage A&R investment, reform of the copyright tribunal and a robust and enforceable IP framework.

Emma Pike, Chief Executive of British Music Rights, said:  “No industry can insulate itself from the realities of digital technology and global trading.  The challenge for industry is to find ways to grow the legitimate digital music market, giving consumers the choice they want, while continuing to be able to invest in the talent and creativity of the musicians who create the content in the first place.  The challenge for Government is to build a robust infrastructure around the digital marketplace, so that businesses can continue to invest with confidence.  It is this mature partnership that will create the right conditions for music to not only to survive, but to thrive in the next decade.”

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of the BPI, said: “Government has an important role to play in helping Britain's music and wider creative industries to prosper in the digital environment. The Creative Economy Programme is an opportunity for policy makers, working with the wider music industry, to demonstrate that they appreciate the cultural and economic contributions of creators and creative businesses and to develop policy proposals that provide us with the education and enforcement tools we need to maximise the huge potential of British music in the digital age.”

Fran Nevrkla, Chairman and CEO of PPL and VPL, said: “"The Music Summit was an opportunity for Ministers to hear from the industry first hand. The creative economy is fundamental to the future of the UK and it is good to see the Government beginning to respond to this new direction and understand just how much of a key economic driver the music business in particular is. The next phase, we hope, is a Green Paper that genuinely helps to strengthen all the businesses that make our creative industries the success that they are, both domestically and internationally."

Alison Wenham, Chairman and CEO of AIM, said: “The forthcoming Green Paper on support for the creative industries is good news for the music industry. Much of what AIM has consistently lobbied for is now firmly on the government agenda.”

David Ferguson, Chairman of the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, said: “In big business deals, unfair contracting is dealt with in the courts. In the digital environment, hundreds of thousands of deals and micro deals need to take place and a fair regulatory steer will make things run more smoothly and allow small players to compete.”

Robin Millar, representing the Music Producers’ Guild, said: “The Green Paper should assist an environment in which new creativity can flourish. That means protecting IP and making sure that space and expertise is available to creative people”.

Stephen Navin, CEO of the Music Publishers Association, said: “The Government rightly proclaims the value and importance of the creative industries and, hopefully, the Green paper will be the ultimate manifestation of its willingness to engage and partner – among other things - in education, export, fit for purpose regulation, and indirect incentives, such as the excellent Enterprise Investment Scheme to stimulate investment in the organised anarchy of the business of composing and publishing the music of the future”.

John Smith, General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union, said: “The Green Paper represents a real opportunity for the government to show tangible support for the music industry. We particularly want to see a framework for fair contractual practices to be introduced in order to assist creators in realising the potential of their creations.”

Following the summit, industry representatives joined MPs in the House of Commons for an All Party Music Group debate on “The Creative Process: an audacious leap of the imagination OR the judicious use of cut and paste?” The debate, chaired by John Robertson MP, featured Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Russell Taylor and Charles Peattie, the duo behind the Alex cartoon, and Robin Millar, producer of Sade’s double platinum album “Diamond Life”.

Ends.

For further information, please contact British Music Rights on 020 7306 4446 or email: britishmusic@bmr.org.

Notes to editors

• The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters represents the interests of over 2,000 music writers. Members range from professional composers and songwriters to those navigating the music industry for the first time.
• British Music Rights (BMR) was established in 1996 to speak on behalf of the UK’s songwriting, composing and music publishing community. BMR comprises four member organisations: the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS), the Music Publishers Association (MPA) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). BMR acts as a single consensus voice for more than 50,000 composers, songwriters, music publishers, and their UK collecting societies.
• The Music Producers Guild (UK) promotes and represents all individuals in the music production and recording professions. It is a professional organisation that embodies collective and individual creative contributions to the production and recording of all genres of music and media related activities.
• The Musicians' Union represents over thirty thousand musicians working in all sectors of the music business. As well as negotiating on behalf of its members with all the major employers in the industry, the Musicians’ Union offers a range of services for professional and student musicians of all ages.
• The BPI is the British record industry's trade association. Its membership comprises of hundreds of music companies including all four 'major' record companies, associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies representing literally thousands of labels. The BPI has represented the interests of British record companies since being formally incorporated in 1973 when our principal aim was to fight the growing problem of music piracy.
• The Association of Independent Music (AIM) is a non-profit-making trade organisation for independent record companies and distributors in the UK. AIM represents 25% of the UK market, with over 850 members of all sizes and musical genres.