Front page of the org - music thingy

[moncur]

Just thought some of you may be interested in this

http://arts.caithness.org/article.php?id=314

first thing that springs to mind is rehearsal space.

[Jeid]

I wonder if it's run the same way as GoNorth is run for Highland Bands... You can bet your ass about 75% of that money is already spent.

At the end of the day... it'll come down to a little group of people to decide, and it'll probably go on pish.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Glad to see you're paying attention to the bigger picture, moncur. I've tried to answer this piece on a different forum, so I'll just reprint that, rather than paraphrase the whole thing over again (I've done it to death)...


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There's obviously some debate about what this initial £500,000 will do for the music industry. Its not clear just yet, as Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise have still to decide how best to do this. I'd agree that half a million is not going to change the world, but after a great deal of lobbying by music industry people, the Minister for Enterprise has made good his promise. Its up to us all to do participate and do something that will make an impact, and ensure we can do something sustainable for the industry.

How?

Well, its not about short-term goals; a few grants to bands to play some gigs, or subsidy to a promoter to put some gigs on in smaller towns and villages. How do we ensure Scotland can retain some of the wealth generated by our artists success? It's about working with businesses that want to grow, providing them access to venture capital, innovation, training and development. Support for appropriate showcases and the chance to export more of our music to a global market. And in doing so, provide more opportunity for amazing talent we have in Scotland.

The Scottish Music Industry Association will shortly start operation. For the first time, there will be a real link between the industry and the public sector. In doing so, we will provide a better infrastructure to support the talent. Utopian maybe, but worth a shot.

This is an interesting time for music in Scotland. Yes, if government tinkers with the talent, the music, the content, whatever, it becomes a joke. (Red Wedge, Cool Britannia, etc) This is not the intention; which is why it should be made clear this initiative will focus predominantly on the business side. If we get this working, the funding might last just as long..

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The question now is who gets help, and how. The SAC has come under a lot of fire for giving a lot of cash to artists who clearly don't need the help, so what's the conditions? who can apply? etc., is what we need to know. And now.

[Jeemag_USA]

Yeah I think good quality rehearsal areas in towns for bands would be ideal, and the first thing they should look at. It seems its an age old problem to find somewhere to rehearse big enough, and in such a place as to not have people complaining about the noise.

I'd also give some to Gleber2 to build a concert hall on Dunnet Head [lol]

[the_big_mac]

Well it wont happen unless we try and get some of that moola!

Incidentally, ive just sent the bloke and email ;)

musicfutures@hient.co.uk

[the_big_mac]

Finally got a reply from the funders on this.

As expected we get next to nothing donated to the community to improve facilities.

All the money will be invested in business that promote Scottish music that have a proven business track record with plans to expand.

They have asked that the report, attached to the email, not be published on the web until they launch this thing in June.

However, if you would like a copy then PM and i'll email it on.

Incidentally the funding for businesses is actually quite substantial, although I cant think of anyone that has such a thing up here now.