This week’s blog post explains the rationale behind the Musicians’ Union Fair Play Venues scheme. Sheena Macdonald – Musicians’ Union Regional Organiser for Scotland and Northern Ireland – discusses the background to the scheme and opportunities for musicians to participate. I came to my job at the Musicians’ Union (MU) as a fan, a fan of live music. And like …
Neil Cooper is an arts journalist and critic who writes extensively for The Herald, The List and other publications in Scotland and beyond. Active in promoting, and protecting, Scotland’s live music scene, he provides an overview here of the rich variety of musical assets in Edinburgh – and the challenges they face.
Throwing A Lifeline To Grass Roots Music Venues – Horace Trubridge
Horace Trubridge, Assistant General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union reflects on his experience of music venues and the increasingly challenging environment in which they operate. He suggests that if a healthy grass roots live scene is key to the emergence of the talent which fuels the music industry, shouldn’t the industry be doing more to help?
Towards the close of 2014, Pompaloose’s Jack Conte posted a detailed breakdown of their 23 date US tour income and costs, and provoked a lively blogosphere debate. With the dust settled, Live Music Exchange’s Professor Simon Frith discusses what can be learned from the post and the spectrum of perspectives it mobilised.