Ah well. The previously published Music Week advertorial was probably as cost effective for reaching that market.

When introducing Einstellung to Scandinavian delegates representing the heavy rock genres that are prevalent in that part of the world by saying that the band are: “from Birmingham – the home of heavy metal”, I set myself up very well for the conversations that followed.

Promoting a band who are drop tuned to D and rely heavily on colossal slabs of Black Sabbath inspired riffage, but have fused that with grooving krautrock beats to create their trademark “powerkraut” sound was 100% assisted by the fact that they hail from Birmingham – the cradle of rock.

And that got me thinking about strategic marketing of this cities musical assets and, as is often the case, brought me back to the Manchester v Birmingham debate. Manchester trades on its (in global terms) very small impact on global music culture whilst Birmingham sits on the world’s most enduring and influential genre without making much/enough of a fuss about it.

There ARE collective groups in Birmingham such as Music West Midlands, British Midlands Music etc etc . but we should all be members of ONE, where we’re all updated and get to apply for these things. Like now, a lot of us find this out and we look like jokers.

Have a meeting tomorrow about all this with a collective of Brum companies so hopefully we can come together and work out some solutions for this.

All you do is shoot ideas down in flames eh? Maybe you should give the funding – sorry that’s pronounced P.U.B.L.I.C M.O.N.N.E.Y to the bloody bands and let them choose their contractor to put together music industry profile campaigns? That really would be fukng empowering! Guess what, they may find it difficult to see your industry credentials BCC.

Maybe the use of funding to take work away from commercial companies who do consult and put together such industry campaigns and advice is a bit fkng counter competitive? Putz! ShmeckleKop! Maybe any funding that supports the initiation of a resource, production house or equipment hire or services is also counter competitive?

I’m going off on a tangent here? No because when another of your funded projects proudly displays FREE (That’s Free) studio time then guess what? All the other regional studios go a little more out of business – after all, there’s nothing cheaper than free is there Birminghamusic.com? Feh! When you proudly offer free web design on one of your funded projects a web designer cries a little more. Hey I’m all broken up here I hear you say from you £40k a year job. Maybe when you offer business advice thats based on hear say and bull an artist puts themselves at risk a little more. But hey you won’t be around in 5 years when they realise you advice, your business plan your bulsshit publicity has caused them problems – no you’ll be moving up to ‘manage’bigger budgets and do even more damage as a result of your self audited success rate. ‘The public’ fiasco has gone strangely quiet? What happened about that loose change? What was it 50 million?

So supporting creative industries is actually playing God with the natural fckin’ order and delicate ecology of a struggling industry at a difficult time and causing such damaging effects that you are wiping out one set of companies to make way for your own short term controlled set of ‘initiatives’.

These are not creative ‘industry’ head counts, they are funded hobbies for bored accountants and civil servants who are getting fed up with living vicariously through their client base and need a bit of excitement in their otherwise boring little worlds. When was the last time someone gave you some money to buy something for your business? and didn’t just tie you in to some bullshit advice session?

It’s not just the fckin CD in question here – hey wake up and smell the shit hitting the fan here. I’m sure they are all very nice people who really didn’t understand the implication of their stupidity. The bands are fine! Some of them I know! Some are not new and the tracks are old. But ‘the Best’? The fcking BEST? That’s no way to carry on you smucks! Why not go the whole fckng hog and hold an event for the best creative industry company as voted for by themselves and then spend huge amounts of money on a very expensive but not very tasty meal? Oh you do that as well? For this you get money? A wage? A very good wage? Money that could be spent on people who’s job is being threatened by your very job? Who appointed you? I don’t remember being asked! Maybe I was out at the bread shop when you called? Did you leave a message did you ask anyone else? Hey it’s nice to hang around with these people from the creative world but that don’t make you a fcking expert! Where was the open call for tenders when the equal money got dished out? I pay my taxes – most of the time, but hey I have a say here! You are public servants not the other way round you fcking little Ceasars!

Creative types should ask all these ‘providers’ a question – What is your experience in my industry? Would you let an accountant be your dentist – take your tooth out because he had a passing interest? A farmer record your album? A librarian handle your publishing? Would you let an admin worker build your extension because they was bored? Would you let a builder run your music career because he needed some cash? Would you let the receptionist run your business because it looked quite easy? These people they don’t know their RSS from their elbow! And yet they are the online gateway to everything creative in your City? If you want to wine and dine fellow civil servants and councillors – get Tony Fcking Hadley to sing Gold!

Where is their industry background? Do they know how to create a world wide smash? Where is their track record? What tours have they put together and when did they last chase a royalty for their band? At what point does someone ask ‘Do I need this extra tier of Bureaucracy to catch the funding and make ill informed decisions about MY industry? At what point does someone become accountable? Advice on industries they have never worked in as a practitioner? Curating exhibitions they have no place to curate?. Taking on the role of A&R for the music industry? Seeking the ‘opinion’ of ‘tastemakers’ – Can’t find that one in Wikipedia sorry?! Making decisions on public art? Making decisions on live music events with no experience? Using an equal opportunities policy as a guide for quality and inclusive/ exclusiveness? The list of crimes goes on. Remove these jobs and guess what…The world carries on and our industry does ok thank you. After the gold rush or when the gold rush becomes property development we will still be here working in OUR industry. Stick to the job you applied for putz and stop winging already – this particular debate just may be the last straw?

Four legs good, two legs bad!

How many more “projects” like this compilation CD will continue to waste money, time and resources.

How many more “projects” will be initiated without proper research, consultation, strategy, evaluation.

When is someone going to come out and just say the word “failure” or “we don’t actually know what we’re doing” or “it hasn’t worked” or “we wasted the money” or “we spent it on admin” or ” we took the wages, took the holiday and took you all for a ride”

When is someone going to admit to these funded projects being just “window dressing on a sinking ship?”

When will the excuses, the spin, the justification, the stupid reasons stop?
When will we just get a straight admission of failure?

When are these people going to get out of the way so the rest of us can get on with more important work?

Is this what “BE” in Birmingham is all about
Be fXXked by the people in charge of the funding?

Is this what Birmingham “the creative city” is all about? Creative use of public funds/European funds to give ourselves an easy interesting job at the expense of everyone else?

Birminghamusic, creative management, creative launchpad, creative alliance, creative insight, gigbeth, and all the rest…. When are these projects going to be exposed for what they really are and what they actually do…or don’t do as the case may be….When are the jokers going to be cleared aside so the individuals and companies who do the REAL work in the region can get on and make a success of something without being marginalised by the sheer volume of noise being generated by these funded projects that as far as I can see have done nothing that isn’t already happenning anyway.

I don’t want to hear anymore about what these projects are doing to promote growth in the region. What is it again? 11% growth every year thanks to all these projects? 15%? 20%? Has anyone got an accurate figure?

I want all of these projects to be removed for 12 months in order to demonstrate one simple thing. Economic Growth in the region will continue to grow at 11% or 15% 0r 20% regardless and these projects are not contributing in any way to the figure. We’re all being fooled and like idiots, we’re all just nodding and smiling and taking it.

I want a demonstration that all these funded projects are not actually doing anything at all apart from spending money.

But of course that won’t happen will it? Its just an opinion. It’s just a comment. What’s on telly tonight? Going anywhere nice for your holiday? How’s the weather? Perhaps I’ll go and post another item to my blog, in a day or two I can return and read it again…to myself. Ha ha

excellent, what criteria did you use or what process did you go through to come up with “best new bands”?

Tom said
“to represent excellence in one genre, and one which is very popular and of the moment.”
again how was this decided upon? Press? sales? Radio play? Guess?

Tom Said
“For your information, I happen to know for a fact that John Mostyn WAS offered the chance to get involved with this CD at the start, but wasn’t interested.”
Do you have that in writing? Who else was invited to be involved, do they have Names? Who said yes and who said no? Did you consult local record labels? Local music promoters? Local music networks? any networks?

Did anyone go to The Music Network meetings and mention this CD? Creative networks? Any Networks? Digital Central?

Tom Said “I also happen to know that a number of tastemakers in the Birmingham music industry were asked for their recommendations.”
First of all what do you mean by the word “Tastemaker”
Is that critic, opinion leader, most powerful? What is it? Hello?

On the other point, thats great, if you happen to know then I’m sure you won;t mind revealing the list. I’ve just phoned all the people I know and none of my contacts had any involvement. Admittedly the phonecalls I made numbered about 3.

Tom said
“Everyone seems to agree there are some great acts on the CD, so what is wrong with giving them a platform?” can you tell me WHO agrees there are some great acts on the CD? Do they have Names? How many agree?

Tom Said”It always seems in Birmingham that whenever anyone tries to do something positive, it’s shot down in political flames by cronies who think they could do it better themselves.”

I think you’ve got it wrong Tom. I think most people are afraid to do anything that involves consultation as they want control and credit for what they do…they can’t have others telling them any different. It’s all about ticking boxes and maintaining effective control and management of a “spend” This is why Birmingham has struggled for so long. Things like “do your research” “Consultation” “formulate a strategy” execute your strategy” “evaluate and learn the lessons” never seem to be involved.

Tom Said “Well guys, if you think you could put a better CD on the cover of Music Week then why don’t you do it?”
No problem at all, give me the budget and I’ll happily organise it, and i’m sure everyone would be interested in contributing to the process. It’s not that difficult at all. I’ve released all sorts of cds in the last ten years on my own label and worked with many others.

Tom said “You obviously have the connections to pull strings with various people, so why not do something for a change instead of shooting down people who are trying to do something good?”

I think you’ll find I already am doing something good and I’ve had my fair share of cronies on my back too….but my job is made so much harder by jokers jumping in and making Birmingham a harder place to work in. If you would like my CV and a list of things I have been doing since 1996 I would be happy to supply it.

If you would be interested in consulting with me FOR FREE next time please do so. But if you prefer me to bill you for my time I can arrange that.

What is the benefit of cover mounting a CD on music week? What value do such things have, given that most people in the music industry are swimming in the things? And how much does this cost?

Further to this, what value does a CD on it’s own with no accompanying article putting it in context have?

Would it not have been possible for the design of the CD to be a little less amateurish? From the pixelation of the cover to the repeating figures inside (albeit rotated ever so slightly). Not to mention the illegible font (I don’t think Blur was intended for blocks of text).

If the city’s tastemakers were consulted (and I have no reason to doubt this) then why not quote them on the CD? The two quotes are from Brian Travers of UB40 (okay though not very current really) and council leader Mike Whitby (that well known hipster).

That’ll do for now.

It’s not so much people shooting this down in political flames for the sake of it. It’s people wanting something good but smashing their heads against the walls wailing “what the fuck!” as another opportunity is spectacularly missed.

(My biggest criticism – it’s a CD. Stop making CDs. They’re redundant. Or if you are going to make a CD fill it with 140 mp3s and really represent Birmingham.)