The Birminghamusic.com studio, previously blogged about in Feb is up and running. This space is free to use for any musicians who are registered with Birminghamusic . Contact admin@birminghamusic.com for details.
Here’s the news item (which doubles up as a profile of Mike Levell), but hurry. I’ve discovered they delete their news after a short period of time, consigning all that information to the trash can of electronic history. Bad form.
My first reaction to this is – “Why is it free?!”
Surely this will just put other well established studios under pressure. Is the cost of hire really a barrier to musicians who already spend hundreds on equipment?
It’s an interesting situation. One assumes they’ve got a pot of money to support struggling musicians who can’t afford to hire studio time, and that’s a good thing, but by opening this up to anyone who joins the site it could be perceived as damaging local businesses. Maybe there’s a means testing system in place. Which begs the question, why not do a deal with the established studios instead of setting up a new one?
Of course we don’t know how the studio came into being. Maybe they got gifted a load of equipment rather than the cash.
Funded though European ‘Equal’ funds administered? by BCC methinks.
Strange how a European funding stream specifically destined for those on the fringes of society and in need of help to access the mainstream media should end up funding a web site that uses such outdated music genres as ‘Asian’ in Birmingham in 2007.
In fact many questions can reasonably be put re this sad saga of BCC/popular music industry interface. Should they be put or should we just move on bearing in mind that this stream of funding ends this year and a million £’s or so has gone to nothing or perhaps in fact worse but sure isn’t coming back?
Anyone got the energy and time to go wade through this muddy swamp of public embarrassment ?
Go on, put the questions. If you don’t then they’ll just make the same mistakes again and again.
I understand the site is relaunching in September, presumably as a final self-sustaining site once the funding ends, so it wouldn’t be a waste of time putting forward some views.
Know what you mean but it could still well be a waste of time as once the domain is owned and administered by a private company then they won’t have to answer to anyone and as they haven’t whilst being publicly funded I think the chance of a dialogue and any changes now is very slim. This operation has consistently chosen not to liase with even other BCC funded music projects never mind those with a clue or two in the private sector. It’ll be over by next Spring – let it go. Could just draw it to the attention of the City Auditor and ask for a report. Then the City ends up in Private Eye and who knows where else again and what good does that do?
Putting Birminghamusic.com to one side for a moment, I still think it’s worth articulating these ideas so they become part of a wider debate. I’m starting to think publicly funded projects aren’t systemically blinkered but they people involved can only deal with so much so they shut out the extraneous noise of people moaning. If such concerns are out there and being debated then they become easier to digest.
And that’s why I want everyone to blog!
In the spirit of not moaning that Festival of Extreme Building does look cool and is Equal funded so here’s to people geting it right.
Just echoing the comments by John Mostyn about funded free studios taking work away from commercial studios. I’m a music producer and member of the Scottish Parliamentary Cross Party Committee on the Music Industry in Scotland and have raised the same point, and made myself a ‘wee bit’ unpopular to vested interests as a result. I feel the same about music college studios actually. As a recipient of many applications for work at my own studio I wonder how I can supply real world training and jobs to graduates when educational establishments seem to be actively undermining my studio in the same way. It may be a partisan point but if commercial studios were ‘also’ supported, people like me could actually be in a position to train and employ more engineers/producers as a result. Everyday I hear of well established studios closing down. Where are the jobs of the future going to be for the legions of new engineers and budding producers that are graduating every year? These short sighted policies actually harm commercial studios, and in my opinion offer false hopes of a career to graduates as a result.