Adam Thompson
Main Page: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)(3 days, 2 hours ago)
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Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)
I spent my youth in the grassroots music scene playing in bands and putting on shows with my friends. The music was rough, the gear rarely worked, and if we got one lonely punter who was not a family member turn up we considered that a win.
The DIY music scene was where my journey into politics began, in a hardcore punk band writing songs about our disenfranchisement from the world around us; we were kids expressing ourselves with electric guitars and microphones. Indeed, I often think how many colleagues in the House cut their political teeth in the debating chamber of the Oxford Union and others cut theirs on the floor of the Trades Union Congress. I cut mine in a mosh pit, with a microphone in my hand and music in my heart, covered in other people’s sweat and blowing out my vocal cords, screaming nonsense like, “The nurse will rise.”
When I grew up, a band could release an album and go on tour in medium-sized venues. While they would not necessarily become rich, at least they were able to get by. Today, though, with the proliferation of streaming services and the erosion of the value of ticket and merchandise sales, live acts can barely break even on music streams, and venues are closing. Many acts operate in pay-to-play environments, losing money every time they play.
While pay-to-play is indicative of a failing industry, its existence has long been true in small venues for small bands. But I understand that this year Glastonbury was pay-to-play even for some of the biggest acts. Indeed, The Independent recently reported that one act had spent £80,000 of their own money on a Glastonbury set while smaller acts were offered just £250 to play one of the smaller stages, and not even given enough tickets to cover the whole band. This is a deeply unsustainable system that freezes out all but those with the private means to pay their own way. It is killing our creativity.
Madam Deputy Speaker, have you noticed how in recent years there has been a rise in the number of solo artists and a decline in the number of bands? In my view, the effect is born out of not only a change in music tastes, but simple economics. If a promoter is paying £100 to an act to play, a solo act takes home £100 while a five-piece act scrapes by with a measly £20 each. I had that experience personally—exactly, in fact, the one time that my band were paid anything for a gig—and it did not even cover our train tickets to the city we played in.
As colleagues look forward to the summer recess, I would like to make a request of everyone. Please go and see a band this summer, preferably in a small venue, and preferably a band you have never heard of. Please buy some of their merchandise and tell them they were good, even if they were not—especially if they were not. Without Ellie Dixon, there is no Chappell Roan. Without Not Right there is no Bikini Kill, and without Nurse Joy there is no Red Hot Chili Peppers. Please support the grassroots—it is everything.
