Music and the Economy

Kerry McCarthy Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

It is a delight to appear under your chairmanship once again, Mrs Brooke. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams) on securing this important debate. The fact that so many hon. Members have attended, intervened and made speeches shows that there is large-scale recognition throughout the House of the success of the music industry, and support for it.

I wish Ben Adams the best of luck in his music career. I shall look out for Summer City, which has a ring to it. I can just hear the late Saturday night programme announcer saying, “We’ve got Ben Adams from Summer City coming on next,” and people will stay through the advert break to hear what he says.

I congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) and for Wirral West (Esther McVey) on their important contributions. Obviously, I go regularly to the Aldeburgh festival, which is probably one of the world’s leading classical music festivals. When my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West recalled The Beatles, that made me recall a recent visit to Abbey Road studios, which I think still has the largest recording studio in the world. Hon. Members may have seen the George Harrison documentary recently, with the extraordinary pictures of The Beatles recording in Abbey Road. The studios still have the piano on which “Eleanor Rigby” was composed—a piano built in 1902. If hon. Members can find any excuse to visit Abbey Road studios, I would urge them to do it.

We talked about the huge success of the British music industry—and it is a staggering success, with almost £4 billion of sales. Britain is the only country apart from the United States and Sweden that is a net exporter of music, and although the major record labels may no longer be owned by UK companies, it is heartening that Beggars Banquet, the largest independent label, has had such astonishing success working with that amazing artist Adele. That leads me on to the point that was made about Andy Heath taking the helm at UK Music, following Feargal Sharkey’s resignation. I pay tribute to Mr Sharkey’s astonishing record in leading the UK music industry, and herding cats in putting things together. He was ably assisted by his second in command Jo Dipple, who I know will continue to play an important role.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

I, too, pay tribute to Feargal Sharkey. The Minister rightly talks about our success in exporting albums, but I understand that if we were to take away from the equation Adele, Amy Winehouse and Coldplay, and a few other big names, we would be doing a lot worse. Does he share my concern that things are increasingly difficult for struggling artists, some of whom, in the independent sector, have made the greatest contribution because of their influence? They struggle in today’s climate, and we are in a world where only “The X Factor”-type bands and the huge sellers such as Adele and Coldplay can survive.

[Mr Vaizey]

We have a thriving and vibrant music scene, and no individual singer or band is guaranteed success, but it is reassuring to me—I happen to be a fan of “The X Factor”, but people understandably say it should not be the future of UK music—that Adele and other stars have risen. Adele, I think, is the biggest selling artist in the world at the moment; that is an astonishing achievement. Obviously, the Government cannot dictate who is going to survive and thrive, but that is testament to the fact that we have a vibrant music ecology in this country.

I know that the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) has concerns about visa issues. It is important that bands in this country should have the opportunity to tour the world, and I am happy to continue working with her on the question of jurisdictions where it might be difficult for bands to get the appropriate visas—perhaps for understandable reasons.