Arts: Funding

Lord Colwyn Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Colwyn]

My Lords, I take the opportunity that this debate, expertly introduced by the noble Earl, allows to remind your Lordships of the significant contribution of jazz to the economy. According to a new survey carried out by Mykaell Riley and Dave Laing at the University of Westminster for Jazz Services, called Value of Jazz in Britain II, jazz is worth more than £80 million to the British economy. There is an increased interest in jazz among the 15 to 34 age group and a rise in the number of women active in jazz. Yet, most British jazz musicians earn a wage below the national average. The report found that jazz contributes to economic, educational and cultural life at all levels. I declare an interest as a very mediocre jazz musician myself; co-chairman of the All-Party Jazz Appreciation Group, which is supported by PPL; a patron, along with the noble Lords, Lord Bragg and Lord Puttnam, of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra; and as someone involved with the Yamaha annual jazz scholarships for young people.

There is an active jazz scene in all major UK cities. Musicians with established reputations and young musicians, many with great flair and originality, seek a serious audience who can understand and enjoy their music. Many UK jazz musicians have developed international reputations for live performance and have recordings that are seen and bought by a worldwide audience. Every year there are jazz festivals all over the country, many featuring some of the finest jazz musicians in the world. More than 3 million people patronise these events with five times that number expressing a definable interest in jazz.

While jazz continues to attract these audiences, 80 per cent of its musicians earn less than £25,000 a year. This is not helped by the current economic climate where there seems to be increasing public reluctance to pay for music. Yet falling CD sales in a download culture are having a smaller impact on jazz income than might have been expected, and ticket sales and public and private subsidy all showed modest but significant increases between 2005 and 2008. The report also reveals a thriving small-scale recording scene among British jazz musicians with widespread and growing use of the internet to sell recorded music.

A different kind of jazz venue has emerged located in a church, library, museum or community centre in response to the new licensing law’s red-tape challenge to pub gigs. Jazz festivals also expanded and brought new money. The current situation over the licensing of live music, which has had such a detrimental effect on young musicians, is confusing. My noble friend Lord Clement-Jones is waiting for the second Second Reading of his Live Music Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, was encouraging in June 2009, and the coalition Administration have made sympathetic noises, but the problem is not resolved. The Licensing Minister, John Penrose, has suggested that plans to cut red tape for live music are out of his hands and are dependent on consent from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office. In a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday 25 January, he referred to the many aspects of licensing for live music that are covered by existing legislation, but live music at small events is not exempt. The only arguable justification for a licensing regime pre-emptively criminalising the provision of live music subject to prior consent from the public or the local authority, or both, is where there is the potential for a significant negative impact on the local community that cannot be adequately regulated by existing legislation. This is clearly not the case for the vast majority of small gigs taking place within reasonable hours. It would be very helpful if the Minister would write to me with an easy-to-read explanation of the current licensing situation on live music and small venue exemptions.

The annual turnover of the jazz sector of the British music industry is in excess of £88 million. The report by Jazz Services, as part of its Arts Council England development project, found that sales of CDs through shops and websites and at gigs reached almost £40 million, while ticket sales for jazz concerts and festivals were worth £22.5 million. The report estimated that there were 45,000 jazz performances per year in the UK and that jazz received more than £4 million per year in public funding and a much smaller amount in commercial sponsorship. Audience research on music and other art forms showed that more than 3 million adults had attended at least one jazz performance in the previous year, with a core audience for jazz estimated at 500,000 compared to 400,000 for classical music concerts and 100,000 for folk music events. I hope that the Arts Council will recognise this when the new funding arrangements are considered in March.