For the longest time, I have personally noticed the recent decline in both the interest in Live Music and its presence in local clubs and pubs that used to play Live Music every so often. This is quite disheartening as somebody who is personally interested in music and enjoying Cardiff’s music scene.
I think we have all considered at some point in our lives, just to go out and perform in some manner of way, be it with a band, posting videos on YouTube or performing in a show. We have all at some point considered the fame path in life. To be as great as this artist, or that band or this entertainer, but the crushing reality is that life gets in the way, you aren’t considered talented enough or just lack the proper resources. We all grow up fast when facing that answer, we aren’t children anymore and children have to grow up eventually. Plus, everything you attempt to make gets taken away through claiming, your how-to-guide to fame crushed by Disney and Sony, and other people stealing your creative genius for money. It’s everywhere.
In the recent years, interest in a career in the musical arts has dramatically decreased during my time in High School, only 8 people attended a music GCSE and none of us continued with it after Collage. This was because of the lack of musical instruments avaliable due to the price, the lack of funding for these instruments and the ability to perform live music not offered as often.
This view can be seen throughout all of Wales, in High Schools and Collages throughout Cardiff, as many talented musicians turn down the opportunity to continue with their talent or having found a new way to present themselves to an audience thanks to the streaming platforms of TWITCH and YouTube.
Furthermore, thanks to the recent changes in copyright laws, even making yourself known on popular platforms have become increasingly difficult as YouTuber’s who do covers of popular songs are struck down with a copyright claim. There is also an issue with potential, talented musicians becoming disheartened when looking upon the popular, celebrity talent that is prominent today and can find themselves not confident enough to perform in front of a live audience.
In Cardiff, in particular, popular music venues Gwidhiw and Buffalo was shut down, with Buffalo becoming the new WOW and Gwdhiw’s future currently unknown, but bound to be an office building or something.
Information about the clubs closing down can be found on the Location tab of this WordPress. More information about Copyright Law can be found on the Research tab under ‘The Law’.
Evidence of the decrease in Cardiff can be found in numerous newspapers and magazines.
According to the BBC, the Cardiff Music Board is attempting to protect the music scene by holding a meeting with 22 board members and experts from different fields in music. This meeting was held in December 2019. On the National Assembly Website for Wales, there is currently a petition demanding that musical education be better funded for all schools and have said that there has been an evident 40% decline in interest in music. However, at the current moment in 2020, there is only 1743 signatures. The petition ended on 17/05/2019.
Back in March 2017, campaigners took up a fight to protect the Live Music venues in Cardiff according to The Stage website. Even in London, this musical decline, is evident as between 2005 – 2017 the number of music venues that played live music had declined by 35%. In Cardiff, there was plans to open a JD Witherspoons Hotel on Womanby Street, which sparked an outrage with some people starting a petition to stop all plans from the hotel from opening and protecting the music scene as well. They set up a petition, which brought in 7,000 signatures.
In Cardiff, music is a huge part of our city and can also attract tourism from all over the world. According to the BusinessLive website back in November 2019, Live Music is a huge part of ours and the rest of Wales’ economy. In Cardiff, we have large music venues, such as the Motorpoint Arena and the Principality Stadium which hosts some of the largest music artists known to our generation, such as Beyonce and Metallica.
The Government are planning on giving a music fund to schools all throughout Wales, including Cardiff, however it has been noted that this is simply not enough and the overall fund is far too small.
Furthermore, people are no longer interested in seeing small-time talent in pubs and clubs when they can just go and see bigger names in Stadiums and Arenas all throughout Cardiff and Wales.
Cardiff has hosted many famous names in the Motorpoint Arena and the Principality Stadium, including
- Muse (Favourite Band)
- Beyonce
- Ramstein
- Metallica
- Megadeath
- Ed Sheeran
- Green Day
- Sir Tom Jones
- Iron Maiden
- The Jacksons
- Blink 182
- Panic! At The Disco
- Cliff Richard
- Atomic Kitten
- Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- Madonna
- The Rolling Stones
- The Police
- Rihannna
- One Direction
Just to name a few
According to Wales Online back in 2017, they argued that live music venues can be saved and that Cardiff could do something about it. They stated that more events for small time bands could help in bringing back the interest in Live Music without getting overshadowed by the more larger bands.
Back in April 2019, according to Wales Online, again, there was great plans to make Cardiff a musical capital once again. They mentioned 12 possibilities that could bring back the interest of Live Music. They put forward these ideas.
1. Governance and leadership
2. Music board recommendations
3. Music-friendly licensing and policies
4. Grants and funding
5. Allocate spaces for musicians and industry professionals
6. Planning, transport and place-making
7. Education access at all ages and levels
8. Artist development
9. Professional development
10. Audience engagement music marketing
11. Music city brand building
12. Music tourism
As of January 2020, another two Cardiff based venues were closing down their live music part of their bars. These venues are Ten Feet Tall (A regular of mine) and Undertone. However, despite the bad news, there was some light, according to godisinthetvzine. There was a 50% reduction in business rates for small or grassroots venues, this meaning that around £1.7 million went back into the grassroots live music sector. This will benefit music venues throughout England and Wales.
Mark Davyd, CEO and Founder, Music Venue Trust :said
“This latest announcement from Government is another foundation stone in the support Music Venue Trust is building so that we can deliver a vibrant, sustainable, world-class Grassroots Music Venue sector to artists and audiences. There’s still a lot to be done on this specific issue, and we look forward to working with the governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland to make sure that GMVs across the UK have a level playing field when it comes to Business Rates and Public Subsidies. This issue can be tackled, and it needs a broad coalition of key stakeholders to do that. Government, the Cultural Sector and the live music industry have all acted in the last 12 months to address the crisis in this sector. It’s now time for recording, streaming and publishing interests to play their part. Billions of pounds in revenue are being generated in the music industry from the music that is tested, developed, finds its audience and emerges from these vital spaces. PRS for Music, PPL, Universal, Warners, Sony, Spotify, Apple and Google now need to come to the table and tell us what they are going to do to make sure that continues to happen.”
Coronavirus
Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, many, if not all, public events have either been cancelled or postponed until further notice.
All live music bars and clubs have been temporarily closed in order to help stop the spread of the disease, this is present in every city throughout the UK and not just Cardiff alone. It is believed that many people will not be able to thrive from their music due to the virus as it is damaging clubs, bars and even listening to music in public. For example, the numbers of performers in city centre has dramatically decreased alongside the number of people out and about during this difficult time.
Bars, restaurants, clubs and such have been deemed non-essential and therefore, had to shut in order to stop the spread or for stupid people to continue using the services until the virus spread to them and the people around them. You can find out more about how the Coronavirus affects live musicans and performers on the ‘Wales As A Whole’ tab.
ChloeMusicScene 