Best of BASCA 2015 - British Academy of Songwriters, Composers

The Best of
2015
British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors
www.basca.org.uk
“This year has been an incredible year for BASCA. Not only did we see huge successes in our
campaigning – including winning a High Court Judicial Review - but we re-evaluated and improved
our services, communications and events to our members too – publishing four magazines per year
instead of three, improving our digital communications and gaining many more supporters on the
way, making massive improvements to our website and hosting an impressive number of seminars,
socials and parties for our members as well as continuing to run some of the world’s best award
ceremonies for songwriters and composers.
We do so much that everything we do we must constantly ask ourselves; is this activity fulfilling our
mission statement? For those who do not know, this is:
BASCA exists to support and protect the professional interests of songwriters, lyricists and
composers of all genres of music and to celebrate and encourage excellence in British
music writing.
BASCA CEO - Vick Bain
We have pledged to achieve that mission by carrying out the following objectives:
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To campaign as a leading force in the domestic, European and international political arenas.
To celebrate excellence through world-class awards ceremonies – The Ivor Novello
Awards, the British Composer Awards and the Gold Badge Awards.
To inform our members in a constantly changing environment through our publications,
websites and seminars.
To foster a sense of community amongst British songwriters, lyricists and composers.
To encourage the next generation of professional music writers.
This short pamphlet will show you just how we have achieved that this year with some of our best
highlights from 2015.”
“BASCA continues to go from strength to strength and this document does a fantastic job
of showing the incredible breadth of work we have accomplished this year. There really is a huge amount to be proud of here and we look forward to building on this
great work for all of our members next year.”
BASCA Chairman - Stephen McNeff
CAMPAIGNS & LOBBYING - To campaign as a leading force in the domestic, European and international political arenas
BASCA represented 20
Industry groups in 2015.
These included British
Copyright Council, MPA
and PRS Regulatory
Affairs Group, UK Music
Board, PRS for Music
Licensing Committee,
European Composer and
Songwriter Alliance
Consultations & research responded to in 2015
1. BBC Trust Fair Trading Policy – Public Consultation
2. Department of Culture, Media & Sport BBC Charter Review Green Paper
3. House of Lords Select Committee on Communications: Inquiry into the BBC Charter Renewal
4. The Cole Commission: Turning The Dial on UK Exports
5. IPO Consultation on the Draft Regulations implementing Collective Rights Management in
the Digital Single Market
2015 Public Affairs in Numbers
o 6 campaigns launched
o 13 EU and UK consultations responded to
( a record number)
o Creator Voice - 67 creators have taken part
in 22 activities
o And attendance at the following:
• 15 industry events
• 12 British Copyright Council meetings
• 9 Rights Committee Meetings
• 8 UK Music Boards
• 5 industry AGMs
• 5 IP conferences
o 10 meetings with MPs, ministers and
government representatives
o 40+ meetings with industry representatives
6. Consultation on Changes to the Penalties for Offences under sections 107(2A0 and 198(1A)
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (Penalties for Online Copyright Infringement)
7. House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union: Evidence for the Internal
Market Sub-Committee - Platforms and the EU Digital Single Market
8. Mike Weatherley consultation: The role of ISPs in IP Protection and the Safe Harbour
Provisions of the e-Commerce Directive
9. Participated in the research group that produced the 3rd report and encouraged submissions
from members to the UK Music economic valuation: Measuring the UK Music Industry 2015
10. Julia Reda MEP Special Rapporteur of EP Legal Affairs’ Committee Call for Evidence: Draft
Report on Copyright (also encouraging individual responses from members)
11. Response to the European Commission’s request for Information to Authors’ Associations –
Case M.6800 PRSfM/STIM/GEMA
12. UN Cultural Right’s Group: the Impact of Intellectual Property Regimes on the Enjoyment
of Right to Science and Culture
13. European Commission’s consultation: Regulatory Environment for Platforms, Online
Intermediaries, Data and Cloud Computing and the Collaborative Economy
Digital Royalties
BASCA’s biggest campaign yet – the Day The
Music Died - aims to raise both industry and
public awareness of the serious threat to
songwriters and composers’ livelihoods, from the
move from traditional sales formats to digitised
music. Our 5 key demands are:
1. a 50/50 split in gross royalty income for writers
from digital services (as in broadcasting),
2. a higher proportion of advertising income,
3. removal of auto predictive text on search
platforms,
4. a tightening up of Safe Harbour definitions,
5. and more transparency in non-disclosure
agreements.
BASCA is working closely with the music
industry and government to achieve these
objectives, and is continuing to make significant
headway.
This campaign continues to attract high profile
and international support from many other
European and North American composer organisations. In July German composers
and music publishers launched their own campaign, inspired directly by The Day the
Music Died.
The campaign had extensive coverage across a high number of music industry
publications that included Music Week, Complete Music Update (CMU), Record of the
Day, Music Ally and Music Business Worldwide. It continues to attract high profile and
international support from many other European and North American composer
organisations.
BA S C A C E O V i c k B a i n
emphasised removal of the Safe
Harbour provisions protecting
Google and YouTube in the
Independent
Vick also led the ‘Digital Pie’
debate on a panel at The Great
Escape conference in Brighton
making clear how unsustainable
the current situation is for
writers in the digital
environment. More here
For mer BASCA Chair man
Simon Darlow’s speech at The
Ivors discussed TDTMD issues
and went viral within 30
minutes and can be viewed on
various industry websites and
the mainstream press such as
The Guardian, Music Week and
M Magazine.
Printed for vick@basca.org.uk from Music Week (21.12.2015) at www.exacteditions.com. Copyright © 2015.
Songwriter Credits
Notice how you can’t search for
songwriters on streaming platforms? This
is a huge disservice to the writers of all our
favourite music and has created a new
generation of fans who have no idea that
their favourite artists often do not in fact
write their own hits – BASCA’s talented
members do. It is a legal right to be
credited so the digital services need to
correct their systems in order to rectify this
injustice. After positive discussions and a
front page story on Music Week BASCA
has f o r m e d a working group with
senior representatives from Sony ATV,
Spotify, the Music Producers Guild and P
R S f o r Mu sic to develop a solution.
BASCA Board Member, Helienne Lindvall,
attended a Creators Roundtable in New
York with representatives of Spotify and
Pandora to highlight this issue. Read about
it here
Copyright in the EU
Back the BBC
The BBC is hugely important – especially
for composers and songwriters. It’s the
biggest single commissioner of
contemporary classical music, and remains
the single largest royalty income source for
many BASCA members.
With the charter renewal process underway,
BASCA aims to focus on protecting the
BBC (and its music services) from cuts. We
have made three formal submissions
government on the BBC in the past few
months including the DCMS public
consultation.
Many of BASCA’s members have publicly
supported UK Music’s #letitbeeb campaign,
led by BASCA Fellow Sir Paul McCartney.
Please continue to support this campaign
and sign the petition here.
EU Copyright reform was high on the
agenda of the Juncker Commission, with a
proposal published just a few weeks ago but
anticipated all year. BASCA has responded
t o m a n y E u r o p e a n C o m m i s s i o n ’s
consultations over the past few years and
most recently on an investigation into the
‘Regulatory Environment for Platforms,
Online Intermediaries, Data and Cloud
Computing and the Collaborative Economy’.
As ever we stressed the absurdity of current
Safe Harbour provisions and call for
intermediaries to secure licences for use of
music – avoiding distor tion in the
marketplace and abuse by some content
service providers. The Commission has
indicated it wishes to address this issue.
We remain a vital part of ECSA the
European Composer and Songwriter
Alliance. This year, as well as attending the
spring Creators Conference in some
numbers, we also hosted the Autumn
General Assembly with over 80 of our
European Songwriters and Composers
visiting with us for three days of meetings,
events and concerts.
ECSA and GESAC commissioned research
showing that EU creative industries have a
€540 billion annual turnover, making culture
the third most important employment sector
in the EU.
Private Copying
In the summer, BASCA won an
important copyright Judicial Review in the
High Court. Together with the Musicians
Union (MU) and UK Music. We
challenged the Government’s decision to
introduce a private copying exception into
UK law without providing fair compensation to rights-holders
(as required by EU law). After 2 ½ days in the High Court and
107 pages of judgment Judge Green found that the
Government’s decision had been based on “manifestly
inadequate evidence” and was therefore unlawful and the
Statutory Instrument was repealed. This was a superb outcome
for all of our writers in the UK and also our cousins in the EU
who had been watching the action with some trepidation.
For the future, we remain committed to working with the
Government on creating a lawful exception that will properly
compensate songwriters and composers.
Diversity
Despite some very high profile and hugely successful female
writers who have come to prominence in the 21st century it is still
a fact that diversity within the music industry is not as equitable as
one would imagine. The percentage of female members of the
PRS stands at a lowly 14% and in other areas of the music
industry both on stage and off the picture is as unequal. At
BASCA 20% of our membership is female; so there is still room
for much improvement.To that end we have launched a variety of
initiatives to research, support and give prominence to our
superbly talented female writers.
This year’s elections brought forward our highest percentage of
female committee representatives and board directors yet. We
now have 11 female executive committee members and welcomed
Jenni Roditi, Helienne Lindvall and Issie Barratt to the BASCA
board.
BASCA is proud to be a signatory of the British music Industry’s
Equality & Diversity Charter and champions a number of equality
campaigns. BASCA hopes that its work in this area will continue
to inspire the next generation of talented songwriters and
composers and is proud to be playing such an important part in
this conversation.
AWARDS - To celebrate excellence
Ivor Novello Awards
The 60th Anniversary of The Ivors took place in May this year with 1,190 guests at Grosvenor House, London.
The awards continue to be a particularly important date in the music industry’s calendar as they not only
celebrate, but highlight exceptional song writing and composing talent in Britain today. Writers as established
and well-loved as Elton John and Alison Moyet, gave recognition to emerging and new songwriters – these
included Hozier who won ‘Best Song’ and James Napier who co-wrote chart topper ‘Rather Be’ with Clean
Bandit, which picked up two Ivors. A special anniversary award was given to Bob Geldof and Midge Ure for
their contribution to charity over the past 30 years, for their song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, and Annie
Lennox became the first female writer to collect the BASCA Fellowship Award, presented by Elton John; the
Fellowship is the highest honour BASCA can bestow.
In addition to wide spread news coverage of the nominations in April we had a two page positioning piece on
how to write an Ivor Novello Award winning song in the Independent’s RADAR ahead of the awards, as well
as an interview with Guy Chambers on BBC Radio 4 for the Inheritance Tracks segment. Print coverage
included a large feature in the Guardian, The Sun putting together “The Ivors Special” Bizarre section on Boy
George and Ed Sheeran, and great showings in the Metro and Daily Mirror’s showbiz pages. We had strong hits
in 6 other national papers, and made the Evening Standard that evening too.
In terms of radio, The Ivors were covered across the country with highlights including BBC Radio 1, BBC
Radio 2, BBC Radio 5Live, Capital FM and their regional outlets, Heart and their regional outlets, Magic and
XFM. For television, we were featured on BBC London and BBC West Midlands.
To mark the anniversary we also launched a redesigned website for the awards which now contains a history of
all winners, video clips and full photo galleries.
PRESS
BBC.co.uk – Black Sabbath celebrate at Ivor Novello Awards
MailOnline – Ed Sheeran wins Songwriter of the Year at Ivor Novello Awards
Guardian Online– Clean Bandit, Hozier, and Boy George honoured at 2015’s Ivor Novellos
Express Online - Ed Sheeran presented songwriter of the year award
Independent Online - Hozier wins at the Ivor Novello Awards
Mirror Online - Clean Bandit and Kasabian to end feud at Ivor Novello awards
British Composer Awards
This year saw nominations go up by a third as BASCA delivered its first digital application process. 421 individual
nominations which is a 33% increase on last year when we received 316 entries.
The Artistic Directors Ed McKeon and Julia Haferkorn helped instigate some forward thinking changes both to the judging
panels and to the actual ceremony itself, held for the first year in the BFI on the South Bank – a very successful move.
Judges
60% of this year’s panellists were composers with the remaining 40% made up of industry professionals (conductors,
performers, commissioners, agents etc.)
50% of this year’s panellists were female
80% of this year’s panellists were first time judges
Shortlist
40% of this year’s shortlist is made up of first time nominees
The resulting 2015 shortlist represented the breadth and diversity of contemporary music, with something on the shortlist
for everyone to enjoy. The 36 works demonstrated the diversity and innovation that defines today’s musical landscape, while
highlighting its relationship with the wider creative arts. Among this year’s winners were Stuart Hancock
who won the Community or Educational Project category for his piece ‘Snapshot Songs’, created in collaboration with
hundreds of Londoners in ‘taster’ workshops, and Kate Whitley, the youngest winner (at 27) who won for her piece ‘Alive’,
performed in Peckham Rye multi-storey by 250 children. Sir Harrison Birtwhistle won his seventh award for his piece
‘Responses: Sweet disorder and the carefully careless’ while Michael Finnissy and Julian Anderson were both double winners.
Conductor Jessica Cottis and actor Juliet Stevenson gave keynote speeches at the ceremony.
The press coverage showed an increased interest:
We had two broadcasts this year – one on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking on Thursday 10 December and the main two hour
broadcast on Hear and Now on Saturday 12 December which will both still be listenable on Listen Again for a few more
weeks:
Free Thinking Hear and Now
Gold Badge Awards
The Gold Badge Awards were created to reward outstanding achievements in the art of helping songwriters and
composers and to honour the people without whom songwriters and composers wouldn’t be able to exist. In this
respect the Gold Badge Awards are our most outward looking awards – our membership thanking those who have
supported their careers.
12 recipients, from producers to songwriters, arrangers and music publishers are honoured each year for their
outstanding contribution to British music. These awards are unique in that they give BASCA and its members the
opportunity to honour those who do so much to keep the industry thriving. This year, our 42nd Gold Badge
Awards, sponsored by PPL and PRS for Music, took place at The Savoy Hotel in October. Among this year’s
winners were Peter Gabriel, Tom Robinson, Kim Wilde, John Logan, Del Newman and Leo Sayer.
PRESS
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Julia Haferkorn and London resident
winner Sinan Savaskan were interviewed live on
London Live TV on Thursday 10 December as
part of their lunch time news feature
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BBC Music Magazine
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Classical Music
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Music Week
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Choir & Organ
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London Jazz News
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Opera Now
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International Piano
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The Herald
MEMBERSHIP / COMMUNICATIONS - To inform our members in a constantly changing environment through our publications, websites and seminars.
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MEDIA
483
NEW
MEMBERS
323
SONGWRITER
New members who have joined in
2015 include Orphy Robinson
(Blue Note, Jazz Warriors), Patrick
Hawes (Classic FM), Mick Jones
(Foreigner) and Julie Higgins
(Dub Colossus).
2014
2015
%
Increase
26,512
44,761
68.83%
1696
2442
43.98%
4763
6091
26.36%
49
CLASSICAL
67 emails were sent out to members and non-members giving them information about our
activities during the year. Resulting in nearly 43,000 of our email messages being opened
and over 5,200 click throughs to our website for further information. BASCA now produces
4 editions of The Works magazine each year. The website has also gone through vast
improvements with monthly online payments now an option and the members area now
featuring an exclusive video and webinar area.
46
JAZZ
Digital
Standard
Professional
Friend
TOTAL
270
140
71
2
483
286 joined Online (69% of total new signups were was online joiners)
MEMBERSHIP / EVENTS -
To foster a sense of community amongst British songwriters,composers and lyricists.
50 EVENTS
Songwriter Executive Committee event
4
Classical Executive Committee event
2
Media Executive Committee event
3
Jazz Executive Committee event
2
All members - socials/parties
5
BASCA Supporter events
14
Academic Supporters events
17
AGM
1
Concert
2
Events have included:
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Media: Behind the Music of the Shiny Floor
TV Show, Media Masterclass with Richard
Bellis
Classical: Alan Davey CBE Answers Your
Questions and Social Media Masterclass
Jazz: Meet the Jazz Executive Committee and
DIY: Music Business the Independent Way
Songwriter: How to Have a Hit on Radio with
Ralph Murphy (London), How to Have a Hit
on Radio with Ralph Murphy (Manchester),
DIY: Music Business the Independent Way and
1 Songwriters Camp
Attendees:
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Average attendance (seminars/
masterclasses) per event: 35 people
Average non-member attending per
event: 12 people
Average attendance for parties: 161
people
Average attendees who rated events
(excluding parties) ‘very satisfied’ or
‘satisfied’: 88%
Average attendee who rated the
parties ‘fantastic/very satisfied/
satisfied’: 78%
MEMBERSHIP / COMMITTEES
Elections
The BASCA committees help us to carry out all
of our campaigning and membership activities.
During 2015 we have had 35 board/committee
meetings plus other ad hoc meetings. Guests have
included:
Successfully co-ordinated the 2015 executive elections
from April to July
the voice for music writers
the voice for music writers
• 57 professional members stood in the elections
The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
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12 PRS for Music guests
European Composer & Songwriter Alliance
BBC Radio 3 guests
Jazz Services, Jazz Promotion Network, Serious
ASCAP
MCPS
The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
• Stephen McNeff was elected Chairman of BASCA
the voice for music writers
the voice for music writers
British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
Songwriter Executive Committee
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Met with key representatives from
PRS for Music to discuss ways to
tackle issues around the digital
market
Meetings with Google, YouTube,
SoundCloud, the Police Intellectual
Property Crime Unit (PIPCU)
Have a representative on the
Alliance of Popular Composer
Organisations in Europe (APCOE)
as part of the European Composer
& Songwriter Alliance (ECSA)
Instrumental in reintroducing
BASCA’s involvement with
Eurovision and held the Great
British Song Competition for
BASCA members to submit their
songs for the 2016 Eurovision
The SEC also held their annual
songwriting camp in Wales. This is
run over four days by SEC member
Rita Campbell
• Voting was digital and 26.24% of the membership
voted. This was the highest percentage of
voting members on our records.
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
Classical Executive Committee
Media Executive Committee
Jazz Executive Committee
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• Reached their 50 member within
BASCA
• Establish themselves within
BASCA and the co-option of
the JEC chair and onto the
BASCA board
• Guests have included
representative from Jazz
Services, PRS for Music, Jazz
Promotion Network and Serious
• Held two events throughout the
year for jazz composers and the
jazz community
• JEC members Jason Yarde and
Issie Barratt have attended a
number of public affairs facing
events in Europe
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Input into the British Composer
Awards Review and sending
representatives to the British
Composer Awards Production
Committee
Strengthened their relationship
with BBC Radio 3: regular
contact with a number of Radio 3
representatives
Secured an event at which Alan
Davey spoke just after his
appointment as Controller of
Radio 3
Have a representative on the
European Composer Forum
(ECF) committee which forms
part of the European Composer
and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA)
Sent representatives to the
Association of British Orchestras
conference, Classical: Next and
the ECSA Creators Conference
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Liaising with many other
organisations - PRS for Music,
BBC Worldwide, Directors UK,
MCPS and ASCAP
Hosted an event with a number
of top TV composers for a
panel discussion, Q&A and
networking.
Offered individual advice to a
number of BASCA members
Have a representative on the
Federation of Film and Audiovisual Composers of Europe
(FFACE) committee which
forms part of the European
Composer and Songwriter
Alliance (ECSA)
Make recommendations
regarding the two media awards
for the Ivor Novello Awards;
Best Original Film Score and
Best Television Soundtrack
ACADEMIC SUPPORTERS -
To encourage the next generation of professional music writers
BASCAs Academic Supporters Programme continued to grow
throughout 2015. We presented seminars at 17 university events,
have partnerships with 8 academic institutions including our first
conservatoire, the Royal College of Music.
We sponsored 3 songwriting
awards to graduating music
degree students of ICMP at
their graduation ceremony at
the Mer maid Theatre in
N o ve m b e r, p r e s e n t e d b y
Jonathan Whiskerd and Sophie
Daniels.
And we also launched the first
BASCA Scholarship with ACM,
special thanks go to BASCA
Director Tim Fraser and
Songwriters Executive
Committee member Rita
Campbell working tirelessly with
the ACM to put this together.
British Academy of Songwriters,
Composers & Authors
Academic Supporters Programme
EVENT
LOCATION
‘Introducing BASCA’ & Freshers Fair
The Academy of Contemporary Music
Guest lecturer: Richard Jacques and David Lowe
Canterbury Christ Church University
Introducing BASCA’ and careers day and freshers fair
Institute of Contemporary Music Performance
‘Introducing BASCA'
Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts
‘Introducing BASCA' and careers fair
Royal College of Music
Introducing BASCA' (3 visits)
University of Hertfordshire
Guest lecturer: Richard Jacques
University of West of Scotland
WE WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL OUR MEMBERS AND
SUPPORTERS A FRUITFUL AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR