MUSIC FROM MY LOFT

He will be missed!

You raise very good point re: success of Black British artists in the UK.

Channel 4 news did a segment last week on this very issue. The general view is that the emphasis right now is either on Brit Pop/Indie - guitar playing white males or reality TV contest winners (XFactor etc).

One of the commentators noted that though shows like Xfactor are supposed to bring to the fore musicians who would otherwise be overlooked, black contestants irrespective of how talented always seem to lose out to white contestants.

Sway was also interviewed and he certainly highlighted how hard it was for him to achieve the level of success.

I think that is why LDH's death stings even more - he was extremly talented, he didn't receive the recognition that he deserves and UK music has lost a true gem!

I was going to reply within the comments but I decided to open it up as a fresh article and those who want to comment please feel free to do so. I have touched on it a couple of times in this blog over the past 12 months or so, so here I go.

In response to Mama Junkyard's comments above I missed the C4 segment but who ever made the comment only confirmed what I've been thinking. The music industry within the UK has an unhealthy bias towards white music/white artists, which verges on the discriminatory against most forms of black music. Take for example Josh Stone I think she's a great singer (and the first album she did is superb and probably won't better it) but all of a sudden she's a 'Soul singer'. Now if you look at the comments for homewgrown black singers Jamelia, Beverley Knight they are R&B.

As for the Xfactor bringing to the fore musicians well if they really were a musician they wouldn't really enter a contest like that would they, as the odds of becoming a long lasting success are against you (anyone know where Gareth Gates/Steve Bronstein/michelle are?). Also with regard to these competitions in the UK, the black artist will not win despite being a great singer as the UK public who actually vote (whilst filling the pockets of Cowell and co) are basically devoid of knowing what true singing talent is and again those voting just cannot bring themselves to vote for a non-white face to win. In so called multi-culti Britain it might be hard to take for some but that's the fact of the matter ( any of the producers will tell you that off the record, if they had the guts). Anyway, if they were any good they wouldn't be on a talent show, they'd be out on the road in a band, learning the ropes and the business and keeping well away from the sharks.

Ok, if we take the Brit Awards, which may as well have been called the BNP music awards because there was no acknowledgment of black music within it's award categories for far too long and when they do put it in Josh Stone wins the Urban award (they just couldn't bring themselves to use the term Black!). The realisation of the UK music industries pro-white stance came when Soul to Soul after conquering most of the world with in the 90's, were allowed to perform at the Brit Awards one year and did they win anything not a bean. The Brit awards were the reason for the MOBO's, which are a bit of a cop-out but initially its heart was in the right place, however it should be have been called the UK Black Music Awards, not 'Music of black origin' nonsense, Black music no misunderstanding with that one and yes even Josh Stone could enter.

Sway not really my bag but I applaud his hard work in getting his name and sound known and he's done it from the ground up, no crappy TV show for this fellah. He's promoted, mixed, sold and recorded his own musical style and to make it big (how big is big?) you need to have the guts, the drive, the determination and the vision and some sound business sense. I can remember when Omars debut album sold 20-30,000 copies through indie black music shops, which was unheard of at the time.

Finally the UK music industry treats Black Music from the UK a bit like the US music industry treated black acts in the 1950's, artists were allowed to have hits but the record companies your keep a black face off the LP as they didn't want to scare their white record buying customers. A bit over the top perhaps but if you've seen what I've seen happen to great British acts, then you won't look at the UK msuic industry through rose tinted glasses. Finally, Incognito are the only black act who have managed to see out the whole of their contract (they were on Talkin' Loud Records for about 8-9 years), nobody else has done that in the past 50-60 years in the UK, so that should tell you something.

Live Aid and Live 8 are other great examples Geldoff and co say 'hey lets get off the golf course/fly fishing/yacht/villa and help the starving of Africa'. The only problem was that no black faces to be seen except those in the archival footage from the droughts in Ethiopia, no black musicians were to be seen (but Elton John was there). The UK music industry should just stand up and say hey we don't like Black music and we won't promote it, the we could all move on and people wouldn't listen to the bullshit the labels give out each day.

If you can see the UK music industry for what it really is an exclusive whites only club, then if you really have the talent you will do it the hard way just like Sway. Get on the road with a band, lay down your own tracks, press your own music, distribute it yourself, promote it yourself, build your fan base oh and use the god damn internet to good effect and I don't just mean just stick up a website. I am talking about letting people listen to download demos for free, promote your gigs online, the correct use of the internet opens up an artist to a global audience. If you want to take a look at someone doing it right, then give Maya Azucena's website a look, now she has it together. The internet was used to great effect by the Arctic Monkeys a UK jangly guitar band who made the UK top 10 without any radio play, now that must frighten the radio farts in radio gaga land as they wouldn't have picked up on it in their never ending focus groups. As for the major record labels, well their days are numbered and when they do go I'll be the first to dance on their grave!

So my friends, if you are a musician do not expect the record labels to come running to your door as the first thing they will probably say is we don't know how to promote you. Now if you translate that from white label speak they really mean your sound is too black and it's not some poppy shit which the radio farts will play. The answer is to do it for yourself and I mean all aspects of it until you meet a label who are on the same level and understand what you are about and actually like black music.

I think I've said all I need to say!