Gigs, bands, venues, surprises, changes and some disappointments. 2014 has been eventful.

This is the last Radio To Go post of 2014, tucked into that awkward half-holiday, half-not space between the Christmas blowout and New Year's Eve. 

Some performers are hardily prepping for their NYE shows; many more are slumbering through this interim week before things start to rev up again in 2015. 

So this, as in previous years,  is a good time to look back. All of this is highly subjective. It's stuff that struck me as notable. You will have had different ideas, different joys and pleasures. I'd be delighted if you felt like joining in the debate. 

Gigs of the year contenders

By Richard Shakespeare - crowds at Mostly Jazz     

There were LOTS. We've had so many excellent bands, new venues (see below), and most nights, especially most weekends, we've had a ridiculous choice. I particularly enjoyed:

- Boat To Row's single launch gig at the Old Joint Stock Theatre, 28 Feb
- Miles and Erica at the Hare and Hounds, 22 May
- Brothers Groove at the Jam House, 22 July
- Pretty much everything at Moseley Folk, but that's much more of a social gathering in the sun anyway.
- Everything and everyone at this year's Songwriters Cafe: 9 fantastic house concerts which ran on Thursdays from September to November

Earbleed of the Year

Prince at the LG Arena, 19 May 2014. Atrocious sound and dangerous volume levels. I can take one or the other, but not the two in combination. It actually hurt to listen. This was a shame, because Prince delivered, in parts, a killer show. This audio shambles was thrown into sharp relief by the very good sound the same PA delivered for Laura Mvula, who gave an excellent, excellent opening set.

Venue thoughts

I am so pleased to see developments underway at the Dark Horse, now part of the same company that runs the lovely Prince of Wales, both in Moseley in Birmingham. I'm hoping for big things. 

Props too, to the lovely people at Ort Cafe, who have crafted a super intimate acoustic venue in Balsall Heath. 

The guvnor Birmingham place is still, of course, the Hare and Hounds. Two years on from the last development scare, things seem to have gone quiet on that front. However, the threat has not, to my knowledge, receded. Things will not be rosy until venues know where they stand. For that to happen, our beleaguered and broke council must, once and for all, establish and then respect the principle that if an established and effective venue exists, new owners who wind up adjoining that development must recognise and respect that. 

So, property developers: do the right thing and build in effective soundproofing. And on that note, a big welcome back to the Fiddle and Bone, which reopens in 2015. Let's also celebrate the continuing success of the Asylum venues.

Unexpected pleasures

A few nice things/events which caught me unawares and delighted me:

The Stacks at The Wagon and Horses, August. 

The Stacks are from Nuneaton/Leicester way, so I hadn't seen them before they supported the very likeable Broken Witt Rebels. Stacks were sharp, tight and inventive. They attracted a posse of admiring girls as well as the usual coterie of hard-rock boys – an audience combo that's always a good sign for guitar-slinging wannabe rock gods.

'5-Star Review' on Erica Nockalls' EN2 album. In the middle of a set of artfully crafted hyper-musical noise terror you'll find the sweetest love song ever. Fabulous. More on this album here. 

Dan Whitehouse and Chris Tye's Christmas song. Just great. Two huge talents, and a good cause. It's available here and there's a blog post here on these guys.

Record Store Day - silly activities in a good cause. 
Probably because I grew up in the vinyl era, I still really can't get excited about music distributed on vinyl – especially the fetishising of the medium. But if it helps preserve independent retailers who are passionate about music, I'm all for it. Here's what Goodnight Lenin did

'Mighty Hard Time' on Ruby Turner's 'All That I Am' album: 

Ruby just gets better and better. Quality, seriously deep old-school soul, a fine perspective, no compromise whatsoever, and focus like you've never seen. Proud to know her and proud that she's from Brum. There's an interview here.

The Spoken Word

This happened by accident. I'm so happy it did.

Once in a while I get asked to voice something for, say, an album project. I'm normally happy to do this – it's just nice that my voice is remembered from my prehistoric radio days. But this year's outings were quite different. 

Firstly, a radio producer I greatly respect and admire, and who moves in very different circles from me most of the time, asked me to voice a bit part in a radio drama. Rosie Boulton, who now works independently after a long and storied career at the BBC, has produced a sweet and elegant one-hour play, 'The Kindness Of Time' which is online for anyone to listen to, for free. So this was work with a script, bouncing off a different voice actor, cooking up the relationship, working in a very different studio to the ones I'm used to (C-Mat in Handsworth), and it was both a challenge and a lot of fun. More on this here.

Then the wonderful and very different Layla Tutt developed her multi-media Song Of the Woods project and invited me to voice. I got to play a great romantic lover and a very satisfying baddie. It was lovely.

Finally, I voiced for James Summerfield's latest project: a set of poems written by local author Darren Cannan. Some are set to music, some are fully arranged. The book and ep are out imminently. Everything I've heard sounds fabulous. Then again, I'm a fan of James' work, and I thought Darren's writing was terrific. So I am privileged and excited to be a part of this.

And as you can see from this trailer, I'm in good company.

The JB's book!

Another book worthy of your attention, partly crafted by another person I greatly admire: Roy Williams, who helped run the legendary JB's in Dudley from the very early days. A near-forty year span of time in rock history, seen through the eyes of the team who ran one of the best-loved clubs in the Midlands. Stories, memories, extraordinary facts and figures. 

You won't believe who played there. Nor will you believe what they got paid. There's a detailed post in the works. In the meantime, you can find out more, here.

Bad news

Dying Orchestras 

This was announced last week in Denmark: a kickstarter campaign... to try to keep an decent orchestra in existence. I hate this. Orchestras should be part of our cultural mix. We need that reservoir of talent; we need that pathway to a music career for our promising musos. We need to keep celebrating demanding and experimental work. But all over the country and all over Europe, funding taps are being turned off. The Ulster Orchestra is under severe threat too.

Steady progress department

- The wonderful Cadbury Sisters, scoring loads of love from Radio 2 and a vinyl release on RAK records; 
- Brothers Groove, also scoring R2 love - and a gong at the British Blues Awards 2014;

- Another milestone for the excellent Katherine Priddy, who sold out at Kitchen Garden Cafe. Her first headliner and her first sell-out. Well done the Prldster.
- Electric Swing Circus went fully pro and toured the world. Bravo!

Albums

Laura Mvula's Orchestral CD was startlingly good and confident. Not that I was in any way surprised.

Goodnight Lenin - In The Fullness Of Time
Out now. It's lovely. At last! 

Ruby Turner - All That I Am
So good, so clear, so focussed. 

Erica Nockalls - EN2 As above, but in a wholly different music realm. But I think Ruby and Erica would get on like a house on fire. 

Dan Whitehouse - Raw State
Dan revisits some of his older songs with a fresh perspective, and by golly, it works. This kind of approach doesn't always work, but in Dan's case – oh boy, does it ever. Moving, warm and powerful. 

Chris Tye - The Paper Grenade
Go Chris! Tye simply gets better and better. Super stuff from one of our best.

Hopes for 2015: Music

I'm eagerly anticipating the next set of songs from Goodnight Lenin.

I would so love to see the rancorous dispute between UB40 and their former lead singer resolved. Ali left, noisily, some years ago. Now, equally noisily, he is fronting a rival operation and aggressively laying claim to the name of the band that he, let us remember, actually left. This does nobody any good, least of all the remaining members of UB40, who picked themselves up and set about damage limitation on several fronts with courage and dignity, not to mention solid musicianship. All this demeans and cheapens a noble name.

I hope for good things from among others, Chris Cleverley and Harriet Harkcom.

Otherwise? I hope to be enchanted and surprised by more fresh and wondrous talent. That's certain to happen - just don't know when.

Hopes for 2015: Broadcasting

Auntie
It's no secret: I would love to see more national BBC output generated from the Midlands, to reflect the talent we have in abundance. Who knows? Only the BBC, and they ain't telling. Again.

The rise of the hybrids. 
New media, new platforms. It's coming, and when it gets into gear, this could be a game-changer. The keys? Cheap tools for one, but what is essential, mission-critical in fact, is clear and precise strategic thinking. Put that together, and things will change, and faster than anyone expects.

Local Television
After an embarrassing set of stumbles, we are, finally, due to get a local TV station in February next year. It will, now, largely be run by local professionals who understand television, which is a good thing. I wish them all the luck in the world - because they will need it, and a lot more besides - and humbly suggest that they take a good hard look at the wealth of videos on offer from local talent. 

Have a wonderful end of year. 

See more posts on venues, posts on broadcasting and posts on music business on Radio To Go

_________________________________________________________________________________

Sign up to the mailing list for weekly updates

Four lessons learned in 2014

Part 1 of the Radio to Go 2014 retrospective: more next week

We're heading out of 2014 at speed. As usual, it's been an eventful year. Lots of changes, and tons of great stuff to celebrate. I'm saving most of that for next week's review - some of the high and low points of the year and a look forward to 2015.  

Before that, a word of thanks to you for reading the blog in increasing numbers. As of publishing date, total page views were well over 237,000 - nearly double last year's total. Three years ago, when I shifted the focus more onto music, I'd hit 10,000 over four years. Writing the blog has led me to an awful lot of interesting topics, and hooked me up with some fantastic people. 

This week's post, also a yearly blog feature, is a lot more personal. Here are a few lessons that I learned - or, relearned - this year. They may be a bit counter-cultural, but, hey, that's how it looks from here. It's all about:

1. Webanomics, winners and losers, 
2. Things changing at media - slowly, slowly...
3. Yet another way the beeb is losing out
4. And...Albums. 

1: e-slavery...? 

The internet may be good for big business, and those who catch a wave, but for the rest of us? I'm not so sure. I feel like I'm there so someone else can make money, off me or from me, no matter what I do, or where I go. That's webanomics. 

Take voiceover work. I've been voicing (commercial and training videos, museum guides, that kind of thing) all my working life. It's a useful way to make a bit on the side. Here's my demo page if you're interested. Five years ago, I went online to reach new markets. I didn't really have a choice: most of the small indie producers I'd worked for had been squeezed out by web operations. And for a while things were OK. I paid a yearly fee to get job leads; I pitched a demo each time; I got some work; I came out ahead. 

The job lead agencies I used aren't fussy - they'll take anyone's money, and they'll post anyone's job spec. Now, anyone can set up as a voice guy. Kit is cheap; you don't really need a studio. So as the recession bit, more and more people came on board. Fees got smaller and jobs got harder to land. Clients failed to pay up. When you're stiffed by someone three thousand miles away, you're just not going to get paid. The job lead agencies wash their hands of the problem - all they do is introduce, you see. 

It's that famous web-powered level playing field again: a field so big you can't see the end of it. Great for producers; crap for talent. Now, people watch the job sites like hawks, and bash out a demo the moment a gig comes up. That works for some, but not me, not at least if I want to have a life. Spending my days welded to a computer screen for a chance to get work is not my idea of scraping a living. I met an ex-radio guy last year who told me he spent an hour cutting a demo for a ten quid gig. He didn't get it. Someone undercut him, by five quid. 

This doesn't just apply to my little market. There are sites like fiverr: places where you pitch for five buck jobs - or four bucks after commission. This is, effectively, e-slavery. A studio owner friend told me his market now splits between bedroom laptop warriors, a shrinking middle ground, and a top end in London where the big money goes. It's the same with voicing. Fine for the girl who voices for all the supermarket check-out machines - and good luck to her - not so fine if you're not in that market.

So I've bailed out of that way of working. Spending hundreds of hours a year chasing dwindling job prospects, while laying out over £200 per site for the privilege, just doesn't add up any more. I have some regular trusted clients who call on me to do work, and that's fine. I'm better off, I've got more time, less stress and I'm not funding companies - there's lots of them, and I've tried most - who make empty promises and then throw you sales pitches promising to help you get more business for yet another fee.   

Still, it could be worse. I could be a small business pitching through Amazon.

2: At LAST! signs of evolution at radio/broadcast media/video

But if webanomics are screwing you, there are upsides. Tech is allowing more flexible creativity. I've done a lot of really interesting and enjoyable radio and audio work this year. It's all been for the love of it, working with some astonishing people. And it's absolutely not conventional music radio. There are people who think differently, and some of them are starting to get traction. 

Change is coming, well away from 'conventional' radio. It's not just pert vloggers like Zoella rewriting the media landscape – there are now addictively good podcasts out there, and they're starting to find the means to pay their way.

I think the key is focus and direction. The big BBC and commercial radio platforms know exactly what they are doing. Whether you like them or not, they have a clear and solid idea of where they are going, and how they want to work with their audiences. The most successful of the new players do that too. That's something that small-scale radio often lacks.

It's also obvious that radio, the web and tv are converging. Formats and concepts dating back fifty years are being outpaced. Consider: dirt-cheap production software allows streaming of radio and video on the same channel. That opens up a ton of possibilities.

This converging broadcast/streaming world is going to continue to change. I can't wait to see what comes up - as long as it has focus, it stands a chance. Most of the time the web throws mind-rotting trivia at us: cute kittens, baby pandas and buzzfeed. That tide of trivia has a purpose: it's click-bait, it makes money. But a lot of radio has simply followed along, lapping it all up. Mistake. 

There's much more than that in play. If long-form television series, with demanding, intelligent plot lines and terrific characterisation, manage to punch through, breaking existing moulds, why not take that idea on to radio, and do it really well? That what Serial has done, with huge success.  

3: The BBC continues to cut its nose off to spite its face in the Midlands. 

Auntie, Auntie, Auntie! There's a screamingly obvious step you could take, right now, that would cost peanuts and boost your reputation no end. 

I've had long chats with the affable Tommy Nagra this year. He's Head of Business Development for BBC Birmingham. Part of his pitch is to sell Birmingham. No argument from me – I've been here since the early 70s. Tommy also praises the city's diversity. That's familiar ground as well. I was the first radio guy anywhere to put UB40 on air. Oh, and Ruby Turner, The Specials, Steel Pulse and The Selecter, too - all of whom wrote the book on Midlands multi-cultural creativity in the late 70s.

But here's the point I made to Tommy: it's even better now, and you're not doing anything about it. We're living though a new golden age of musical and literary creativity of all types. And where do we see this represented on our national broadcaster? Um...

If Auntie really gave a damn about the Midlands, rather than trousering the license fees we send down to London, while continuing to cut jobs up here, they would be all over this talent like a rash. It wouldn't cost much: this is a radio thing and radio is cheap. The BBC just needs an effort of will to lose its bunker mentality and actually connect with this market. Done right, this would be hugely powerful. All Auntie has to do is reach out for the low-hanging fruit, and find ways to celebrate it. 

It's deeply ironic: in 1927 the BBC had the biggest music studio in the whole country, right here in Birmingham. Even fifteen years ago they still had a gorgeous 16-track facility you could put a seventy piece band into. Now, that's a distant memory. There has never been any explanation for how and why the BBC came to so disrespect its largest region - the one which contributes a quarter of total license fee revenue. 

That hot talent isn't just in the Midlands, in fairness; it's all over the country... but this is my patch, and I am massively frustrated for all the local talent we have in our region, constantly passed over because the networks don't even bother to look. I'll come back to this, and what the beeb has done - or not - in 2014, in a few weeks. But remember: I still love and admire you, Auntie, and I always will. Right now, you're our best hope.

4: Albums matter. Oh no, they don't. Oh yes, they do.

Next week I'll list some of the corking albums that we've seen in 2014. This week I just want to flag up a question: why do we stick to the album format? I wrote about this a while back, and all the arguments are still valid. And here's a pertinent music industry blog piece from July this year.

Songs travel singly, especially when the web and mainstream broadcasters carry them, one at a time, on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. So why do we stay loyal to a dated concept of a parcel of songs, originally physically gathered together around one concept, or one period of time? Well, we're not, really. Just ask Bono. As a mainstream business proposition, it's odd. Musicians lose out by handing their album over to streaming services. You have to pay, remember, to get your stuff up on Spotify. They make money, you don't - more e-slavery. 

Ah, but as an artistic proposition, it makes sense. Dated concept or not, an album is something that artists still buy into as part of their creative process. In some cases, it's pure vanity. In other cases, it represents a body of work, a milestone, a statement of intent. Musicians still plan out sets of songs for live work. So its logical that they would embody those sets on CD or Bandcamp downloads. 

The distinction is that the musician trades on a relationship with his or her audience, while the music industry trades on saleability of product. And at cottage industry level, the album stacks up. You go to a live gig and the artist blows you away; you take away a memory; the artist gets his or her due. In fact, it seems to me that, at local level, where so many excellent artists ply their trade, the ability to sell your own work directly has given local music-making a massive shot in the arm.

The paths that music and musicians take to reach listeners are many and varied. The only time that fashion comes into the equation is when you're being sold something. 

Bottom line? Creativity is in rude health. But many creators are not - yet - getting their rewards. Again. Still.

Have a peaceful Christmas. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Sign up to the mailing list for weekly updates