News Andy Burnham MP for Leigh

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11/12/2008 - Andy Burnham’s speech to UK Music at the Creators Conference

It’s that time of year when newspapers are reviewing the year so I thought I’d start by giving you a review of my music highlights this year.

I’ve played Teenage Kicks on the guitar with Fergal Sharkey on a boat on the Thames.

I’ve said that Top of the Pops should be for life, not just for Christmas.

And, on the floor of the House of Commons, I spoke up for my talented constituent Laura White, to my knowledge the first person to play a musical instrument on X Factor, being unfairly voted off.

So it must be reassuring for you all to have an intellectual heavyweight intervening in the big music issues of the day at the heart of government.

But, the truth is, government intervention in the music business does not have a glorious history. To paraphrase one of our greats, mixing pop and politics is not a straightforward business and, indeed, can be a bit embarrassing for all concerned.

The British music business has been a major success story with government at arm’s length, or further, in something of a state of mutual distrust.

Over the second half of the last century the industry grew into one of real economic and cultural significance – and its output for many defined us internationally - yet without significant government intervention or political help.

Indeed, I would argue that some of the best music this country has ever produced came out of my home region, a depressed North West in the 1980s and 1990s, as a statement of defiance to the government of the day.

This music was the soundtrack to my political formative years – and yet disturbingly I find that at least half of today’s Shadow Cabinet claims to like the same stuff.

I used to have an album by a band called the Redskins - Neither Washington nor Moscow - which one of my shadow MPs, Ed Vaizey, claims to have liked too.

I got really worried when David Cameron said he liked The Smiths and other bands of the time, saying ‘I don’t see why the Left should be the only ones to listen to protest songs.’

But he blew his cover when talking about the Jam’s Eton Rifles – saying ‘It meant a lot, I was one, in the corps.’

It took my colleague Ian Austin to point out that it wasn’t a supporters’ club anthem for Mr Cameron’s old school.

But, to be fair, we’ve not had our good moments. Everyone remembers Noel Gallagher at No 10, and John Prescott’s run-in with Chumbawumba, and I think ever since we’ve kept a polite distance.

So, as I say, no glorious history of pop and politics.

But I’m going to make the case this morning that necessity means that the old order of things needs to change.

The time has clearly arrived when pop needs a bit of political help, when we are all having more meetings and conversations than we’ve had in the past.

Music has been hit hard over the last ten years, and if we don’t do something there is a real danger that parts of the music industry will be washed away.

Developments in communications have changed the music world and I think we are now at a time that calls for partnership between Government and the music business as a whole: one with rewards for both of us; one with rewards for society as a whole.

Music has been a life’s passion for me. When I came into this job earlier this year, I made it a personal priority to focus on the music business – and, hopefully, identify solutions and new models to sustain this cultural strength throughout this century as it was in the second half of the last.

So, the Government signalled this change of gear in February with the publication of our Creative Britain strategy – the first proper programme of structural support from government for the creative industries: moving from the margins of government thinking to the mainstream. We said clearly that legislation would be brought forward to tackle illegal downloading if acceptable voluntary solutions did not emerge - and that remains our unequivocal position.

It’s more important than ever at this particular time when there’s pressure in the economy that we acknowledge and encourage the catalytic role that the creative industries can have in this country. Our traditional creative strength is an enormous competitive advantage in a changing and highly connected world.

International solutions are needed and that’s why one of the things that came out of the strategy was a commitment to establishing a new network to bring together internationally renowned talent from the creative industries – the Creativity and Business International Network. The aim, in time, is for this forum - c&binet - to become an annual event in Britain that’s seen as the equivalent of “Davos” for the creative industries.

But it’s not just on the government side that there has been a change of gear. The industry has clearly been getting its act together off the stage.

The formation of UK Music is a welcome step, as is the Featured Artists Coalition. I don’t think we could ever expect the music industry to speak with one voice – so two isn’t bad – but it does bring a lot more coherence and makes my job easier when representing you to the rest of Government. I recognise the progress made and welcome it.

This is needed now more than ever as it has been a tough few years for the music industry – and a particularly tough few weeks. This year particularly has seen a real acceleration in the breakdown of the traditional systems that fund creativity – the systems that have been in place for decades, particularly in TV and music.

The worldwide economic downturn is adding to the pressure. But it also creates the conditions to allow fresh thinking and help it to take root. Fresh thinking is needed to rework the old models where people handed over their money in the record shop and it found its way into various pockets throughout the industry.

The music industry did very well out of my generation, both the talent and the paying punters. Buying an album was a serious long-term strategic investment of pocket money after weeks of studying the NME and the indie music charts. It was such a commitment, even when you got it home and realised it wasn’t quite as good as you hoped, you had to defend it vigorously.

The online revolution has changed all the rules and ever since we’ve been struggling to catch up. For creative talent like you, it’s a genuinely double-edged sword – liberating and democratising on the one side, allowing people to bypass the traditional gatekeepers to the creative system.

But on the other side, what the online revolution has done is promote a prevailing sense with the online generation that creativity is free to enjoy.

We enjoy a whole lot more choice and opportunity – which is good. And a lot of people enjoy all that for free – which is good for them but not for everyone –and not good for the long term prospects for new music and new ideas, and fresh talent coming through.

So music has been hampered by a real sense of ambivalence towards the internet from the off. But some of its early ideology, in my view, was detrimental to its interests.

There was a powerful undercurrent at the start of the internet that was expressed in the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace written by John Perry Barlow in 1996.

‘Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement and context do not apply to us.’

But the legal concept of copyright has underpinned our creative industries for decades, and is essential to rewarding talent and creativity.

We are now having to confront these notions – but we need to respond in a way that doesn’t criminalise a whole generation that has come to enjoy and explore creativity in a different way.

We need new rules and new norms and they have to be agreed on an international basis because that’s the way the online world operates.

My job – Government’s job – is to preserve the value in the system. Your challenge as an industry is to devise a system that is fair to the paying public and to the performer. Making it stick might mean industry and performers agreeing new rules and new models. But any long-term solution will have a greater chance of sticking in the long term if bodies like the FAC can recommend them unequivocally to their fan base.

It may not be the first thing on Barack Obama’s mind – but it is in there as part of his cultural and creative agenda and we do have a fresh opportunity to come to a common understanding with a new administration.

Illegal file sharing comes under that banner, and I personally think we are breaking new ground in this country.

The gap between how many tracks get paid for and how many don’t is just staggering – and I think the voluntary agreements to change that are going as well as could have been expected at this moment in time.

ISPs are talking to music companies about this. Something they weren’t doing a year ago. And they are writing letters to illegal downloaders – which they weren’t a year ago.

We’ll have some idea of how effective that has been early in the new year and it’s important that the Memorandum of Understanding that we’re working on with ISPs and music rights holders doesn’t slip.

The voluntary approach is obviously the best way forward, but we’re working on how legislation could underpin the voluntary process if necessary in a way that’s fair and proportionate. Having come this far, I’m determined that we bring this issue to a conclusion that works.

Copyright underpins the music business – and all our creative industries – and the right response when it’s put under pressure is not to abandon a system as outdated, but to make it work better.

There is a moral case for performers benefiting from their work throughout their entire lifetime.

That is why I have been working with John Denham, my opposite number in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, to consider the arguments for an extension of copyright term for performers from the current 50 years. An extension to match more closely a performer’s expected lifetime, perhaps something like 70 years, for example, given that most people make their best work in their 20s and 30s.

And we must ensure that any extension delivers maximum benefit to performers and musicians. That’s the test of any model as we go forward.

It’s only right that someone who created or contributed to something of real value gets to benefit for the full course of their life.

There’s another moral argument that says you should have a right not to have something you’ve created being associated with a cause or a brand you’re not comfortable with.

From a cultural point of view, it’s right that Government should be recognising and celebrating the role that performers and creators play in the cultural life of the country.

And from an economic point of view, the music business is one of our most significant creative industries – and the creative industries as a whole are the right direction to be pushing our economy at this moment in time.

Let me be absolutely clear so there are no misconceptions about where the Government is on this. I have been working closely with John Denham, and we both share a real support for artists and musicians.

We want the industry to come back with good, workable ideas as to how a proposal on copyright extension might be framed that directly and predominantly benefits performers – both session and featured musicians.

I’d like to congratulate Charlie McCreevy for initially instigating this discussion.

I think you have heard already from Charlie on his proposals at the European level and we’ll be working with him to find the right approach through copyright that rewards creators and performers, including session musicians.

But all of this is meaningless unless we lay down the foundations in creative education for young people, helping them to feel confident in their creativity.
Support for talent goes to the heart of the Department for Culture. It starts with helping more young people discover their creativity from an early age.

And it’s also important that industry invests back into the system to benefit the next generation - as we have seen with the Premier League do in football.

Here’s an example: we’ve worked with Fergal when he was heading the Live Music Forum, developing the idea of rehearsal spaces in deprived areas around the country – places where aspiring musicians or technicians can practice and gain experience. Places that can develop into music hubs for the community, with links to the live music scene, community radio and the music industry locally and nationally. The first of these should be starting up in the New Year in Liverpool, Bristol and Manchester.

We’re putting in £500,000 and we’ve got commitments of support from across the music industry – but it needs the support of musicians and performers as well to make it work.

Another example about how industry can put back in to the system: we’ve set a goal for 5,000 new apprenticeships in the creative industries every year to give young people a clear career path into jobs in the music business, TV, film and so on. Not everyone gets an equal chance to break into the music business, for one way or another.

Apprenticeships are a way of finding and nurturing talent that might not otherwise get discovered. Government can set the ambition, but we can’t offer the jobs – that’s down to industry, and I’m delighted with the interest that EMI and Universal have shown so far to host music industry apprenticeships.

Another example: we’ve launched a programme in schools called Find Your Talent, as part of the commitment to give every young person five hours a week of high-quality culture and art.

The idea rests on getting professional creative people much more involved with local schools and with cultural activities with young people outside school. Using the power and the glamour associated with proven creative talent to inspire an interest in culture and creativity – particularly in those that either haven’t had the chances in the past.

This is, of course Department for Children, Schools and Families’ territory as well. They are putting over £300 million into funding music in schools over the next three years including the priority for free musical tuition for all primary school pupils. Already, it’s amazing to hear that the number of children learning an instrument looks set to have doubled over the last three years, from 22% in September 2005 to some 50% in September 2008.

It’s through partnerships like these that we’ll bring on the next generation of talent, and which will start to change people’s perceptions of the value of creativity.

The online world has smashed the old models apart and opened up new opportunities for us to rebuild an industry that stands the test of time.

It has cut out the middle men. But we still need to think through all the consequences of that – what the new models are and how they work.

How do we replace the essential functions that the old middle men used to perform – the promotion, contract negotiations, the protection of rights, of ownership, paying taxes?

How do we help people lift themselves up above the noise? How do we help them to protect their rights?

We need to make sure we are not just discovering the new talent of the future, but also preparing that new talent for the world as it is now.

The big creative challenge now is to come up with the new ideas that keep people listening and which set a true and realistic value on talent. In short, we need to create a new business model that is fairer to everyone – music-buying public, performers, and those who have built up the industry.

Thank you.


ENDS

08/12/2008 - Burnham - Ground breaking swimming scheme is inspiration for national announcement

Leigh set to make a ‘big splash’ from 2009.

A ground breaking scheme launched across the Leigh area in 2005 to provide free swimming for under 16s, followed a year later by free swimming for the over 60s has been hailed as the inspiration behind Andy Burnham’s announcement today that shows councils up and down the country are set to follow Leigh’s example and introduce free swimming for under 16s and the over 60s as part of the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games.

The Council made a ‘big splash’ on the national scene when they confirmed earlier this year that they will introduce free swimming for all in the Leigh area from 2009 – 3 years ahead of the 2012 date and the first in the country to do so.

Across the borough over 300,000 free swims have been undertaken with a 50% increase in swimming from young and old alike since the local free scheme was introduced.

More than twenty million people aged 16 and under and over 60 will swim for free from next April (2009) as Andy confirmed that 82 per cent of local authorities have signed up to take part in a £140 million Government scheme.

The Government’s commitment to free swimming means that the 211 local authorities that have opted in to offer the scheme to both age groups have also received a share of a £10 million capital fund to spend on modernising or improving pool provision in time for the start of the two-year scheme in 2009.

Those local authorities that will offer free swimming to both age groups also stand to benefit from a further £25 million capital challenge fund in 2009/10 and 2010/11 to spend on improving pool provision or potentially expanding the scheme out to residents of all ages.

In addition to this 80 local authorities have confirmed that they will participate in the over 60s scheme only.

Andy has praised the approach adopted by Council Leader Peter Smith and is proud that the council have set a path which other local authorities across the country have copied.

Andy said, “Offering free swimming was just the kind of imaginative action which inspired me to take this local ground breaking initiative onto the national stage."

“Swimming’s appeal is universal. Whether you are young or old swimming is something people can do as a family that is fun and also good for your health. It is the perfect antidote to the couch potato culture and, here in Leigh, we can also boast a modern ‘state of the art’ pool at Leigh Sports Village.”

"Getting people more active is vital to the health of the nation and to tackling obesity. With 2012 approaching, now is the time for big ideas to help people make a change in their lifestyle. Swimming is fun and has universal appeal so 2009 is the year to get your trunks on!"

Further information on the free swimming initiative and other Olympic legacy schemes is available of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport website: http://www.culture.gov.uk

The swimming scheme is jointly funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department of Health, Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Further information on the Free Swimming Capital Modernisation Programme is available on the Sport England website: http://www.sportengland.org

Andy is pictured at the opening of the swimming pool at Leigh Sports Village.

05/12/2008 - Drive Safely says Andy Burnham MP

As the holiday season approaches, Andy Burnham MP is urging people in the Leigh area to ensure that they leave their cars at home if they plan to drink this Christmas.

In the North West, 290 people are killed and seriously injured every year because of drink driving and in 2006 60 people died on North West roads. That’s why Andy is backing the Government’s THINK! Campaign and helping to raise awareness of the devastating consequences of drink driving.

Andy said, “Drink driving can ruin lives. Last year 460 people died as a result of this recklessness and families across Britain were shattered by the menace of drink driving. My message to drivers in the Leigh area is clear. If you get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol you risk wrecking your own and other people’s lives – don’t do it.”

“It is critical that people understand the destruction they could cause. With this in mind, the Government has launched a national TV and radio campaign to remind people of the consequences of drinking and driving.”

Hard-hitting adverts will be running throughout the festive period to help get this message home: TV advertising: 1st - 31st December 2008; Cinema advertising: w/c 12th & w/c 26th Dec 2008; Radio advertising: 1st - 31st December 2008; Ambient advertising (in-pub): 8th Dec - 13th Jan