Four thousand, one hundred and forty four music fans responded to a single Parliamentary survey, more than any committee inquiry has recorded before. What they said, over and over, is that going to a gig isn't a transaction like any other, it's closer to a communal, sometimes quasi-religious experience, and that's the starting point for this week's conversation.

In this week's episode, Sean talks to Lord Kevin Brennan about the fan-led review of live and electronic music, the report he was commissioned to lead by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. We discuss what's happened since it was published, get his reaction to the Starmer government's response, and what we can hope under new our music-loving prime minister Andy Burnham.

Kevin Brennan was the Labour MP for Cardiff West for twenty three years, from 2001 until he stood down at the last election, before being appointed to the House of Lords as Lord Brennan of Canton. While in the Commons he chaired the CMS committee's inquiry into the economics of music streaming and introduced what became known as the Brennan Bill, a private member's bill that never made it into law but helped push the government towards hosting streaming remuneration talks through the Intellectual Property Office.

However, Brennan is also a musician himself. He was a founding member of MP4, the cross-party band of sitting MPs that has raised over a million pounds for charity (Andy Burnham, now Prime Minister, has played live with them), and in 2021 he became the first sitting MP to release a solo album, The Clown and the Cigarette Girl, produced by Gerry Diver with Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols on bass. He's currently recording a follow up.

The conversation covers the origins of the fan-led review, which built on last year's Music Fans Voice Survey (8,108 respondents), and the resulting Fans' Charter, built around seven "essentials of live": celebration, ticketing, grassroots, safety, accessibility, transport and voice.

They also talk about Andy Burnham's own history as a shareholder in Music Venue Properties, which has taken venues including The Snug in Atherton into community ownership. And yes, we discuss where AI and copyright fit into all of this.

The Drowned in Sound podcast is presented in partnership with Qobuz, the pioneering high-quality music streaming and download platform for music enthusiasts and audiophiles. Each week we curate playlists on Qobuz, featuring our favourite records, artists, and the themes we explore on the show.

Visit https://drownedinsound.org/playlists/ to discover new music in rich Hi-Res lossless quality and start your 30-day free trial of Qobuz at https://qobuz.com/dis.

 

Referenced In This Episode

The fan-led review of live and electronic music and the government's response: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/9161/fanled-review-of-music/publications

The government's "Turn It Up: Our Plan for Music": https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/turn-it-up-our-plan-for-music/turn-it-up-our-plan-for-music

Michael Dugher appointment as Music Champion: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/michael-dugher-appointed-as-music-champion

Find out more about the FanFair Alliance's campaign against ticket touting: http://fanfairalliance.org

Read Mark Davyd on Andy Burnham's stake in Music Venue Properties and a night out in Atherton: https://markdavyd.substack.com/p/a-night-out-in-atherton

Read more on Suzanne Ashman and the £500m Sovereign AI Fund: https://bmmagazine.co.uk/news/suzanne-ashman-sovereign-ai-fund-managing-partner/

Read Victoria Derbyshire's column on Oasis ticket prices: https://inews.co.uk/opinion/furious-oasis-tickets-dont-know-who-angry-3258086

Listen to Kevin Brennan's album, The Clown and the Cigarette Girl, on Qobuz: https://open.qobuz.com/album/v097ngg6ijjkc, or on Bandcamp: https://kevinbrennanmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-clown-the-cigarette-girl

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