Sunday 12 April 2015

#SaveLondonMusic – The campaign grows (Guest blog by Jimmy Mulville of Bally Studios)

By Jimmy Mulville

Yesterday, the following people joined the ‪#‎SaveLondonMusic‬ campaign
The Rehearsal Rooms
M.A.D
Tweeters Rehearsal Studios
Alt Mu Magazine (ALT-MU)
Lucky Stone Studio
Voltage Studios
Spiral Studios
Neon Sound Studios
which is in addition to the people who had joined beforehand
Bally Studios
Mill Hill Music Complex Studios
Downs Sounds
Soup Studio
BonafideStudio London
Terminal Studios
The Secret Warehouse Of Sound
The Engine Rooms
The Premises Studios

and we expect the amount to grow quite a bit over the weekend, so we would REALLY appreciate it if you could spread the word to anyone who may be interested, by tagging them and sharing the posts. Some kind people also pointed us in the direction of these other campaigns, that are trying to achieve the same goal in
Edinburgh: Music is Audible
Australia: SLAM (Save Live Australia’s Music)
Yesterday property developers pulled down the historic pub in Maida Vale, London, without any permission, and there are already groups growing on Facebook such as Rebuild The Carlton Tavern, with nearly 500 members joining in a day. Along with the nearly 29,000 people who have signed the following petition to save Denmark Street:
https://www.change.org/p/alex-bushell-don-t-bin-tin-pan-all…
as well as the campaigns such as Save fabric london
and articles like “16 ways to ‪#‎SaveLondon‬ as we know it” http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/save-our-city
it shows that there is quite a movement from people who are extremely concerned that there is such a strong focus towards ripping out many of the best parts of London, in the single minded race for extra profits. That’s why we are really grateful to anyone who is spreading the word as far and wide as possible.
A final point: in the music industry, the vast majority of rehearsal and recording studios, and music venues are independently run. While there are multiple Tescos all over the place, there is no chain of rehearsal studios, and apart from a few Carling Academy’s/o2 Academy’s here and there, the music venues are small and independent too. Not only does this mean that these industries become more eclectic and personal, but it can also spread the economic risk.
In Detroit, Michigan, in 1932 there were 90,000 employed by the Big 3 Automobile Manufacturers, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. By 1990 that had fallen to 6,000. When so much of a city is dependent on fewer companies, companies that will base their entire strategy on profits, the whole city could be at risk if they withdraw their investment.
That is what happened in Detroit, which has dropped in population from 1,850,000 to 700,000 and gone from being a boom town to a semi-ghost town. When Woolworths went bust in 2009 in the UK, instantly 27,000 people were jobless. Big companies may have good upsides, but they are also very risky. London is fast moving towards putting all of it’s eggs in one basket – namely the property market – by squeezing out the small guys in favour of the big guys. In our opinion, by having lots of smaller companies it means there is less risk of there being huge financial repercussions from any of them closing. Also, many smaller companies are happy to keep on trading on a small profit, whereas the bigger ones won’t be.
Therefore, while our focus about saving these smaller studios and music venues is based on keeping London a great place to live with a creative and artistic buzz, it should also be remembered that whilst it may not be as profitable as selling £1Million apartments, it also has MUCH less risk associated with it, and brings about some sorely needed stability to such a big city. In our eyes, a bit of stability and less risk can’t be a bad thing.

The path of the world’s loveliest cities is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish, and the tyranny of evil men. Here’s how to help out
timeout.com
 (This post was written for the Facebook page of Bally Studios in Tottenham by Jimmy Mulville at Bally Studios)

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