Is Irish Music Really Not Good Enough?

“Radio is a sound salvation
Radio is cleaning up the nation”

Those words, written 35 years ago and belted out by Elvis Costello at his recent Dublin show, underline the importance back then of radio as a vital medium for pop and rock music exposure. Amazingly, you might say, after all these years, radio remains a hugely important outlet for breaking new music and for sustaining careers. The intervening years have seen a continued onslaught of downloading and streaming via online/mobile platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and the dozens of other internet music outlets that are available to almost everyone.

And yet, it seems that the Irish remain a nation of radio lovers. While there is an element of hype in all of these things, the recent JNLR figures revealed that an impressive 83% of Irish adults listen to the radio every single day, tuning in on average for almost four hours per day during the prime 7am to 7pm slot Monday to Friday. Of that number, 58% tune into their local or regional station, while 44% listen to a national station. If we are to believe the radio industry’s figures, even among the younger, tech-savvy, 15-34 year market, 76% still listen to the radio daily.

The picture is not entirely rosy: the imminent closure of TXFM underlines just how tough it can be for a specialist station to survive in a market dominated by more conventional tastes. But for more mainstream stations, the immediate future looks bright. The recent purchase by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation of seven high profile Irish radio stations, including Dublin’s FM104 and Cork’s 96FM, represents a vote of confidence in the future of the medium. If there weren’t substantial profits to be made, he wouldn’t be putting his money in.

While radio is important in making careers, there is also a cultural issue involved. On the one hand, radio play represents an effective endorsement of the music that is included in playlists, especially those tracks that are played frequently during the daytime. But, if something is being excluded, then in effect it is being written out of existence. And – to one extent or another – that is what has been happening to Irish music. To take just one recent week as an example – the week ending July 29 – there was not one Irish track in the entire Top 30 singles’ charts.

CULTURAL DANGER

It is against this background that the long running issue of a quota for Irish music content on Irish radio stations has once again emerged as a “live” issue. Labour TD Willie Penrose tabled a motion in the Dáil to introduce a Bill which would provide for a minimum percentage of Irish content in radio music programmes. Under his proposal, at least 40% of the aggregate amount of transmission time would be allocated to music content that, in his words “relates to some distinguished element of the culture of the island of Ireland”.

“We’re in great danger of losing our unique cultural identity,” Willie told Hot Press. “We exist at the back door of Britain and the US – linguistically we’re more exposed to that cultural influence than most European countries. Other EU states have artists singing in their own language, but our songs are primarily written and performed in English, which makes us a part of that whole industry which is often controlled from outside.”

Penrose says he has the support of a large number of prominent Irish musicians, composers and managers in his efforts to introduce a quota on Irish radio. He mentions Christy Moore, Paddy Moloney, Brendan Graham, Paul Brady, Mary Black, Frankie Gavin, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Steve Wickham, Jimmy McCarthy, Sean and Delores Keane, Finbar Furey, Finbar Wright, Sean Tyrell, Máirtín Ó Connor, Peadar Ó Riada and Louis Walsh.

“I intend to hold a press launch with many of those musicians present in respect of this Bill in late September or early October, and to meet with all Deputies and Senators to discuss why it is necessary,” he says. “I’m hoping the Government will take it on board – and if not, I’ll bring forward a Private Members Bill. Because of the make-up of the Dáil, I anticipate that people will understand the objective of the bill and vote for it.”

It is no surprose that Penrose’s plan has the support of a significant proportion of homegrown artists. Signer-songwriter and musician Eleanor McEvoy (also a board member of IMRO) feels the move is long overdue. “We really have to do something to get behind our own,” she says. “I travel to Australia a lot and I hear Australian rock music on the radio all the time. Even the blues music I hear over there is usually by Australian acts. If so many other countries can do it – Canada is another example – then we’re not competing on a level playing field.”

For Irish artists, this is not a case of merely saying ‘play me!’ “There are whole sectors of Irish music that you don’t hear on Irish radio,” Eleanor adds. “One of them is the whole country ‘n’ Irish thing which is incredibly popular at the moment, but I’m not hearing it on the airwaves. There are other ways of building an audience – my 14-year-old daughter finds stuff on the internet and pulls it out of the ether all the time. But my God, it’s really hard to beat the effect of mainstream radio play.” And with occasional exceptions, Irish music has not been getting much of that.

CHARTS DON’T LIE

There has traditionally been strong resistance to any moves towards quotas, particularly from the commercial radio sector – though RTÉ has never really taken its responsibilities in this regard seriously either. Mark Cunning, presenter and Program Controller of iRadio has his doubts about the move.

“There’s definitely merit in it,” he concedes, “but there’s a flaw in it as well. Being a commercial radio station, we have to give our listeners what they want. Being told to do something because it’s the law isn’t the most progressive way of encouraging something that is essentially creative.” For his part, Cunning – who really knows his music – insists that even without quotas, Irish music can and should be supported and championed.

“It’s always been a big thing for us to give a break to new Irish acts,” he says. “One of the big bands for us at the moment would be Picture This, and people like All Tvvins and Roisin Ó are names that come up, looking at our current playlist. We always try to push Irish acts when they’re really good. I don’t like the idea of having to play tracks because we must do it. Gavin James is someone we’ve supported in the past too – and he’s doing serious business.”

He makes the age-old argument that if it is good enough it will be played. “Picture This are just as credible to us as say, Calvin Harris. But they shouldn’t be getting played on Irish radio merely because they’re Irish. The reason they get played is because they’re so fucking good – they make great pop music – so more of that please. There are plenty of other ways the Government could support Irish music – providing funding for example – and by not bringing in regressive laws like trying to outlaw busking.” The trouble, as far as Willie Penrose is concerned, is that not every station has a Mark Cunning, who is looking and listening and supporting. What’s more, it isn’t as if there is a free-for-all in radio: the stations that are licensed are using a scarce national resource, with the permission of the State. Surely, musicians privately argue, some responsibility to Irish culture goes with that.

Irish artists are in a difficult position: there is an anxiety that if they do take a stand, they might be discriminated against even further. But there is no doubting that there is a groundswell of resentment in the air about the fact you can rely on hearing Major Lazer, Drake, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and the likes over and over again – and Irish artists seldom get a look in. The reality is that the charts don’t lie. 30-0. That is a hell of a beating for a country that has a track record of producing some of the world’s greatest music.