Never mind Theresa May triggering Article 50, this feels like the 50th Music Week article we’ve “triggered” on Brexit since that sorry term limped into our consciousness ahead of last year’s referendum.
But, like it or not – and everything Music Week has learned about the subject suggests the vast majority of you don’t like it – the UK’s imminent departure from the European Union will have a profound effect on the music biz.
In a way, British music’s relationship with the continent mirrors the nation’s as a whole. It’s important to Europeans, sure, but maybe not so important that they couldn’t learn to live without it if they had to. Complacency is a luxury the biz may not be able to afford (especially with the current state of the sterling-complacency exchange rate).
Which is why it’s so important that the biz speaks with one voice on the issue. This week’s Music Week cover story shows most execs are thinking along similar lines, but getting that message across, at a time when music is likely to be way behind other industries as a governmental priority, will not be easy. Especially as the industry’s natural figurehead, UK Music CEO Jo Dipple, will have left office before negotiations are properly underway.
Whoever takes over will need to hit the ground running, unite music’s different tribes and get the Government’s ear, despite the fact that some of those in charge of the process don’t appear to have a clue what’s going on.
Music has to make sure it not only knows what it wants, but knows how to get it. Just don’t make me trigger Article 51, because nobody knows what happens if you do that…
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