Team GB has, quite rightly, received all the plaudits for its awesome performance at Rio 2016. After all, how often do we get to see Britain take on and beat every country in the world (except for America, obviously)?
Well, in sport, it may only happen once every four years. But in the music business, it’s a daily occurrence. Because if there was an Olympics for music, Team GB would be up at the top of the medal table every single time. We might even beat the USA.
And yet the media attention for British musicians’ year-in, year-out world-beating antics remains about the same as for one of the few remaining sports we’re hopeless at (Beach golf? Greco-Roman volleyball?).
It’s been a tough year for British musical breakthroughs and yet there’s still barely a global festival bill, awards ceremony or streaming playlist that hasn’t been dominated by UK music. Adele is our Laura Trott, Ed Sheeran our Jason Kenny.
I don’t know which singer our Charlotte Dujardin is but they’re out there somewhere, probably making a joke about being a bit hoarse.
It may be that the biz needs to shout until it’s hoarse about those achievements. But it’s also time the government started giving music the respect it deserves.
Olympic sport will receive around £350m in funding between 2013 and 2017.
Music delivers just as much of a feelgood factor and economic boost yet is lucky if it gets a pat on the back.
Just imagine what music’s Team GB could achieve with even a fraction of sport’s funding. So long as they don’t bring in random drug testing for rock stars, obviously…
Mark Sutherland, Editor
msutherland@nbmedia.com
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