"A Thaoisigh, a chara,
I am using this channel to inform you
of issues that you may later choose to delegate to your ministers.
You probably know that the Irish music
industry is in crisis. From where we were in the 1990's, with several
acts like Enya selling in the tens of millions, we have descended to
the point that Iceland is doing better than us with many bands
including Sigur Ros and “Of monsters and Men” getting primetime
US TV and selling in the millions. In the meantime. South Korea
spends $300 million annually promoting its “K-Pop” which even
has its own US TV channel.
The disaster that befell Irish music is
not just lack of investment; it is in fact mainly a story of Fianna
Fail/Green corruption, which you can read in the attached file (see my "Ireland in crisis" book for details - editor). In
any case, we don't have $300 million. Here I'm going to outline a set
of solutions. Some of them are large-scale, but some are simply
related to what it will take on the ground to establish an Irish
presence in the markets that other countries like south Korea have
kicked us out of.
First of all, a very simple basic
example of how it works here. Having met you at the UICC in san Fran with
Melanie O'Reilly, I know you like jazz - or at least the idea of jazz .On Wed last (June/Meitheamh 25 2014), we did a gig in
the very prestigious Angelique's in Redwood city featuring our
songs which include Irish lyrics by Sean O Riordain and Nuala ni
Dhomhnaill set to jazz. The owner liked it so much that he asked
Melanie back to do her show, premiered at the Edinburgh festival in
2010, in tribute to the great jazz singer Anita O'Day. (Note that this indeed took place http://events.sfgate.com/redwood_city_ca/events/show/371052799-jazz-on-a-summers-day-a-tribute-to-jazz-vocal-legend-anita-oday - edito
r)
A Thaoisigh, that's what it will take;
apparently small gigs done by hundreds of Irish acts. The state
should also support small venues like the Starry Plough in Berkeley,
which has had an Irish dance session every Monday night for 35 years
to which the cream of America's youth come, and the “”Lark camp”
educational summer project. By support, I mean at least sending a
diplomat once to acknowledge the contribution.
However, this should be complemented by
the following;
- IMRO is a hopelessly corrupt Fianna Fail gazebo. It should be closed down, with its functions transferred to a well-regulated state institution. IMRO's revenue is around $50 million per year. Much of that is profit. Venues and radio/TV playing quality music could have their “licensing” paid to IMRO reduced by 75% as this money never makes it to the musicians, but rather goes on administration. Even if the income is cut to $25 million, it will still be plenty for the following steps;
- In particular, IMRO's claim that it OWNS all of Irish traditional music, as an arts council report exposed, should be refuted and the property should be held in trust.
- All the theft done by IMRO and its companion MCPS should be reimbursed to the musicians. Between 1999 and 2003, the Gardai collected much evidence on IMRO and only a blatant interference with the DPP prevented their being prosecuted. The case was resolved in 2010 in US federal court instead but the musicians cannot enforce the verdict for lack of funds and it is in Ireland's interest that the state should help them do so perhaps through the WTO;
- The state should emulate the French and introduce an “intermittent” system. This would mean that, instead of going on the dole and trying to hide their gigs, full=time artist/musicians who do over 50 concerts a year at state-recognized venues should get a grant;
- The state should reimburse all the musicians who had their CD's illegally licensed through an enterprise Ireland trade stand in midem in France at 1998. That will pay many outstanding bills, as we found through our successful federal court action that the sales through Walmart in particular were in the millions;
- The state should return the copyrights taken by IMRO to the musicians
- The state should return the money due to musicians from U2's use of dissolved “distribution” companies like Record services Ltd to destroy independent labels. This was done with FF connivance, and while we won a lawsuit against U2 on this, Paul Appleby refused to act even after we met him one-on-one at his request in 2006;
- The state should investigate the use of fake tune titles in Irish by IMRO – the Gardai believed this indicated massive fraud as these could launder money;
- The state should use existing media like the “Today's Ireland” program in the USA to introduce the American public to quality Irish music, not bad country music as now;
- The state should stop the FF dominance of the festivals that Ireland will get every year like Celtic connections and Lorient and ensure new bands get a break there
- If there is any grant money for tours in the USA, it would best be used by ensuring safe transport and accommodation.
After that, leave it up to the market;
many Irish musicians are in my experience very hard-working and able.
Under FF, they experienced nothing but state collusion with
criminals. I know you are better than that.
