Birmingham Music Network Meeting – 28th November 2013

Attendance:

Sue Nicholls – Merchandiser Glenn Tilbrook, Steve Poltz.

Ian Bourne

Robin Valk – Radio To Go

James Anthony

Matt Fisher – Giraffe Audio

Nick Romluc – Giraffe Audio

Anthony Hughes – Screen Image Network and Smart Culture

Richard Blades – Blades Animation

Garry Davies – Skullfox

Sarah-Ann Cromwell – Diva Gigs

Barny Evans – Fantasy Band Camp

Robert Oulton

Tony Guice – Propagator Records

Keisha Thompson – Aloi

Annie M – Indie Artist

Yaz Alexander – Domeclub / Indie Artist

Mark Sampson – Iron Man Records / Birmingham Music Network

New points

Robin Valk
The blog has passed 20,000 views. Stories like kerrang closing down or UB40 going bust seem to attract most attention.
Soundlounge 21 is being run at the town hall. Its open to 16-to 21 year olds. Applications open now at the town hall site.
BBC – how it funds its activities in the region. BBC divides the country into 7 regions. Most regions retain 50-60% of the licence fee generated in the region. Wales, Scotland and Ireland get a little bit more. The midlands region gets about 12%. The only DJ who lives in the region is Janice Long. What we really need to do is redress the imbalance. The BBC would have to spend another 400 million across the region each year to redress the balance. The BBC have now come up with Project England. Birmingham is to become a centre for digital training. The investment equals 8 Million….not the 400 million required to redress the balance.
Read more at www.radiotogo.com

Discussion of Film Makers and Networking opportunities for both film and music followed.

Shooters in The Pub: A Networking event that happens, first monday of the month. Theres a Facebook page. Shooting people is the name of the website. https://shootingpeople.org

Another meet called Call the Shots based in Coventry.

Birmingham Film Forum went to the BBC. A lot of questions asked.

Discussion followed on subject of the state of the creative industry in Birmingham. Mark to speak to Anthony about putting a list of issues together that we need to address and approach James Burkmar about. James is now head of Creative Industries.

Ian Bourne: Singer songwriter looking to work with new people, he runs several open mic and acoustic evenings towards Coventry and Hinckley.

www.crazypigeons.co.uk
ianbournemusic on Facebook

Ian promotes an acoustic evening at the shakespeare http://www.the-shakespeare.co.uk/ on spoon street on Tuesday nights in Coventry and will be looking for people to play. theres no money to be had but the sets are recorded. The best way to get in touch about acoustic nights at the shakespeare or through ianbourne music

Ian will be playing at the Actress and Bishop 7th December
Other places of interest include Tower of Song in Stirchley and several others mentioned.

Yaz Alexander: Wanted to talk about Pink Floyd the 360 experience.
For more info the dome, the custard factory, gibb street, birmingham, b9 4aa tel 0121 3699 360
There are not many dome theatres in the uk, there are plenty of domes in europe
Yaz is very passionate that Birmingham has the chance to compete and be a front runner on use of dome theatre ideas.

Jena Festival takes place in Germany each year. They compete and have awards for dome theatre ideas.

Dome Club is all about experimental visuals with music. It has been described as an immersive experience. Anyone interested in The Dome can visit www.domeclub.co.uk for info on events or how to get involved.

Matt and Nick:
Running their own business now, background in music, workshops. Want to provide a service to the region to help people improve their skills with regard to what they are doing in music. For example video, they have a lot of tools and experience to help people do it for themselves. They want to engage with people doing video, find out what they are doing. They are looking for people who have decent coverage for their projects where matt and nick can loan gear for projects and get some coverage off the back of it.

we are giraffe audio
www.giraffeaudio.com

Matt and Nick are based at the big peg at the moment. Discussions followed.

Barney:
Wanted to talk about why are there no good bands left in birmingham?
Thinks there are talented musicians in Birmingham, There is a space for them, Barney wants to help that along.
Barney has a website called Fantasy Band Camp: Looking at schools and school age people.

www.fantasybandcamp.co.uk
Aiming at 18 years and above, and looking to work with people

Interesting book mentioned: Retro Mania – Simon Reynolds

Sarah-Ann Cromwell: Wanted to talk about Diva Gigs.

www.SarahAnnCromwell.com
sarahanncromwell@yahoo.com
Diva Gigs: First comedic opera act.
Sarah said: I would like to tour the show. I don’t want to go to theatres and churches, I want to tour the show in cafes pubs public places…goal to target market of 25-35 year olds. Discussions followed. Some suggestions included: taylor Johns house, glee club, old joint stock theatre, jonglers,

 There will be no meeting in December. The next Birmingham Music Network meeting will now be January 30th.