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European music in decay: cultural heritage threatened ‘Our grandchildren can forget about a musical career’
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Hoofddorp, 7 October 2004 At the conference ‘European Music Cultures: Sound or Silence’, opened by Secretary of State Medy van der Laan, Buma/Stemra today made an urgent appeal to politicians and the music industry to protect the national music product in Europe. Research figures presented by Buma/Stemra during the conference clearly show that the national music product is seriously threatened in most European countries.
The well-known music author Xander de Buisonjé welcomed the participants on behalf of Buma/Stemra and also plays an important role in the video production ‘The Music Makers’, which was shown at the conference. |
 Left to right: Singer / song writer Xander de Buisonjé, Secretary of State for Culture Medy van der Laan, Buma/Stemra chairman Cees Vervoord. Photo: Buma/Stemra |
At the conference leading politicians and artistes talked about the importance of the national music culture, and how this can best be protected. Buma/Stemra believes the best option for the future is a combination of political measures and intelligent collaboration between the music copyright organizations.
More monotonous
Buma/Stemra board chairman Cees Vervoord commented: “The study confirms our fears that, if no measures are taken, the national music product will lose out to the more standardized commercial product. If no measures are taken then our grandchildren can soon forget about a musical career. The upscaling and competition between music copyright associations will ensure that the musical landscape becomes increasingly monotonous. In many European countries the situation can be described as thoroughly alarming: national artistes are no longer given a chance.”
Jan Boerstoel feels moved by the issue not only as chairman of the Buma Association and the Stemra Foundation, but also as a lyricist. “I’ve been writing for 35 years and can therefore recount from my own personal experience that lyricists and composers really value all the support they can get. Buma/Stemra plays an important role by giving them the opportunity to do what they do best: creating music. During the conference Boerstoel presented the very first Sound or Silence Award to DJ Tiësto, for his major contribution to promoting the Dutch music product. The manager of DJ Tiësto, who could not attend the ceremony due to illness, received the award on his behalf.
Just like Buma/Stemra, Jan Rietman also recently commented on the precarious situation of the Dutch Song. “When you see how little pride we have in everything being produced and performed in the Netherlands, then it makes you think. One can only describe the attention given to national artistes and musicians on radio and television as very meagre. This was one of the reasons why I decided to restart LosVast,” says Rietman, who has planned a new edition of his successful live programme in Ahoy Rotterdam on 16 October.
Buma/Stemra asked Capgemini to conduct a study of the position of the national music product. The results, presented today during the conference, show that the music copyright organizations are the only group which still puts cultural value high on their agenda. Willem Jan Roelof, the Vice President of Capgemini, explains one aspect of the study: “The contribution made by the European government to all forms of culture (about € 33 million per year) is not even a third of what the music copyright organizations together contribute to the local music cultures: no less then € 110 per year.”
Buma/Stemra expects that mutual competition will bring a dramatic reduction of this figure, because market operations will very probably lead to profitability being placed above cultural value. This is a major cause of concern to Cees Vervoord: “This will cause a further erosion of the European music culture and Europe’s famous, and highly popular, cultural diversity will disappear.” And there is no doubt that Dutch music is indeed ‘popular’: recent NIPO research reveals that Dutch people are still highly attached to music with its own special Dutch character.
Buma/Stemra
Buma/Stemra represents the interests in the Netherlands of domestic and foreign music authors and publishers. The core task of Buma/Stemra is the administration (performance fee collection and royalty payments) and management of music copyrights for the affiliated composers, lyricists and music publishers. Buma/Stemra conducts its services in a businesslike and efficient manner through representation of interests and provision of services at the highest level of quality and at the lowest possible cost. Buma/Stemra protects the rights of music authors and supports the cultural (national) music product. It is thus an organization which does more than just administering music copyrights.