Spotted at Timmy's, some typical guff from The Guardian:
Black and south Asian music events in London face disproportionate cancellations, restrictions and licensing barriers compared with white events, according to a two-year investigation into racial inequality in the capital’s live music industry.
The Race Equality in Music Event Licensing (REMEL) report, led by Black Lives in Music, estimates that cancellations, displacement and events prevented from taking place cost London £127m to £141m annually, with projected losses exceeding £650m over five years.
So,
Who are 'Black Lives in Music', who asked for the study, why, and who paid for it?
Black Lives in Music support the music community to act on and achieve diversity and inclusion objectives for a truly representative music industry.
Based on that, they appear to be a group whose aim is to increase the number of white rappers and reggae singers
The two-year study was commissioned by the mayor’s office (Guardian)
So London's black mayor is responsible for the study. I wonder why that racist pig wants more white rappers and reggae singers?
And according to Google AI, Black Lives in Music received £345,000 of taxpayers money in the last financial year
And so,
What evidence do they provide to demonstrate that venues and organisers in London are racist and are refusing to host white rappers and reggae singers?
The report found that genres including Afrobeats, drill and dancehall are routinely labelled “high risk” despite a lack of credible evidence, while indie, pop and rock events face comparatively little scrutiny
Ahh. It's the risk of hosting events by black people. Why? Because black music often promotes violence, and black performances often attract trouble?
The report states there is no evidence for this assumption, and of course I have none of my own, but I know that hosting and licencing a music event is an exercise in risk, undertaken by people who understand that risk
Just like a car insurance company will be reluctant to insure an alcoholic, because they are aware of the increased risk. Are music promoters simply racist, or do they expect violent music to attract violent people
And also,
cancellations, displacement and events prevented from taking place cost London £127m to £141m annually, with projected losses exceeding £650m over five years.
Who is actually bearing this cost?
I'm thinking back to my earlier years now, when I used to fisk the so called, cost of smoking, when things like dying early were classed as huge financial losses to the economy, but the cost saving in end of life care was ignored
If a music venue chooses or is forced by licencing not to host a wholesome drill rapper, do they close for the evening, or bring in an ABBA tribute act instead?
It seems to me like the only people that would be missing out on money, would be the black 'singers' who don't get booked. So maybe it's all their own fault for not producing any music that is actually bookable, in a polite society
The findings suggest that the legacy of the Metropolitan police’s controversial Form 696 persists. Introduced in 2005 as a risk assessment tool, it was scrapped in 2017 after criticism that it discriminated against black music events.
Hakeem Stevens, the report’s lead researcher, said police scrutiny had become harder to document. “Back in the day when emails were sent and faxes were sent, we had documented evidence. Now what’s happening is it’s whispers, it’s phone calls, it’s conversations, verbal conversations that can’t be recorded.”
Of course it is. What do you expect? The police presumably had an effective and well documented system for rooting out potential violence at music venues, but when it affected the most violent people, you called the police racists. Now, because they still have a job to do, but don't want the unfounded accusations, it's not documented, it's done on the phone and in person
The Met police commander Neerav Patel said the force would carefully consider the reports finding. “Our focus will remain on making fair, evidence-based contributions to the licensing process which balance the interests of venues, promoters, artists and local communities while never compromising on our ultimate priority which is to keep Londoners safe” said Patel.
But safety is clearly racist
Our tax money, people. The report can be downloaded here, if you fancy it
