British songwriters rule the world: we should celebrate them much more
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Version 0 of 1. This past week has seen London hosting two award ceremonies celebrating the success of British songwriters in the United States – the ASCAP and the BMI awards. The two organisations are responsible for collecting royalties on behalf of songwriters in the US, and last night’s BMI award recipients included Sacha Skarbek, who is British, for co-writing Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball, Fiona Bevan for co-writing Little Things with Ed Sheeran, and a slew of British songwriters who worked on One Direction’s last two albums: Wayne Hector for co-writing many of the boy band’s songs, including Best Song Ever, and Jamie Scott for writing seven tracks on their third album, Midnight Memories, including Story of My Life. It may come as no surprise that British artists have experienced an upswing in fortunes in the world’s biggest music market, and it’s not just One Direction – the top-selling album worldwide in five out of the last seven years has been made by a British act. Last year, one in every eight albums sold around the world – and one in every five tracks streamed on Spotify – was by a UK artist. But it’s not just the artists hitting it big: Britain produces some of the world’s most respected songwriters and producers, but because they are almost never credited on digital music services, they remain largely in the shadows. Even so, their success is international. Not only do British songwriters earn almost three times more from the BMI than composers of any other nationality (except those from the US), the Performing Rights Society last year collected £200m for its British songwriter and composer members for the first time. And they’re not only writing for UK acts: Londoner Al “Shux” Shuckburgh co-wrote Empire State of Mind, Mike Di Scala co-wrote Ne-Yo’s Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself); Wayne Hector worked on Nicki Minaj’s Starships, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Unlike artist award shows, British songwriting award shows don’t usually feature any performances or end up on TV. Yet tickets to the biggest of them all, the Ivor Novello awards or Ivors, are highly sought after among all people working in the music industry, and artists who win often say it’s the one that means the most. Nile Rodgers, who picked up the special international Ivor this year said, tears flowing down his face, that it was the best award show he had ever been to – singling out classical award recipient John McCabe’s speech, as one of the most inspiring and moving love letters to music and those who create it that he had ever heard. I believe the reason for this is that these award shows celebrate the art of songwriting, of crafting music, not the cult of personality and fame. Many of those picking up awards could walk down the street without ever getting recognised, yet they’ve crafted the soundtrack to the past 20 years – or in the case of Tim Rice, who received this year’s BMI icon award, much longer. Would you be able to recognise Steve Mac, Camille Purcell, Paul Epworth or Eg White? No? Yet you’d probably recognise the music they’ve created, including the Wanted’s US hit Glad You Came, Ella Henderson’s recent hit Glow, Adele’s Rolling in the Deep and Chasing Pavements, to name just a few of their accumulated hits. Many people think of professional songwriters as pop manufacturers, only penning hits for pop starlets and that “real” artists write their own songs. They may be surprised at how many “real” artists use outside help. In 2012, 90% of Official Top 100 singles were co-written by one or more songwriters who were not the performer – in the top 20 it rose to 95%. With all this exceptional home-grown songwriting talent around, why is it that the BBC chose an American song, the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, to launch its BBC Music campaign – what it called its “biggest commitment to music in years”? I’m a big fan of both Brian Wilson’s God Only Knows and Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, which was chosen for the BBC’s previous big multi-star showcase, but how about celebrating and supporting British songwriters? And what about the Eurovision song contest? The clue is in the word, BBC. This year’s entry, Children of the Universe, was co-written by Swede Anders Hansson, last year’s Believe in Me sung by Bonnie Tyler was by American Desmond Child. Even when they recruited Andrew Lloyd-Webber to write the 2009 entry, It’s My Time, his co-writer was American hitmaker Diane Warren (sadly, this was one of those times she didn’t write a hit). Now, you may think that there’s no need to specifically support local songwriting talent but, using my country of birth as an example, it can make a huge difference. Swedish radio plays more local music than any other European country – including the UK – which has played a big role in Sweden developing into one of only three net-exporters of music in the world. BBC Music should not only be celebrating British artists, but also the creators working in the shadows of them – after all, what would they be without a great song? Helienne Lindvall is a professional songwriter and musician |