before I launch into a mini rant about this...can I just point out that I'm not a rabid anti-British fanatic.
My question is WHY THE FECK IS ALMOST EVERY BAND AND ARTIST NOMINATED FOR A METEOR AWARD ON A BRITISH LABEL????
I can understand U2 being on a British label. They signed around the time that we didn't even have a decent venue in dublin, never mind an imprint. There wasn't the knowledge of the cash value of Irish music back then. People didn't know that irish artists would sell in excess of 300 million album units Worldwide in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the late nineties, Irish artists amassed an astonishing amount of sales. Enya alone did 40million units worldwide with 1 album between 1999 and 2003.
In the European landscape, there is a paradoxical situation where those without talent have a thriving domestic industry and those with talent have zero domestic industry.
Look at Norway, Finland and Sweden especially, who have recently punched way above their weight in the international music stakes.
All of the above have a thriving domestic setup. Yet they don't have a roll-call to match (sales wise) the likes of Thin Lizzy, U2, The Cranberries, Enya and a raft of multi-gazillion selling Irish artists.
It's not as if we don't know how well Irish music sells internationally.
Whats a real nut cruncher is you have arts money in Ireland sponsoring events like Hard Working Class Heroes or various festivals around Ireland. HWCH makes a big deal about inviting A&R from USA and UK labels along to see the bands performing....as if signing to a US or UK label is some sort of holy grail.
It's NOT and it's the WRONG attitude to instil in Irish artists.
Why don't they give the money to strapped Irish labels instead of rolling out the red carpet for UK/USA labels?
Why don't they INVEST in the domestic market instead of EXPORTING the fecking talent?
The Meteors and now the Choice music awards are milestones in the Irish music calander where we should be celebrating what's best about what's going on.
Instead, it's a depressing indication of how mucked up tyhe domestic scene is and how anal the people in charge of the purse strings are in Ireland.
And I'm including the gobshites in the arts council, the eejits in the MUSIC FROM IRELAND brigade and the gombeens in charge of HARD WORKING CLASS HEROES.
Minister for arts, tourism and sports, John O Donoghue, was asked for 7 million a few years ago for a new Irish Music Board. He declined and do you know what?
He was right.
As a famous Khazakstan journalist might say: "giving money to these organisations (listed above) is like getting a monkey to fly a plane!!"
My question is WHY THE FECK IS ALMOST EVERY BAND AND ARTIST NOMINATED FOR A METEOR AWARD ON A BRITISH LABEL????
I can understand U2 being on a British label. They signed around the time that we didn't even have a decent venue in dublin, never mind an imprint. There wasn't the knowledge of the cash value of Irish music back then. People didn't know that irish artists would sell in excess of 300 million album units Worldwide in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the late nineties, Irish artists amassed an astonishing amount of sales. Enya alone did 40million units worldwide with 1 album between 1999 and 2003.
In the European landscape, there is a paradoxical situation where those without talent have a thriving domestic industry and those with talent have zero domestic industry.
Look at Norway, Finland and Sweden especially, who have recently punched way above their weight in the international music stakes.
All of the above have a thriving domestic setup. Yet they don't have a roll-call to match (sales wise) the likes of Thin Lizzy, U2, The Cranberries, Enya and a raft of multi-gazillion selling Irish artists.
It's not as if we don't know how well Irish music sells internationally.
Whats a real nut cruncher is you have arts money in Ireland sponsoring events like Hard Working Class Heroes or various festivals around Ireland. HWCH makes a big deal about inviting A&R from USA and UK labels along to see the bands performing....as if signing to a US or UK label is some sort of holy grail.
It's NOT and it's the WRONG attitude to instil in Irish artists.
Why don't they give the money to strapped Irish labels instead of rolling out the red carpet for UK/USA labels?
Why don't they INVEST in the domestic market instead of EXPORTING the fecking talent?
The Meteors and now the Choice music awards are milestones in the Irish music calander where we should be celebrating what's best about what's going on.
Instead, it's a depressing indication of how mucked up tyhe domestic scene is and how anal the people in charge of the purse strings are in Ireland.
And I'm including the gobshites in the arts council, the eejits in the MUSIC FROM IRELAND brigade and the gombeens in charge of HARD WORKING CLASS HEROES.
Minister for arts, tourism and sports, John O Donoghue, was asked for 7 million a few years ago for a new Irish Music Board. He declined and do you know what?
He was right.
As a famous Khazakstan journalist might say: "giving money to these organisations (listed above) is like getting a monkey to fly a plane!!"