Im glad to say a society I helped launch 30 years ago is still doing great work. PCAM and Big Sync Blog Debate: Latest 13 October 2014 at 16:39 As most PCAM members will know by now, PCAM Chair Augusta Quiney and Big Sync Director Dominic Caisley had a public disagreement over commissioning practices at a recent IPA seminar on “The Future of Music in Advertising”. The IPA, commendably wanting the argument to be aired more widely, invited both protagonists to make their arguments in blog pieces to be posted on the IPA website. This happened, and the blogs were up briefly during the week beginning 6 October. But objections from Dominic Caisley to the way PCAM framed the debate in its newsletter to PCAM members were followed by a series of discussions that, after some stops and starts, have ultimately led to the IPA taking the decision to permanently remove the blogs from their website. During the brief periods when the blogs were available, only a few PCAM members managed to read them and their comments were not published. We feel the issues at stake in this debate are important and we want all PCAM members to be able to see both arguments and contribute their own views. We are disappointed therefore, that Dominic Caisley has refused permission to reproduce his blog for our membership. Posted for you here, then, is a brief summary of Dominic Caisleys blog, and the full text of Augustas response. We welcome comments and reactions from members, and assistance in circulating the arguments more widely. DOMINIC CAISLEYS BLOG: A SUMMARY Dominic Caisley titled his blog piece “Give a Music Composer a Hug”. He was a member of the panel at the IPA Seminar on “The Future of Music in Advertising” and he started his piece by suggesting that the Q&A session at what he had thought was an “interesting and informative” event had been “hijacked” by two guests from “an organisation that represents music composers” (he meant Augusta and PCAM Committee member Tony Satchell), who accused the panel of concentrating on big licensed tracks as opposed to original composition and of advising composers to “work for free”. What he had actually done, Caisley argued, was to simply suggest that composers trying to break into advertising music had to be flexible, try to get their name out there, and yes, maybe do the odd free demo. As he described it, chaos then ensued until the panel Chair “thankfully” called a halt to proceedings. What he should have done, Caisley went on to suggest, was to have “endorsed the vital role composition plays” in creating excellence in advertising, when around 55% of the work done by Big Sync involves working with composers and musicians. Everyone has to be flexible to gain and retain work, but musicians, composers – and even music supervisors – should be treated with respect. A vital part of his role, he added, is advising clients on the value of music and how it can help them achieve their aims. But in conclusion, he was particularly interested in working with composers who were prepared to be “very flexible”. Dominic Caisley is Director at Big Sync Music. AUGUSTA QUINEYS RESPONSE Early on in my career, in a dimly-lit control room in LA, a young, newly-signed singer-songwriter, stressing over the painful gestation of his first album, confided his bleakest fears. What the record company employees don’t get, he groaned, is that if this album bombs, they can always go on to another job, whereas he’d be spat out, back to Moss Side, digging up roads and running underground cables for the rest of his life. It may sound dramatic, but he was feeling the sharp end of the stereotypical division between those that create music and those that exploit it. Running for your lunch … or running for your life. I was disappointed to find that a recent panel discussing the Future of Music in Advertising contained no one who actually created music. They do say that if you’re not at the table, you’re probably on the menu, and sure enough, the first piece of “expert” advice offered to aspiring music producers in a room filled with impressionable agency newbies was to be prepared to work for nothing. I’ve worked in advertising for 15 years now and I have never endorsed or engaged in this form of exploitation. Perhaps it’s because I’m willing to look beyond my own agenda and have witnessed the catastrophic fallout of this flippant devaluation. Maybe it’s because I attach importance to professional integrity and understand its role in developing and getting the best from talented people. Ultimately, it should matter to us all because it’s bad for advertising. For those in doubt, it falls to me to list the reasons why: To the outside world, an ad agency that fails to pay demo fees appears to be: Sleepwalking through the erosion of its creatives’ skill-set to predetermine, communicate, develop and deliver strong, definable creative direction for music. Employing staff who cannot manage a production budget. Cynically exploiting third parties to obscure its own shortcomings. Failing to get the most from music or a great professional composer and curtailing its potential to deliver an outstanding, intelligent, creative solution. Depriving its clients of the best talent pool and the best work. Alienating the UK’s most awesome music professionals, pushing them into the hands of foreign agencies or other sectors altogether. Now think about a brand whose agency or in-house music company is commissioning services without paying for them. To the general public, this seems to be: Completely out of step with good business ethics and the fundamentals of national employment legislation. Failing to uphold basic principles of corporate social responsibility. Unfairly discriminating against those who can’t afford to work for nothing. Laying itself open to legal action (particularly with respect to the dangers of infringement). So why do some composers go for it? They’ve bought into a disingenuous myth that working for nothing is the only way to break into the industry. Most likely, they’re unaware that, in reality, they are: Perceived as amateurs, labelled with the derisory term ‘bedroom composer’. Highly unlikely to receive an accurate, involved brief, proper feedback, an actual licence, any (paid) repeat business or, significantly, any meaningful career growth. Coerced by outdated, exaggerated and/or misinformed notions of potential income streams and ROI in this sector. Colluding in the outright fantasy that music production doesn’t bear any cost and that music has no value, thereby undermining his or her whole profession and career prospects. Being made fools of. Sorry guys, advertising spend in the UK is set to reach £20bn in 2015 and guess what? Everyone else gets paid. Of course, original music commissioning in advertising is notoriously dysfunctional and in truth, the untapped creative potential in this category makes sobering viewing for music awards’ judging panels. This is a place where the gatekeepers to broadcast reveal themselves in camera as bound by a formula so prosaic it has been giving composed music a bad name. Little wonder panels of commissioners discussing the Future of Music in Advertising focus entirely on licensed music. As a business model, most composers realise the demo process is more-or-less broken, victim to a hit-and-miss “know it when I hear it” culture, skewed by an unsustainable volume of loss-leading, inadequately briefed demos brokered by middlemen who lack the big-picture vision or the musicology and production know-how to add value. Meanwhile, I still maintain advertising affords an opportunity to produce outstanding creative work, engaging with super-talented people who understand that dazzling, balls-out storytelling is borne from integrity, craft, skill and genuine, ferocious collaboration. So I believe a constructive conversation is there to be had about the Future of Music in Advertising and how agencies can go about unleashing the sparkling brilliance of our music professionals … and, quite reasonably, examining cost and value at the same time. But that won’t happen if music creators are excluded from the debate and certainly not if agency folk are encouraged to believe that treating composers with respect means giving them hugs in lieu of a living wage. Augusta Quiney owns A-Bomb Music and is the Chair of PCAM – The Society for Producers and Composers of Applied Music.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 07:28:29 +0000
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