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Cllr Stephen Lewis Elms' rap at Sunderland City Council meeting
Sunderland Echo
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23/01/2025
Cllr Stephen Lewis Elms' rap at Sunderland City Council meeting
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News
Transcript
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00:00
Do you remember when Sunak told musicians to retrain, forget all of your skills, find new knowledge to retain?
00:07
To understand the industry he didn't try at all, he just shut his eyes and ears and said that you're not viable.
00:13
An industry once valued for every pound it was worth, but streaming sites have killed grassroots and refused to make it work.
00:20
You need 30,000 streams to earn what you could from 10 CDs, leaving local artists hungry while the corporate giant feasts.
00:28
Look at Kate Nash, now selling images online because she can't afford to tour, that's how the system's been designed.
00:34
And Brexit's taken work from many artists in our city. With red tape and visas, European touring isn't pretty.
00:41
A local company that does business in our city, lost contracts overseas all because of bureaucracy.
00:47
Work stolen from our artists, a massive atrocity. Opportunity won't show its face so our artists just up and leave.
00:54
The bookers moved to Ireland to keep access to the market, hiring bands from the EU so Sunderland's artists disregarded.
01:01
Our art is getting punished for what David Cameron started, now he's in the House of Lords while our artists are out here starving.
01:07
I spoke to managers and artists to ask them what they need. What can council do to make this scene really succeed?
01:14
And the response was humble, polite and not obscene, but showed Sunderland is not a place that they believe they can achieve.
01:21
They said we need spaces and places to train, the ability to record so we can all make our names,
01:26
venues we can afford as a place where we can perform and the ability to apply so our bids don't all get ignored.
01:32
Simplify funding, allow video submissions, you can't see passion or vision on something that's only written.
01:38
These people are musicians, not linguists or statisticians, so let's simplify the process so creatives get commissioned.
01:44
Labour's here to rebuild what the Tories let decay. 14 years of neglect, so now we're paving the way.
01:50
This motion's about solutions, not just patching the cracks, building the foundations to bring Sunderland back.
01:55
We'll protect our venues, advocate for fair pay, we'll create jobs in the arts so our artists can get paid,
02:01
creativity in schools from the very first day and teach every kid that Sunderland's a place that you can stay.
02:07
A place you can achieve your dreams because they don't want your pity. After all, Sunderland is a music city.
02:14
We need to invest, help grassroots to progress, not just claim a victory when they celebrate their success.
02:23
All of your favourite artists started as a starving artist, then they charted, we think they're ours, but off to London they're departing.
02:29
Council, let's send a message today. We support our local artists. Let's offer some praise.
02:35
Let's applaud the work they do, no political games, and pass this motion unopposed, we've all got mutual aims.
02:41
Let's see our city flourish. It really could be the greatest with our five year strategy and our new music city status.
02:47
Because after Brexit and Covid, life for artists is kind of tough. So let's put art back at the heart of the city that we love.
02:53
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
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