UK music industry, bands, work permits and Brexit

[editor]

This is how bad the single occupancy car and van rate is in the UK - and there's been no improvement in decades.

There has been almost no change in car and van occupancy over this period with either 60, 61 or 62 percent of journeys being made by a single driver without passengers.

UK: single occupant car journeys in England 2002-2018 | Statista

This statistic shows the single occupancy for cars and vans in England between 2002 and 2018.

www.statista.com

 

[TopCat]

So music and sport are just pointless exercises in vanity? Thank fuck I don't live in your world.

We share the same world you wally. This whole thread is stupid and you are making yourself look dafter with ever post.

 

[8ball]

Involves more regular travel than most bands so why isn't it a relevant comparison?

I think it's a perfectly relevant comparison, and I fully support the idea of drawing a line under the football thing at the end of this season. We will finally know who has won the football.

 

[editor]

Air travel is mahoosively subsidised, so there's an easy fix right there.

Damn straight. Why the fuck is it subsidised anyway while the government is fucking up the railways railways via dodgy franchise deals that squeeze as much cash as possible out of passengers.

 

[editor]

We share the same world you wally. This whole thread is stupid and you are making yourself look dafter with ever post.

I think it's best that we ignore each others comments in this thread from now on.

 

[Saul Goodman]

So the same applies to footballers and sports people too, yes?

Absolutely. I'd ban football at that level in a heartbeat. I'd do the same with F1. They're completely unnecessary. All they really achieve is to highlight the disparity between the haves and the have nots.

 

[8ball]

Damn straight. Why the fuck is it subsidised anyway while the government is fucking up the railways railways via dodgy franchise deals that squeeze as much cash as possible out of passengers.

In the States, they use the term 'corporate welfare' for this sort of thing.

 

[TopCat]

I think it's best that we ignore each others comments in this thread from now on.

I dont think you know what's best for us. However as you seem to be on the verge of blowing your remainer gasket I will leave it to the rest of the boards to pick at your rather absurdist position.

 

[Pickman's model]

So you think bands shouldn't play be driving up and down the M1 to ply their trade, despite the fact that this would effectively kill off a large chunk of the music industry, because live gigs are the only way many bands can now support themselves. Right. And seeing as 'everyone needs to play a part' perhaps we can get rid of football too as that involves shitloads of travel, much more than the average small band. And festivals. And any kind of community gathering that involves people travelling to one place.

Or you could perhaps find more practical solutions rather than set about depriving people of the jot of music and sport Taliban-style, and look to the actual big offenders rather than picking on an industry that creates a relatively microscopic amount of emissions?

the taliban have really killed people for listening to music.

Taliban behead 17 caught dancing to music at party

Taliban militants beheaded 15 men and two women for holding a late night party with music and dancing, according to Afghan officials.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Afghan Musicians Struggle To Revive Classical Heritage After Taliban

Decades of war and the Taliban's five-year ban on music took their toll on Afghan classical music. Musicians have been trying to resuscitate the art since the end of Taliban rule. But they face serious economic and artistic challenges -- including the threat of possible attack by Taliban...

www.rferl.org

He was the saviour of Afghan music. Then a Taliban bomb took his hearing

When musicologist Ahmad Sarmast’s pioneering institute – open to boys and girls, men and women from all backgrounds - became a Taliban target, it nearly cost him his life. But the attack has only made him more determined

www.theguardian.com

no one here has suggesting banning music taliban-style, ie killing people.

get a sense of proportion for fuck's sake.

 

[belboid]

I guess it depends on the size of the band, but I'm sure Lady Gaga will be responsible for creating more jobs than a Right Says Fred tribute band, yet it costs the same amount of carbon to get them both from London to America.

lol. Lady Gaga just comes on her own, does she? No band, dancers, massive set of lights and other staging, not to mention her manager, stagehands and other entourage. 150 off people involved in every LG show. A tad more carbon consuming than three blokes and a drum machine.

 

[cupid_stunt]

This is how bad the single occupancy car and van rate is in the UK - and there's been no improvement in decades.

I agree single occupancy of cars is bad news, but I don't think vans could be lumped in there, and not just because I drive vans, but it would be impossible to carry 500-600 kg on stuff on a bus! Also, think of the trades needing to carry around tools, etc.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

lol. Lady Gaga just comes on her own, does she? No band, dancers, massive set of lights and other staging, not to mention her manager, stagehands and other entourage. 150 off people involved in every LG show. A tad more carbon consuming than three blokes and a drum machine.

Yes and no. Size of audience is also a factor - divide the number of performers/helpers by the number in the audience to get a true idea of the carbon value. Then there's the carbon involved in audience getting to the gig, which will be way higher in total than the total for the performers.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I agree single occupancy of cars is bad news, but I don't think vans could be lumped in there, and not just because I drive vans, but it would be impossible to carry 500-600 kg on stuff on a bus! Also, think of the trades needing to carry around tools, etc.

When I hitched, van/lorry drivers used to give me lifts loads, mind. A spare seat is a spare seat.

 

[cupid_stunt]

When I hitched, van/lorry drivers used to give me lifts loads, mind. A spare seat is a spare seat.

Same here, ideal if they/you are doing a fairly decent journeys, bit impractical when you are just driving short distances around town, involving side streets.

 

[souljacker]

I picked up a hitchhiker the other day. I was driving from Reading to Leeds but he only needed to go Oxford so didn't have him in the car long. We had a good chat about pubs in Oxford.

 

[Saul Goodman]

This is all purely academic, anyway, as we are going to run out of oil in the not too distant, so unless we crack the problem of long-haul electric flight, we're heading for a very bleak future.

 

[TopCat]

Some bands are on continual tour these days, ceasing only when their popularity wanes. The world wont stop if they found something else to do. The music wont stop either.

 

[TopCat]

Put the Quo out to grass.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Same here, ideal if they/you are doing a fairly decent journeys, bit impractical when you are just driving short distances around town, involving side streets.

Sure. I think editor's basic point is sound, though. Single-occupancy journeys are way too high, and some creative thinking needs to be done to change that.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Put the Quo out to grass.

Isn't half of them dead?

 

[TopCat]

I picked up a hitchhiker the other day. I was driving from Reading to Leeds but he only needed to go Oxford so didn't have him in the car long. We had a good chat about pubs in Oxford.

At least he knew to chat to you. Did you tell him about the bigger Italian super car you also own? I heard a lot about these cars when hitching.

 

[TopCat]

Isn't half of them dead?

Big screens and aminatronics will keep these big bands on the road whether the artists are alive or dead.

 

[Big Bertha]

We need Local Musicians for Local People.

 

[TopCat]

To be fair, music has far more intrinsic value than football or certainly all the drug driven athletics we have foisted upon us.
Waving bye bye to the Olympics and finding other ways of improving bilateral relations between countries would be good. Dr exchange and support programs worked well for Cuba. Better than fools bleating about how high they can jump.

 

[8ball]

This is all purely academic, anyway, as we are going to run out of oil in the not too distant, so unless we crack the problem of long-haul electric flight, we're heading for a very bleak future.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

To be fair, music has far more intrinsic value than football or certainly all the drug driven athletics we have foisted upon us.
Waving bye bye to the Olympics and finding other ways of improving bilateral relations between countries would be good. Dr exchange and support programs worked well for Cuba. Better than fools bleating about how high they can jump.

 

[8ball]

I'm not sure what this man jumping over the seemingly wonky bar is meant to signify.

 

[xenon]

Sure. I think editor's basic point is sound, though. Single-occupancy journeys are way too high, and some creative thinking needs to be done to change that.

they surely exist already, an app to share car journeys. match empty seats on roots with people needing a lift. although to be honest, if I drove, I would be quite happy with the quiet solitude most of the time.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm not sure what this man jumping over the seemingly wonky bar is meant to signify.

Rather a lot of bleating was done in Cuba over this particular jumping man.

 

[editor]

Absolutely. I'd ban football at that level in a heartbeat. I'd do the same with F1. They're completely unnecessary. All they really achieve is to highlight the disparity between the haves and the have nots.

Still not entirely sure why you're singling out the things that give pleasure and a sense of community to billions of people - rich and poor - while making no mention of all the other far more wasteful and polluting uses of air transport. Music and sport give opportunities to people of all backgrounds, and a world without music or any possibility to regularly see bands play live would be very fucking bleak indeed - whereas I'm pretty sure it's possible to enjoy life without needing to have Argentinian blackberries and Zambian sugarsnap peas air freighted in.