The Scottish Contemporary Pop/Rock Music Centre

One concern Creative Scotland seemed to have was that all genres wouldn’t be covered by the centre. I had thought this had been addressed in the blog and in conversations we had had. In particular it was made clear that traditional folk music would need its own custodian. Indie folk of course was a different matter ! As for other genres such as pop or dance or jazz they will of course have a place but the greatest body of work in terms of history undeniably belongs to the punk / post punk / indie world and in fact part of my research I made clear would have been to make sure earlier 60s and early 70s bands were fairly represented. From the mid 80s of course Avalanche was open and the shop had covered all Scottish artists so I was well versed in all genres after that.

This from the first blog  “For context firstly I discovered I inhabit the world of pop/rock if I’m talking to Edinburgh Council and contemporary music when speaking to Creative Scotland. Not a great start as it became immediately apparent that they don’t differentiate between Ed Sheeran and Withered Hand. Secondly it also became clear early on that commercial pop rock being so “popular” meant it was deemed not to need the help other less popular genres and arts needed. This seemed counter intuitive to me meaning the less popular something was the more chance it had of being supported but those already involved in this world confirmed this was exactly the case. Similarly music in general being more popular than other areas of the arts meant it again often received the short end of the stick.”

Of course it is still my intention to provide a balanced view over the decades. My first blog ended with the comment “So a Scottish Contemporary Pop Rock Music Centre (only with a far better name obviously)”. May still need to work on the name !

The original blog can be read here

http://www.avalancherecords.co.uk/2014/12/17/the-scottish-contemporary-poprock-music-centre/