I must be getting old. I’m finding it bloody hard to get excited
by N.Z Music Month. Previously I had looked forward to the event with an
element of childhood-like excitement. Maybe it’s the line-up, post-earthquake
malaise? Either-way I can’t get into N.Z Music Month 2012. Perhaps it’s a grand
exercise that worked at one point and is now working its way to inevitable extinction?
To use a Kiwi colloquialism “it’s done its dash”? Is it too long? A month is 8 per cent of a year, at least when I was at
school. Rounded-up that’s close to 10 percent, inclusive of pre-publicity. Over-kill? Could not the worthy
promotion of home-grown music be condensed into say two weeks? Two full on
weeks which I’m sure even the most sober and Philistine Radio Stations could
buy into. Two weeks of quality. Two weeks that exhibited N.Z Music in all its derivatives.
My bet is punters would still attend gigs in the same numbers if it was
scheduled over two weeks as against four. As a libertarian I can’t buy-into
quotas = you must play more N.Z Music. The market must decide what is played
and not some grey-shoed bureaucrat in Wellington. Two weeks or four won’t mean
radio-stations or the media will promote N.Z Music any more than currently –
that’s to say mediocre levels. So may be the powers that be behind N.Z Music
Month should look at re-packaging the event. Put their emphasis behind even ‘exporting’
acts, fund a tour or two to Australia over this period? Get N.Z Music into
schools with bands playing lunch-time concerts. Run competitions for ‘New
Zealands Best Two Piece.’ N.Z Best Home-Made Song Video. The opportunities to
promote local music are endless. They don’t necessarily need to be confined to
nominated ‘months’. Irrespective of the vehicle to promote local music the best
way to support these artists still remains buying their music and attending their
gigs. Just watching a local bands You Tube Video gives artists a boast.
Tune into the best of N.Z Alternative Music on ‘Ground Zero’
Internet Radio.
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