Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

evenues within the industry are all based in London. In a recent GLA Economics 95 report, it
was estimated that the creative industries added £21 billion annually to London’s output,
more than all the production industries combined and second only to Business Services at £32
billion. As a whole, creative industry growth is strong in London because of the capital’s
“unique combination of skilled and talented workers, cultural diversity, range of services, hitech
infrastructure and direct access to wealthy consumer markets” 96
4.50 The Notting Hill Carnival has played a significant role in popularising black music and black
culture. Many of the sound system djs have also been responsible for developing new and
loyal audiences who attend their sites religiously every August Bank Holiday weekend and
those djs who also have radio shows or club promotion nights are able to develop their
audiences all year round. The Carnival Public Safety Project’s analysis of crowd build-up and
dispersal at Carnival 2001 found that at its peak, almost 80 per cent of the Carnival revellers
were located around the static sound system sites. Carnival DJs have also noted that in the
run up to the August Bank Holiday weekend, they are inundated with free records from record
and music promotion companies – in the hope that their recording artists will receive free
airplay to a relatively ‘captured’ audience. The benefits to the record company and their
artists are significant. Receiving free airplay at the Carnival generates income for the record
company, but not necessarily for the Carnival. In order to play copyright music in public, the
broadcaster or user must by law, obtain a copyright music licence 97 . Each year, the Carnival
organisers are required to obtain such a music licence from the Performing Rights Society
(PRS), which collects the licence fees from music users and distributes the money to its
members – the writers and publishers of the music. There are similar performing right
societies throughout the world and by agreement with them, PRS represents their members in
the UK and in turn the foreign societies collect the royalties PRS members earn in their
territories. Because of these reciprocal agreements, a PRS licence holder is entitled to play
any of over 15 million musical works – everything from advertising jingles to entire
symphonies. The cost of a PRS licence is dependent upon the type and size of the venue in
which the music will be played and the extent to which the music is played and relayed. PRS
distributes money collected through the license fees by monitoring and collating performance
information on the use of the music being broadcast.
4.51 Although there are carnivals up and down the country, no Carnival has had as much impact on
British culture as the Notting Hill Carnival. So much so many record companies view August
as the ‘Carnival Season’ in the UK.
4.52 In terms of its relationship with the music industry in general, the Carnival Review Group
found that whilst the Notting Hill Carnival has and continues to make a significant cultural
and economic contribution to the music industry, it receives little or no recognition for it. In
assessing the economic value of the UK music business, the National Music Council’s report
highlighted the importance of events such as Glastonbury, WOMAD, the Mean Fiddler’s rockbased
Reading and Leeds festivals and folk festivals such as Cambridge and Cropredy 98 . The
Notting Hill Carnival is conspicuous by its absence as a major black-led cultural festival that
attracts some nine times the number of revellers going to Glastonbury each year. In addition,
the Review Group noted that although record companies were quite prepared to take
95
The Mayor of London established GLA Economics in May 2002 to provide a firm statistical, factual and forecasting basis for policy
decision-making by the GLA and its functional bodies.
96
“Creativity: London’s Core Business” (October 2002), GLA Economics, Greater London Authority, p.15
97
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
98
“Counting the Notes: The Economic Contribution of the UK Music Business” – A Report by the National Music Council, November
2002
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