No broadcaster in the world cares more about music than the BBC. We devote over 40,000 hours of programming on radio and television every year to music. At the BBC, music gets more air-time than any other form of output. We are at it every single week.
A fortnight ago, Seal in Concert was broadcast live via Radio 2, online and Red Button. This Friday night on BBC Four at 10pm, 'Rollermania: Britain’s Biggest Boy Band' gives an insight on the 1970s biggest boy group the Bay City Rollers, followed by Jeff Lynne’s ELO in Concert, an incredible gig recorded for Radio 2 recently following Jeff’s comeback at last year’s Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park.
Radio 1’s stunning Coldplay gig is still available on the BBC iPlayer, and of course this week we celebrate the BBC’s year in music with a look back on the stories of 2015 at the BBC Music Awards on BBC One, Radio 1 and Radio 2. The inaugural event in Earls Court was well received by an enthusiastic audience, and it was steeped in performances that reflected the contribution the BBC makes every day to the well-being of UK music, be it the emergence of Gregory Porter or the arrival of Catfish and the Bottlemen.
On BBC Two on 27 December, U2: iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE LIVE IN PARIS captures the Irish band’s groundbreaking tour as they returned to the French capital earlier this month.
Bryan Adams will be taking on the now-traditional New Year’s Eve slot on BBC One, where Queen delivered the highest Music audience of the year in 2015. Over on BBC Two there is an alternative approach to seeing in the New Year as Jools Holland concludes yet another stunning year with his Hootenanny.
It is worth pointing out that ToTP is still very much alive on BBC One. This Christmas, and on New Year’s Day there will be specially recorded programmes presented by Fearne and Reggie, and the re-runs have become a stalwart of the BBC’s home of Music on TV – BBC Four and next year reach the musically seminal year of 1981. In Top of the Pops: The Story of 1981 to be broadcast in January, we’ll reminisce as the teens took over and 80s New Pop was born with Depeche Mode, Human League, Kim Wilde and Duran Duran all debuting while Ultravox and Visage mastered the new art of pop videos.
Today the digital giants like YouTube and Apple have made it possible for us to access pretty much any recorded music at the click of a mouse or the tap of a screen. Scarcity has been replaced by plenty. The world of music has been turned on its head. Broadcasters need to add extra value to stand out. We cannot simply turn back the clock, but I am well aware that our audiences want direction from us. We are still reeling from our recent highpoint in the Musical year – Adele at the BBC. Nearly six million people watched it on BBC One and loved it. A further 40 million have enjoyed the short-form sketch, where Adele played ‘Jenny’, in YouTube, making it the most watched BBC YouTube clip in history. The success of Adele at the BBC was the result of a magical combination of an amazing talent and a different approach. It is the sort of way we need to try more of if we are to make music reach large audiences.
We produce a huge range of music programming to ensure that whether it’s Benjamin Clementine’s moving live performance at the Mercury Prize on BBC Four and BBC Radio 6 Music last month, or Noel Gallagher live in Concert via online and the Red Button for Radio 2 just last Monday, or Jess Glynne performing on Strictly Come Dancing, there’s something for everyone.
BBC Music this year has begun to commission exclusively for BBC iPlayer, with recent successes including Elton John at Eden and the Festival Pass series with Duran Duran, and Rudimental. The biggest hit of the year was Amy Winehouse in Her Own Words which gained 359,000 views earlier this year. I urge you to have a look around bbc.co.uk/music.
Looking to 2016, we have an exciting range of classical and popular music programming, all commissioned by Jan Younghusband, Head of Commissioning, Music Television. The UK’s Best Part-time Band is a nationwide search for the best non-professional bands in this country. Produced by Wall To Wall Media, the three part BBC Four series sees five acts compete against each other in a regional heat in a local iconic music venue, each battling for a place in the grand final to be broadcast on BBC Two. On BBC Two on Saturday 2 January, Leningrad and the orchestra that defied Hitler will tell the astonishing story behind an extraordinary moment of artistic defiance during one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, the Nazi Siege of Leningrad in 1942. And on BBC Four a one-off documentary, Nicola and Wynton: Birth of a Violin Concerto will explore a unique musical collaboration between American jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, following the two musicians as they embark on a journey that culminates in the creation and performance of a violin concerto written by Marsalis especially for Benedetti.
We have a new three-part series exploring the untold history of the pop and rock worlds, told by the ‘Music Moguls’ - producers, managers and PR giants, commissioned by BBC Four and made by BBC Productions. 'People’s History of Pop' will tell stories from four decades of popular music through the eyes of the UK's music fans on BBC Four with additional programming on Radio 2. Produced by 7 Wonder, the series will chart the UK’s popular music heritage from the 1950s to the noughties, over 40 years of incredible British music.
Not much music television on the BBC? Don’t you believe it.
Bob Shennan is Director, BBC Music
- Watch the BBC Music Awards on BBC One at 8pm on Thursday 10 December.
- Follow @BBCMusic on Twitter
