Cllr Stephen Lewis Elms' rap at Sunderland City Council meeting

Transcript

00:00Do you remember when Sunak told musicians to retrain, forget all of your skills, find new knowledge to retain?

00:07To understand the industry he didn't try at all, he just shut his eyes and ears and said that you're not viable.

00:13An industry once valued for every pound it was worth, but streaming sites have killed grassroots and refused to make it work.

00:20You need 30,000 streams to earn what you could from 10 CDs, leaving local artists hungry while the corporate giant feasts.

00:28Look at Kate Nash, now selling images online because she can't afford to tour, that's how the system's been designed.

00:34And Brexit's taken work from many artists in our city. With red tape and visas, European touring isn't pretty.

00:41A local company that does business in our city, lost contracts overseas all because of bureaucracy.

00:47Work stolen from our artists, a massive atrocity. Opportunity won't show its face so our artists just up and leave.

00:54The bookers moved to Ireland to keep access to the market, hiring bands from the EU so Sunderland's artists disregarded.

01:01Our art is getting punished for what David Cameron started, now he's in the House of Lords while our artists are out here starving.

01:07I spoke to managers and artists to ask them what they need. What can council do to make this scene really succeed?

01:14And the response was humble, polite and not obscene, but showed Sunderland is not a place that they believe they can achieve.

01:21They said we need spaces and places to train, the ability to record so we can all make our names,

01:26venues we can afford as a place where we can perform and the ability to apply so our bids don't all get ignored.

01:32Simplify funding, allow video submissions, you can't see passion or vision on something that's only written.

01:38These people are musicians, not linguists or statisticians, so let's simplify the process so creatives get commissioned.

01:44Labour's here to rebuild what the Tories let decay. 14 years of neglect, so now we're paving the way.

01:50This motion's about solutions, not just patching the cracks, building the foundations to bring Sunderland back.

01:55We'll protect our venues, advocate for fair pay, we'll create jobs in the arts so our artists can get paid,

02:01creativity in schools from the very first day and teach every kid that Sunderland's a place that you can stay.

02:07A place you can achieve your dreams because they don't want your pity. After all, Sunderland is a music city.

02:14We need to invest, help grassroots to progress, not just claim a victory when they celebrate their success.

02:23All of your favourite artists started as a starving artist, then they charted, we think they're ours, but off to London they're departing.

02:29Council, let's send a message today. We support our local artists. Let's offer some praise.

02:35Let's applaud the work they do, no political games, and pass this motion unopposed, we've all got mutual aims.

02:41Let's see our city flourish. It really could be the greatest with our five year strategy and our new music city status.

02:47Because after Brexit and Covid, life for artists is kind of tough. So let's put art back at the heart of the city that we love.

02:53Thank you, Madam Mayor.