How much say do the DJs have in the music played?
Most presenters have records of the week and space to play new tracks they really want to champion. They also have their say on which tracks are added to the playlist, but as well as playing their favourites they are also expected to play tracks other presenters are supporting.

Shake: Sounds like happy families ‘you scratch my bum…’ They have 1 record of the week and then have to argue their cases for playing other non-playlisted music. And then they have to play the favourites of other presenters… This is control gone mad and anyway these so-called favourites are generally pretty poor. Perhaps your BBC trained/brainwashed presenters are not up to the job of choosing great music. Maybe they have no Basic Instinct when it comes to choosing music or do the suits just don’t trust them…

Why don’t you play A-list tracks less and feature a greater number of tracks instead?
Again it’s a question of balance. Most people don’t listen to the radio all day long and an A-list track won’t usually be repeated for three or four hours. This means the average listener to Radio 1 will only hear the most played record twice in a week. If we played each track less then most people would never hear a lot of the tracks played - which would be of little help to the new bands we are supporting.

Shake: So the aim is to keep record companies happy by making sure than their songs are heard by everyone at some point in the day… WHY? The BBC is not a commercial station but does have the power to make or break an act. The Playlist policy is favouring a small number of artists whose sales are high but reducing the income of other great acts and their music through no airplay at all. The BBC needs to take a much closer look at the implications of its actions and policies. It’s interesting that we play great music for 6 hours a week from a large range of artists and genres, and never repeat the same song because we choose via album quality (we rarely play singles) which gives us virtually a whole album to play (over time). We rarely play any music playlisted by the BBC because of one reason: It’s generally not good enough.

“British Urban talent shone in the R&B sector, virtually doubling their sales last year thanks to Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal, Chipmunk, N-Dubz and Taio Cruz. This strong performance looks like carrying into 2010 with hits from Taio again, Tinie Tempah, Plan B and Professor Green, amongst others. Pop also reclaimed the greatest share of all singles sales in 2009, five years after it was last the dominant genre in the market. The success of artists such as Lady Gaga, Cheryl Cole and La Roux in 2009 saw Pop take a share of over 33%, overtaking Rock
singles as the most popular genre.” - BPI

Shake: Exactly and due largely to the BBC management’s parochial style (”We know what’s best for our staff and listeners”), lack of adventure and taste, with playlists selected by the unknowing and now dominated by this type of music. Even presenters like Zane Lowe play less rock and more urban/dance. The BBC needs to take a much closer and more critical look at its Playlist system which, far from being fit-for-purpose, is dumbing down the quality of music played and ultimately bought, while providing unfair, unjust advantage to the few. And in the process ignoring wonderful artists who struggle to exist and continue to write and perform beautiful music.

But things are changing external to BBC Radio 1 both in terms of better music selection and the lower cost of reaching millions of people around the world. The BBC may have a fat wallet (filled by the UK tax-payer) but creativity, integrity, skill and fairness are thin on its ground. For the damage it has done to the UK’s music industry it should hang its head in shame. Here’s a tip: cut your gigantic budget by half and employ real DJs who have taste, knowledge and passion - then give them the responsibility to choose which music to play, like they used to, then make producers responsible to them. As for the current management - kick the fuckers out before they do even more damage to the UK’s recording and broadcast music industry.

WAKE UP BBC AND SMELL THE INJUSTICE