Couple of interesting interviews today, one more of a group interview with a production crew in the BBC, the other with the head of post-production for one of the largest (and expanding) independent tv companies in Wales – he is directly in charge of 25 editing suites, + the company also awns a large editing facilities house. What was said by both seemed to turn the arguments about a bit, but also make things clearer.
The future might look like these pictures: these are the KPM drives which are sent over every six months or so, loaded onto the system so that the editors can use – but the AVIDS aren’t online, for obvious reasons, so the music used has to be loaded like this. Can you imagine a similar system which included music of Welsh origin, which opened up as another drive for all editors, easily searchable with clearly labeled ‘libraries’ from Sain and whoever else? KPM is actually quite a few different studios + libraries, so why not have all library music, from whoever, collated under the same brand, with the same delivery mechanism, a clear pricing structure (which would have to be competitive……).
So, some good practical ways of thinking about the future, but not necessarily good for a toolkit for musicians – because production music needs that infrastructure and won’t necessarily make people a lot of money (so to be realistic, you need that mechanism for things to improve…). However, there’s definitely a market out there, and a lot of good will from Welsh editors – but the delivery mechanism has to be quick, easy and with enough information for those who have to clear everything.
BBC interviews pointed once more to the larger strategic picture – v. experienced producers who had also worked in the independent sector for many years. The BBC has a blanket agreement which makes it easier for producers, S4C doesn’t have this; the use of Audio Network (the cheapest) seems to be too widespread for many, so many programmes sound the same.
There’s a lot of scope here for further work: we’re getting people to talk and think about the issues involved + offer advice about the best way forward, even though this won’t necessaily be part of the toolkit. This is a useful network for the WMF to tap into hopefully.