Report demands better deal for UK musicians.

Artists and creators `grossly undervalued', says report

by Robert Ashton

The worth of composers, songwriters and musicians - the engine of the industry and a key constituency of the Government's creative economy programme - is grossly undervalued, according to a new report commissioned by the Musicians Union and British Academy of Composers & Songwriters.

With the DCMS already well advanced with its CEP and the Treasury's Gowers Review of Intellectual Property due to report shortly, the two organisations have published Status Quo...? to establish the financial, artistic, productive and cultural position UK artists and creators currently occupy and how the Government and others can improve their standing.

The report will be presented tomorrow (Tuesday) by a group of Bacs members, including David Arnold and Robin Gibb, to a group of MPs in a meeting at Westminster.

Using the 1997 Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) agreement on the status of artists as a benchmark, the report's author Andrew Missingham is able to put into context the role of UK songwriters, musicians and composers and how they are valued: in many cases he finds they are faring worse than the Unesco standards dictate. "Music creators have the power to contribute to the growth of the economy as never before. However, if we are to be "the world's creative hub, we need a legislative, tax and benefit system that encourages creativity and creative ...