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   Salford's First Music Co-operative
by Tom Rodgers
An exciting new Co-operative dealing with the music business has been forged by the city's top DJs, musicians and promoters. This area of the country has a rich and colourful history in co-operatives, collaborative ventures where knowledge is shared; 'social enterprises', long before the phrase became common parlance in the business world. So it was no surprise, in a way, when Salford's first ever music Co-operative was born recently, through the mind of singer and guitarist John Herring (check out the links for his songs, I'm rather a fan). "It started with a discusssion between myself and Jon Coupe (of the inimitable www.salfordmusic.com), saying that there were a lot of venues in Salford that were great spaces, like the Trinity Church, that weren't used regularly." The discusssion between the singer-songwriter and the Salford City Radio DJ moved onto the fact that Manchester is supposed to have a vibrant music scene, but in their eyes it was and is just churning out a lot of music without any passion and belief behind it. "Add to that 27,000 students sitting in Salford University, a vast audience resource, who are still wandering into Manchester to watch bands, and there's a definite need for Salford musicians, record labels, promoters and bands to be working together to keep audience coming to Salford," says John. The Co-operative first came together on 12th March at the Crescent Pub on The Crescent, near Salford University. John's found over the years that a lot of musicians could benefit from a forum where they could share their contacts, listen to industry speakers to share good practice; even to find out basic things like who the good promoters are, where to play the best gigs, and how to get royalties from the Performing Rights Society for your music. And journalists, photographers and community activists need to know these things as well. "We want to be open and honest," he notes, "and invest something back into the community; through the Co-operative we could look at supporting things like The Amber Project by using our contacts to provide the music for their events." And it's not just indie musicians, "we're talking a cross-genre party of people coming together to learn from one another. We've had a lot of interest from local orchestral and choral groups as well. You never know when you might need a bassoon or triangle player...." Well, quite.... The next meeting is planned for Tuesday 13th April at 6.30pm at The Crescent, where luminaries of the Salford and Manchester music scene are expected to attend, like Rock Radio's (and former Salford Jet) Mike Sweeney. You're invited too, says John, "Come down and get involved, we want representatives from all sections; students, writers, community campaigners, label owners, DJs...." Photo: Suzuki Method under the banner of the Salford Music Co-operative
Visit SalfordMusic.com [also worth it - Ed] click here
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